Author Topic: quartz broadheads?  (Read 3947 times)

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Offline ballista

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quartz broadheads?
« on: October 20, 2008, 06:44:28 pm »
 hey guys,
 today I was in earth science, and they were passign around a beautiful hunk of glassy obsidian. the though going through my head was, of course, broadheads. so i asked my sciance teacher where me and a buddy of mine could fine some. here in illinois, theres rock quarries everywhere. obsidian isn't really available, but there's a huge,huge abundance of quartz. we have to climb over a fence to get it, but its in the juk pile, and its on a paved biketrail ;D so, if anyone has used it or know someone that has had experience ith t, can you give some advise? I'm pretty new to flintnapping, also.  -jimmy
Walk slowly, with a big stick. -Ted Rosevelt.

Offline mullet

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2008, 10:04:05 pm »
  Yep, it makes nice, pretty points. It depends on what grade it is and in your case how much blasting fractured it. Can you post some pictures?
Lakeland, Florida
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Offline Hillbilly

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2008, 10:46:25 pm »
Quartz can make good points, but it's tough to knap-not beginner material. Illinois , especially the southern part, has some good chert that is excellent knapping material.



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Offline ballista

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2008, 12:08:58 am »
 mullet, i have a cell phone I can use, but we lost the camera on the airplane :'( but I definetly will post pictures, and as far as the quartz go, I do not have a whole lot of experience knapping :P I'm pretty far north, but in the rock quarry there's the waste pile next to the belt and the dumpster, where we can see hunks of pinkish and saltish colored quartz, lots of it too. I would imagine I could get a good sized hunk of it, break it (assuming its fracture) and have a go at making some form of points, don't need to be broadheads necessarly. thanks, ill keep ya posted guys. -jimmy
Walk slowly, with a big stick. -Ted Rosevelt.

Offline billy

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2008, 12:04:51 pm »
HEy Jimmy,

I've worked quartz quite a bit lately.  It definitely is not as predictable as flint, but it does work.  If you've got a big piece and it is grainy, the one tool you'll need is a hardwood billet.

I've tried working quartz with antler and it will work if the billet is heavy enough and the quartz is medium to high grade.  But the grainier stuff really requires a hardwood billet.  For some reason the hardwood is soft enough to send the energy thru the crystals, allowing you to peel off large, flat thinning flakes.  But the trick is that you have to use a much larger billet than a comparable antler billet.  Lots of hardwoods will work: oak, hickory, and osage orange are hard and also have plenty of weight, which is what you need.  I always wondered how the ancients used quartz because it was so difficult to work...until I started using a hardwood billet.  Then suddenly, it started working!  You'll have to set up your edges well, and one trick is to bevel your edges so they are ABOVE centerline.  I know it seems wrong, but quartz is very weak and brittle on the edges.  If you hit an edge that's above centerline, there is more stone underneath the edge to support the blow, allowing large flakes to peel off.  Edges that are below centerline have much less mass under them, causing them to crumble and not support the full power of the blow.

Quartz and especially quartzite respond really well to hardwood billets.  Once you get your technique dialed in, you'll be amazed at what you can do with it.  And quartz is SUPER sharp.  I've got several points that are scary sharp and I really want to haft them on arrows and use 'em because that stuff is nothing to laugh at...  
Marietta, Georgia

jamie

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2008, 12:10:43 pm »
quartz is one of my favorite local stones for wood working, tanning , scraping etc. incredibly sharp edges. we have a clear variety that was used a lot in the north east. billy im gonna give your advice a try cause most of my attempts at points are less than satisfactory.peace

Offline Hillbilly

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Re: quartz broadheads?
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2008, 12:39:05 pm »
Yep, wood or soooofffffttt gritty hammerstones are the only way to go. Billy, try dogwood or persimmon, much better and a lot more durable than osage or hickory. Live oak works pretty good.
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Progress might have been all right once but it's gone on for far too long.