My Most Recent Production

[luckyinkentucky]

Here is a piece I finished on Thursday. It is made from Hamilton Co. Texas Flint, and was pressure flaked from a slab. It is one of my better "Gray Ghosts"

It measures roughly 6 3/4" long x 1 1/2" wide x 1/8" thick. I modeled it after a Graham Cave.

What do you all think? How does she look? This would be the second that I have made from this type of flint. It takes to a pressure flaker very well, and oblique flaking is easy with this material. The basal area and notches are ground.

Also, I left the loose hinges on the piece purposely. I also diamond scribe and initial all of my work so that it will never be passed as an authentic artifact. I hope to finish a couple of Sonora Lost Lakes this week. Wish me luck.

 

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[luckyinkentucky]

GL .... PM sent.

 

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[GL]

Yes.

Mine are mostly glass and there is no mistaking that mine are modern.

They will fit nicely on a huge arrow.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I'm not after you, i think flintknapping is an art and you are obviously good at it. my problem begins 100 years from now...who will be around to tell all of these moderns from the real thing. modern flintknappers are EVERYWHERE now and i think it's a shame that there is no real way to mark points short of drilling a hole all the way through it.

I've been saying this same exact thing for years. Lucky's response is also true. I'm sure there are pieces that were made 50 to 100 years ago that are now in collections as true and authentic artifacts. I have asked this question many times to knappers, "What will keep your pieces from ending up on the market in 50 to 100 years as good pieces after they have been handled to numerous people and passed from collection to collection until they are deemed as good artifacts by some unscrupulous person?" They usually say one of two things. They either don't have an honest answer or they say that they mark them like Lucky does, but we know even that can be altered if so desired. So I guess we really don't have an answer for the growing problem.

 

[archaeon]

here's my answer

 

[GL]

If and when I decide to buy a piece I will assume it is not real. If it bothers me I will have it authenticated by an expert. In the end, all anyone can do to prove a piece is real is either send it off for verification or find it themselves and never sell it.
At some point the word of a professional expert will just have to suffice.

Ball peen hammer? Seems like it would be extremely difficult to knap accurately with such a brutish and clumsy instrument. I use a nail embedded in a wooden handle, a stone and a leather strap.

 

[Flintfinder]

I am in the Ball Peen Hammer association also. I have smashed several hundred dollars of my hard earned money away. If you Knapp, that's your thing, and I don't care. These pieces do eventually end up in collections. Trust me I have bought some that looked good to me and turned out modern. I don't think its about giving anyone hell about doing what they enjoy, but looking at the big picture. I wonder if the fakes I ended up buying were made by guys like you. It really doesn't matter they will find their way into a collection someday. I don't buy anything anymore. I find em myself. when I go to a show I may not have 30 hardins, 20 dovetails, 15 Clovis,,,,, but what I have is authentic without question.. John

 

[GL]

I wouldn't want a bought piece in my collection anyway because I didn't find it. When I do decide to buy a piece it will be done with the assumption it isn't authentic.
I like all my crude little glass points and the more I knap the more I like it. It is an easy way to kill 30 minutes thats for sure.
I think I have pressure flaking down pat, at least for edge work. I need to practice percussion now. I made a passable knife today using just a stone. Shaped like a purple teardrop. Darned sharp too but it has a hump so I busted out the Ishi and i can't get the hump off it! It would be SO much nicer looking if the hump was gone.

I also made a green "S" out of a Heineken bottle bottom.
Mason Jars seem to be just right for flaking into a nice thing.

 

[archaeon]

"That is why I will absolutely never buy an "authentic" artifact. The person you bought it from might be honest, but whoever he got it from might not have been. "

but you will sell them?...g10's...for a nominal fee.

 

[Atlantis0077]

Afternoon,

Getting a little contentious in this thread. Fakes abound and there is no way of getting around them. Now methods exist for patination and such on well done points that there is hardly any way of detecting them.

This brings up the question as with a diamond...if the fake is so good that it cannot be distinguished from the real thing...how will you ever know its a fake at all? Does it actually matter? I mean if I have a point with a certificate, I am satisfied...if I sell it, the purchaser will probably also be satisfied....that doesnt make it authentic, but does it matter if we both think it is and there is no way to prove otherwise??

You are always at risk of purchasing a fake if you buy points....paying tons for them...even getting certificates is no guarantee of avoiding a well placed fake. As a matter of fact, sometime paying more puts you at greater risk of the odd fake.

It was mentioned in a prior post about points made now appearing a hundred years from now as authentic. It would be far more likely for fakes to move from the present to the future, than from the past to the present. Why you ask?? Follow the money trail. 50 years ago flintknapping might have been a novelty that some did, but there was no money in it...authentic points back than had little tangible value so there was no point in faking points for profit. Man, have times changed....paleo points bringing thousands of dollars a pop have opened the doors to the underhanded and a real profit motive now exists for the expert faker to ply his arts.

I guess what I am saying is if you want to be certain of your points, you will just about have to dig them yourself...even then you can get had under certain circumstances.

I applaud the art of flintknappers....one day I may take it up myself. Right now though, I am content to find the real thing, if not as perfect or beautiful as those freshly knapped gems.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

 

[GL]

Well, I like knapping. It's fun and makes me feel connected with the ancient souls who did it for survival. I like holding real points, but making them is a great feeling too. Mine are all glass and the pitiful few I have made from flint are obviously not old. I prefer making gunflints for my buddies than knapping flint. It's not really common here while bottle bottoms and Mason jars are plentiful. I can pull over practically anywhere and find a beer bottle to whittle into a neat looking(if not slightly curved) sharp thing.

If I didn't find it, I doubt it's real. I was given a Folsom point but I didn't find it so I stay on the safe side and never call it real. Even though a family member says he found it with his own hands in the 70s. I want it to be real, but I can't be sure unless I send it off for verification and in the end thats all we artifact folks have. The word and opinion of an expert. Past that it's anybodies guess.

 

[DreamcatcherNC]

I also do a little knapping - mostly obsidian and glass. Most all are framed and identified with my name and address. I have never bought a point and would not be able to get that personal satisfaction thingy that comes along with picking up an artifact and knowing inside that the last person that touched it was one of the ancient ones. If others want to buy them -- fine with me. If others want to knap and sell them -- fine with me. I just get enjoyment out of doing what I like to do. Live and let live - it takes all kinds.

 

[tomclark]

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I think this would work a little better. lol

 

[steve71]

awesome work.i put this together.it is a authentic blade with a broke base and a prehistiric bone handle my first try doing this, just messing around

 

[Hawbuck]

lghdfjklalkdabjh

 

[luckyinkentucky]

awesome work.i put this together.it is a authentic blade with a broke base and a prehistiric bone handle my first try doing this, just messing around

Good job.

Is that Birch Bark Pitch?

If you need the recipe for birch pitch it's really easy, and I can pass it on if you like. It's like a Paleo Era JB Weld.

 

[Dc1013]

i am a member of the "ballpeen hammer brigade" 8)

You wouldn't get anywhere near my stuff with a hammer. I spend too much time on it, and I do it as an art .... not to fool people. A lot of people are misinformed to what flint knappers really do.

Are all artifact hunters grave robbers? No.

It's the same scenario. Not all flint knappers are arti-fakers.

As a matter of fact ..... little do people know, but arti-fakers are shunned in the flint knapping community as well. If you are ever caught trying to pass off one of your points as authentic .... you will be disregarded as being a legitimate flint knapper.

It's kind of like a "Flint knappers code of conduct". As an example .... look at Woody Blackwell. He was once a respected Flint Knapper who did great work, BUT he was caught slipping fakes into a collection and was caught. He was basically stripped of his fame overnight. Here is one of his points.

Then show it off

 

[oldgoat]

Like Lucky said,in 100 years from now we won't be here...but I do know the frustration of getting a replica as the real thing...I'm not lucky enough to be able to go out and find the points or dig, so I attend the shows...Some of the prettiest pieces I've seen are there, but they are probably replicas and some of them aren't...
If a piece strikes my fancy, and the price is right, I'll buy it...
Lucky, if you decide that you would like to sell some of those pieces, so I can make knives of them, let me know...I use deer antler and sign all of them in the bone or antler...

 

[steve71]

awesome work.i put this together.it is a authentic blade with a broke base and a prehistiric bone handle my first try doing this, just messing around

Good job.

Is that Birch Bark Pitch?

If you need the recipe for birch pitch it's really easy, and I can pass it on if you like. It's like a Paleo Era JB Weld.

no its actualy natural tar that indians used for there artifacts. it washes up naturaly on our beached in south texas

 

[ohioaxeman]

i used to be sooooo totally against flintknapping, just because of the potential for fakes to be sold as authentic, ancient indian artifacts. i was invited to a few knap-ins, but never considered! now that i've seen knapping on you-tube, i am very interested in trying it out!