Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: tattoo dave on May 15, 2011, 01:14:47 am
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't seem to hear much about agate arrowheads. How do they rate in terms of hunting performance? Are they as deadly as any other stone? I was just curious, cause I still suck at making arrowheads, and I can buy some online fairly cheap.
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Agate will make as good a point as anything else...maybe better. The problem with it is that it most always has to be heat treated in order to work it. In it's raw state it can be extremely tough and grainy. It's usually more expensive than good quality flint too. But if you can get it at a reasonable rate, than by all means don't be scared of it! It will not only make a deadly point...It looks good too.
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I prefer agate for my arrowheads. It's very hard stone and durable stone and I like to work it raw. I try to pick the highest grade I can so this usually means small cobbles... maybe 3 inches wide if I'm lucky. I can get them really cheap at a lanscaping yard but I have to cherry pick the stones. I bring a small hammer with me to knock off a small area of the cortex and see inside.
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My Opinion: My Father-in-law owned a big ranch located just 20 miles east of Yellowstone Park. This area and most of Montana was rich in what has been called Montana Moss Agate. In the 50s around Forsythe, Mt. you could pick up big cobbles almost anywhere in the hills and the big rivers were full of it. The Indians from the sheepeater age on used this agate as their main material for tools and blades. The Chipping grounds were covered with the spalls and chips of this agate. The lava flows that make up a good deal of the local mts. provided the collecting pockets for the formation of the agates and jaspers found here. Mt. moss agate is prized by the jewelery makers for its dendrites. It requires some heat treating to work well and the agate nodes without dendrites makes the best and strongest points. The raw rocks are very spendy and they are not all good knapping material and that is why many of us saw it rather than using percussion techniques. As I recall my life on the ranch, the use of agate for arrowheads was very effective on elk, deer, and bear. This is the truth as I remember it. A/Ho Indian Joe
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In my opinion agate makes some of the most beautiful points.