Parnell, quartz is brittle, cracks very easily and is found that way. That's the nature of the beast. I've dug it while looking for crystals, etc. or surface
found it. Around here it is everywhere but most of it is highly fractured or have internal crystal formations. The best quartz I ever worked actually
came from one of those marble counter top places. It was mostly clear with white streaky inclusions. I tried a billet on it and it flaked very good but
started introducing little fractures that I could see in the clear quartz. Changed to indirect and pressure flaking with an Ishi stick and it worked
out ok. Flakes wanted to stall out where the white streak went through it at an angle around the base. I had to angle my pressure flaking along
the plane the inclusion was running instead of directly into it. Will post another photo or two of earlier attempts at quartz. Here in central South
Carolina quartz and quartzite were the primary lithic material that early man used. There is a small mix of rhyolite and chert from the west of us
and rhyolite from the northeast of us. Most folks that I know who knap a little quartz usually use the larger broken clear crystals.
Earlier and crude quartz point attempts with a preform. 4 3/4" clear quartz (counter top point) on left side of leather was done about six years ago.
