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anybody do flint knapping

jpatter123

jpatter123

Well-known member
I don't recall hearing about it too much in my life but I have seen quite a few things about it lately and the articles on it in woods n water have peaked my interest. Anybody here do it and know how difficult it is? Is it impossible to learn from a book/dvd? Any pointers or ideas of where someone should turn to first would be appreciated. If its something that takes years to become even somewhat procificent tell me now before I even try.
 
heres the real mcoy, i found this one this year
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arrowheads are my passion, ive been hunting them for about 35 years
 
I've done some napping and used to dig hard for a couple of years mostly around orange lake area. I have some friends that are really good at it they set around on the week ends and do it you could sit in and learn. Carl dowel is one of the guys he is a master and wins shows ECT.
 
Knapping is pretty awesome with the different types of flint and with heat treating. A buddy of mine does it with a deer antler and a piece of leather in the crook of his elbow. He lost the lower part of his arm to a moccasin. Try to get some coral from Tampa bay area and some obsidian from out west. I have been artifact hunting for over 40 years. My Dad took me as a kid.
 
We cook up some coastal chert in a kiln and have done it the indian way under camp fire in sand to. Your buddy sounds like he don't let nothing stop him. It takes a lot of force to do pressure flakes with two hands much less one. Would like to get some more withlacuchee coral! Napping mad me a better digger b/c i reconized the flint chips and could tell more about the points and what stage of flaking they were in.nice clay by the way 8)
 
Some of the finer work was done by teeth. In digs where they found bowel and intestine there was a lot of micro-chips. Can you imagine that? The points are cool but I was always fascinated by the tools and wondered what they were used for. I had a claim today and the client had some stuff from New Jersey and it was pretty sporty. He did not have any idea what he had and the stuff was very similar to what we find here. He had 1 that had the same patina as what I found in the Santa Fe
 
I only really dug hard for 2 years and like i said mostly orange lake area. I found so much evdence it blew my mind. It was a meca around hear. I think the population was way higher than they think and who knows what kind of traid routes. I started forming my own opinoins real fast. Very interesting. I'm a part Cherokee like every other southern guy. HA but have brown skin for some reason. I have a lot of respect for fl first people and how in the world they did it. I don't know if they over hunted or white or other desiese killed them? never know.
 
If you get a chance read Florida of the Inca. It's about Desoto's travels through the New World.
 
i dug Orange lake for five or six years, theres so much stuff out there. i found a greenstone celt on the north east side. dan if you are ever needin a ride buddy, id love to see that lake from an airboat :D . i stopped diggin a few years ago and started diving, i bought a brownie thrid lung (hooka) . i dive the ST. Johns and other rivers lookin for fossils now. man i mis taking my two sons out diggin for those artifacts though, that was the good ole days
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heres a heat treated "clay" that i found in your area 8)
 
amazing stuff. After watching those vids on Youtube I am not sure knapping is for me. Looks like it requires way more patience then I have. :? Guess I'll wait and try to catch a workshop before I even attempt to purchase anything.
 
if you decide to give it a try, i can get you some nice heat treated coral to work on. picture tube out of an old tv Knapp's real well for beginners also. but there aint nothing like the real thing

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it sure would be sweet to kill a pig with a homemade head like that. I know I made my own fishing jigs (cast and tied myself) for 10 years and theres nothing like the feeling of knowing you can do it all yourself.
What really peaked my interest though was the obsidian knives. But after watching the video I can see spending an hour on something getting it right to where you need it and whack... "Honey, wheres my pistol?" :shock:
 
i made an atlatl about 20 years ago and killed a hog with it. the atlatl was the weapon of choise for the indians before bows and arrows. they used atlatls for thousands of years and the one i made was deadly at fifty yards. heres a link on atlatls that has some history about them......Greg, get those pictures up, i cant wait much longer

http://www.onagocag.com/atlatl.html

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That is real nice. Looks like home for sure. I have one alot like that. I haven't dug from my boat but it has crossed my mind. I got most of mine on the north west side. snake pit and heggies area. when the lake went dry i did real good. Yes when making points and breaking them you want to shoot your self in the face!
 
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