Pasco County brokes

[newnan man]

Grubbing through the garage I found these brokes from my old Pasco County site.
These are classic Thonotosassa points. These were some of the first Florida points to
use heat treated stone. The broke on the right is a perfect example of heat treated Coral.
I have some of good ones I need to post but they are in a frame that is a pain to open and I'm lazy!

 

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[GaRebel1861]

Pretty material.

 

[ghp95134]

How was heat treating done (okay ... with fire) ... but was the stone heated before knapping; or, was the final product heated?

If anyone can point (unintentional pun) me to an article, I’d appreciate it; have searched around the ‘net but came up empty-handed.

Thanks,
— Guy

 

[newnan man]

They would heat the material first then knap it. I know nothing about knapping but several here do and can tell you the advantage of heat treating the stone.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Stone was roughed out into a biface. Bifaces buried in sand 3 or 4 inches deep. Fire started on top. There is an art to doing this. Heat depends on amount of wind, type of wood. Fire burnt for 8 hrs or so. It then takes about 24 hrs for cool down. Dig 'em up and see if you did good or you blew the bifaces up with too much heat. Use what came out good. Flint should be "annealed" so it chips better, can have more color, and also more gloss. Gary

 

[Tony in SC]

Always good to see material that I don't have around here!