Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: Dustinhill on June 12, 2016, 06:26:24 pm
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Hi, here is my first stone point. I've made a few from glass before, but this one is from a rock I collected while hiking through a river basin in Iceland. It's approximately 7/8" long and 1/2" wide. It's so small because I had a hard time driving a long flake from the rock with the hammer stone. Does anyone know what type of stone it might be? And does anyone know if this point would be large enough to be considered a "bird point". In the encyclopedia of Native American bows arrows and quivers there are some points 1/2" wide but none as short.
Thanks,
Dustin
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"Cute Little Guy" that's the first thing that came to My mind as soon as I saw this 😂
I had the same problem with My first glass Point aswell, getting good flakes is surely hard, and you end up breaking the material many Times.
If you use that For hunting.. I guess you could take some birds.. Maybe a squirrell if its VERY sharp.
Good luck with future knapping!
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thats obsidian, i've kilt a few squirrels with points that big.
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@stixnstones , are you sure it's obsidian? Doesn't look like it to me.. Obsidian has more of a glassy texture to it, while that one looks more granular and rough.
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I do not think that is obsidian. It is big enough to kill a buffalo. All it has to do is poke a hole in something vital, the same as a bigger point. Nice chipping too.
WA
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^^ yep.
i'd guess black novaculite.
keep up the good work.
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nice for sure and hunting usable too
It's so small because I had a hard time driving a long flake from the rock with the hammer stone
did you made it abo? or did you use copper?
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Thanks for the responses everyone! And I used a hammer stone and antlers. I used both percussion and pressure flaking. To clarify, Where I had the most difficulty was in creating a piece large enough to work from my initial stone. I used the hammer stone for this. The rock was very irregular and faceted, I think this might have been why I had trouble.
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That's a nice point to be made with a hammerstone. And, it's big enough to kill a deer. Most "bird" points were actually arrowheads and shot with a bow.
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if its not already gravelized, show us a picture of the rock this came off of.
the only thing i can suggest to getting larger flakes (not knowing what you're doing now) is to hit higher on the platforms. if there are no platforms, perhaps you can perform a bipolar split to have a new set of platforms on the two halves.
last suggestion; just knap one big blade/axe head from the entire rock.
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Am I missing something on the question of what the material is? If its a shiny black flinty type rock picked up in northern Europe (Iceland), that would make it European Flint, wouldn't it?
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Technically yes @Hummingbird , but it does not look like European Flint, it's more granular and rough , European Flint looks alot more like obsidian , even if it's not directly a vulcanic rock.
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Mullet, I meant that I created the flake which became the arrowhead with a hammer stone by striking my large cobble (don't know the official term). I then used antler tines to flake it. And that's good to know about the size, thanks. I'm going to haft it soon! I thought it might've been too small to even qualify as a "bird point" based on the ones I'd seen in the encyclopedia.
And thanks for the ID help everyone, that's very interesting. ill post a picture soon.
Also thanks Le0n, I'll try the bi polar split and take it from there.
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Well, even pressure flaked with an antler it is still a great point. And I think it is a black flint. I have some from Denmark and northern Scotland that is very dark.
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I agree with Mullet, looks to be flint. Got another piece? heat treat it, if it is flint, you will notice a large difference, 350-400
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Thanks for the replies everyone, meant to reply sooner but I got very busy with work. I probably will be out of commission for the next few weeks because of travel and work, but after that I will post some pictures with what happens with the heat treating. Thanks again for the advice and information!
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Probably a volcanic rock. I don't think there's much flint in Iceland but I don't know for sure (flint is formed within chalk or limestone). I would guess that your rock is similar to Dacite or maybe a high grade Basalt.
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The major rock in Iceland is made up of 90% Basalt and 6-10% Ryolite, Dacite. Also a very rare rock from volcanic formations like Obsidian called Palangonite which is found in the
hills around Reykjavik.