Dalton and Adena

[nclonghunter]

Punched out a Dalton from a piece of Burlington and an Adena point from WV silitified shale.

[iowabow]

great work! is that shale hard to knap? the Burlington point is cool also.

[Parnell]

Very cool.  Silicified Shale?  So it isn't the Kanawha stuff?

[nclonghunter]

Thanks everyone,

Kanawha chert is found in the Charleston WV area, but the shale comes from the southeastern area of the state. The shale looks like a creek rock when found and must be edge broken to determine what it is. I'm not certain any original points have been found made from the shale. Due to the smooth roundness of the shale when found it needs to be edge worked similar to stitching a square edge. Once the outer edge is made it will work nicely. Robert Godshall has made a few awesome blades from the shale.

[iowabow]

And what tools are you using on it?

[nclonghunter]

Howdy John,

I am using only a small hammer stone and then punch knapping with antler. I made a small antler tipped hand flaker to help work the edge and set up platforms. The more I use a hammer stone the closer I am getting to a finished point using it. I have about 10 antler punches varying in size and length. A couple are cut from moose antler and they are the size of your thumb. I try to use strictly the whitetail antler now. I also made an Ishi stick and rawhide wrapped an antler tip on the end for some pressure flaking. I use these tools on all my knapping now.

Marty Reuter has a great 5 part video on YouTube about "hammer stone clovis". I really enjoyed it.

[iowabow]

That's really cool, I need to do more hammer stone work also.

[iowabow]

Your results are looking good.

[Tom W]

Your art is a real inspiration, thanks for sharing Lyman.

[nclonghunter]

Thanks a  bunch guys, I have really enjoyed the journey with punch knapping.

[bjrogg]

Nice work NC, I've been working on my percussion a lot. It really has helped me thin stuff better. At least if I don't miss lol. Thanks for sharing
Bjrogg