my attempts at flaking

[AeroMike]

Alright, I really want to learn knapping and flaking so I just got some tools and stuff in and decided on some slabs I picked up really cheap. I am going to continue to look for brown flat glass but here are my points I made. These are actually point number 3 and 4, 1 and 2 broke rather fast and I continue to learn.

#3 is not too bad, I still need to learn control and make sure my edge is straight instead of wavy.

Here is #4, I was doing really good, trying not to take too much with one flake and was working on my nothing when I broke it clean across, oh well, I am learning. I would probably do a lot better if I had a thick rubber pad. I tried using a thick pad of condensed foam but it didn't last too long.

I would like to know what you all use for a pad. If you make your own can you post pics of them and what material you use, thank you.

Mike

 

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[GL]

Re: my atempts at flaking

I use a leather strap about 2 feet long and 4 inches wide.
Neat points. I use glass mostly Mason jar and liquor bottle bottoms.

 

[MEinWV]

Re: my atempts at flaking

Your points are looking good ! It's great to possess the knowledge of the ancient ones. My first one was from a beer bottle bottom. My second was a piece of clear glass that snapped in two, right after I handed it to a friend and he dropped it. Oh well!

What do you notch with? I saw a neat little notching tool that was made by driving a finish nail through a small board and that way both hands are free to hold the point firmly. But make sure you wear safety glasses!

I used a good stiff tooling leather for a pad, like the kind you would make belts or handbags out of.

Good luck and keep showing your work!

 

[AeroMike]

Re: my atempts at flaking

I have nice thick leather, the pad I am talking about is that thick rubber pad that I see most times in the video's on youtube. I have seen then with grooves cut out, I assume they are grooved so that the flaking will not terminate permaturely.

Right now I am using just the copper nails that are on my ishi sticks but I would like to get something with like a horseshoe nail.


I didn't think about the liquor bottles, I will start looking out for them.

 

[MEinWV]

Re: my atempts at flaking

I got some copper welding tips and beat on them with a hammer to make them square and toughen them up a bit and then put them in my Ishi stick. For regular flaking I think you need to stick with copper.

 

[AeroMike]

Re: my atempts at flaking

I got some copper welding tips and beat on them with a hammer to make them square and toughen them up a bit and then put them in my Ishi stick. For regular flaking I think you need to stick with copper.

I have one 24" ishi stick with copper tips on both ends. I also have three 6" sticks that have copper tips too but one has a flatten end. I did see an auction for 3/4" thick conveyor belt pieces that have a groove cut in them and I was thinking of getting that because I am having a hard time holding the piece as I work it.

 

[Cannonman17]

Your first attempts are light years ahead of what mine were... learning to knapp before the internet sucked though. You mention wanting to keep a flat line rather than the wavy line but in the long run you will actually want some of that "wave". When looking at a piece from the side the low points of the wave... the valleys if you will, are where you want to remove your flakes from. Granted, you have to isolate them a bit sometimes and a little abrading on the edge will help a lot when knapping most materials but specially obsidian. As the piece progresses the waves along the edge will often become less pronounced anyhow. Very cool stuff you're doing there, I can't wait to see how your work progresses!