Outstanding looking work. I have to ask. How do you get those long narrow flake scars. Trying to learn to knapping myself and can use all the help I can get.
Piddler
Hope this helps...
These knives were worked from slabs which give you a continuous platform. I use an Ishi stick with a quarter inch copper tip to work the edge on my first pass. Position each flake on the first pass appx 1/4 inch apart. I use both of my legs to steady and lock my wrists into and use my right leg to help push the flake out. Make sure to position the tip of the Ishi stick almost straight into and very close to the edge but not too far into the slab. This will keep the force near the surface of the slab instead of taking a deeper and much shorter flake by sending the energy into the rock instead of across it. Push real hard into that slab and use that right leg to push it off.
Many people will go down an entire edge of a slab then try to join up the opposite edge next. I don't do this. when I take a flake off of the right edge, I will switch over to the left edge and then join it together. This is done because if I have a short flake or error on one edge, I can use more force on the opposite edge to reach it. I try to join and overlap them a little which helps give you a clean surface. Sometimes you will get a slight step where the flakes join but when you make the second and last pass they can be cleaned up. This lets me go through an entire side with very little if any flat spots on the surface that need to be cleaned up on the second pass. I do this on both sides of the slab.
Before the second pass all of the ridges produced need to be heavily abraded down to get you back to a continuous platform. I don't use an Ishi stick for this second pass unless there is an issue way into the slab that needs more force to reach it. I have a smaller pressure flaker and do exactly what I did above except this time the edge is more narrow so I position the tip of the flaker close but not past the center of the edge, dig in and push off a flake using my right leg. The second pass is narrower at about 1/8 inch or a little more apart. After all edges are done I start at the tip and work my way down both edges, feathering in and sharpening.
Tools used:
Notched hand pad (a notched pad lets the flakes travel longer)
Ishi stick
Pressure flaker
abrader
