A Lapidary Bannerstone Plus Bonus Pareidolia.

[ToddsPoint]

I’ve made several banner stones but never one from slate. I’ve never had a good piece of slate to work with. I recently found this glacial slate in a plowed field near my house.

I ground a small “window” with a diamond file and it looked promising.

To make this banner I’ll be using a diamond grinding wheel mounted on an angle grinder, a dremel with a diamond wheel, a small sharpening stone and a piece of 320 sandpaper. To drill the hole I’ll use a brass core drill with silicone carbide abrasive powder.

I’ll need a pic of an old original banner to copy. I chose this one. It’s a pretty common shape. Nothing radical.

 

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[ToddsPoint]

I put the slate piece on the grinder and reduced it to preform shape. The trick is keeping the black line layers exactly parallel to the plane of the wings. That way the pattern in the slate is centered on the finished piece.

As you reduce the piece, the pattern changes as you grind through the layers. You can’t predict what it will look like when it’s finally thinned.

Comparing it to my model, the top edge needs to be flatter and the point on the bottom reduced.

This is much better.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Time to drill. When drilling stone, a “hole” can be any depth. Only a “perforation” goes all the way through. I first make a dimple on the bottom that sits on a nub of steel protruding through the piece of wood on my drilling platform. This keeps the hole centered. Water plus abrasive and away you go!

 

[ToddsPoint]

Now I mark the centerline.

Now it’s just a matter of thinning the wings along with the “humps” over the hole.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I’ve switched to the dremel for finer work and took it down as far as I could with that. If you soak the preform in water and let it dry, any cracks will show. This one has 2 cracks. One would prove fatal if this banner was ever mounted on an atl.

Now for final polishing with the sharpening stone, then 320 paper to remove scratches from the gritty sharpening stone.

This is the finished banner. A light coat of olive oil brings out the colors.

And now, how about a little pareidolia? Can you see the Indian princess sitting on the ledge?😎

 

[tamrock]

It's fascinating to think of how the native peoples would bore such a perfect hole in rock. Theres been a lot of thinking on how the Egyptians would of done it, but did the Native American banner stone makers do it in a similar way to the Egyptians I wonder.

 

[ToddsPoint]

It's fascinating to think of how the native peoples would bore such a perfect hole in rock.

To drill those quartz banners, the Indians almost certainly would have had to use emery. Emery contains corundum which is 8 on the mohs scale. Emery should be available in the glacial till. There are big deposits in Canada and the glacier likely brought some down. I’m trying to identify it in the till and experiment with it.

 

[tamrock]

To drill those quartz banners, the Indians almost certainly would have had to use emery. Emery contains corundum which is 8 on the mohs scale. Emery should be available in the glacial till. There are big deposits in Canada and the glacier likely brought some down. I’m trying to identify it in the till and experiment with it.

I wondered if they just didn't wash down all the sands like one would pan gold. Just about every where you can wash down and gather fine heavy garnet, quartz sands and magnetite in any alluvium deposits in this country. I believe I have a softer slate type of stone with a green banding. I can't remember where I found it, but I remember it looked interesting enough to pickup and bring home. I'm gonna clean out the flower garden area in front of my house, by request of my better half here soon. It's full of rocks I've gathered from mines I visited and roadsides I've stopped along when I was traveling for work.

 

[Bucket Lister]

I was sooo... tempted to be a wise-ass and say, "Some people have nothing... better... to do," but I'm blown away by your lapidary skill & accomplishment. Well done.

Maybe the question is, "Why?" but I've done--and still do--a lot of things just to see if I can. 😎

IDK why, but I thought these things (bannerstones) were bigger.

Emery contains corundum which is 8 on the mohs scale.

Must be a typo; corundum is 9, topaz is 8. 😉

 

[ToddsPoint]

I was sooo... tempted to be a wise-ass and say, "Some people have nothing... better... to do," but I'm blown away by your lapidary skill & accomplishment. Well done.

Maybe the question is, "Why?" but I've done--and still do--a lot of things just to see if I can. 😎

IDK why, but I thought these things (bannerstones) were bigger.


Must be a typo; corundum is 9, topaz is 8. 😉

I thought corundum was 8. Thanks for the correction. I’m into experimental archaeology and in particular glacial till rocks. I started experimenting with all the rocks the Indians used from the glacial till 35 yrs ago. I make replica Indian artifacts with both primitive and modern means. I flintknapped for 22 yrs before I quit due to repetitive motion injuries. For me, a rock isn’t very interesting unless something is made from it.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I wondered if they just didn't wash down all the sands like one would pan gold. Just about every where you can wash down and gather fine heavy garnet, quartz sands and magnetite in any alluvium deposits in this country.

Now you’ve given me another place to look for the abrasives the Indians used. I watched them searching for diamonds in AR on YouTube. They got a screen full of gravel, swished it back and forth in water for a minute, then flipped it onto a tarp. The quartz and heavier stuff was definitely concentrated in the center. The unknown abrasives the Indians used is out there, I just have to find it. Thanks for the tip! I know you’re a real rock guy!

 

[newnan man]

Send it to Bannerstone Tom or Jeff Baker. They will give you a COA and you can sell it as original on Ebay!

 

[CreekSide]

I tried to make one once. I shaped it first then tried to drill the hole. Split in 2
Maybe I should have drilled it 1st?
Yours came out very well.

 

[dognose]

very impressive.
the steps you describe help in visualizing the process.
the core is very interesting to me.

 

[DirtyHandsCleanPoints]

Now you’ve given me another place to look for the abrasives the Indians used. I watched them searching for diamonds in AR on YouTube. They got a screen full of gravel, swished it back and forth in water for a minute, then flipped it onto a tarp. The quartz and heavier stuff was definitely concentrated in the center. The unknown abrasives the Indians used is out there, I just have to find it. Thanks for the tip! I know you’re a real rock guy!

I live about an hour out from the crater of diamond park in AR I’ve been wanting to get out there and see what kind of materials I can pull out. They actually pull small diamonds out fairly often.

 

[ToddsPoint]

very impressive.
the steps you describe help in visualizing the process.
the core is very interesting to me.

I have a few. Four quartzite, two unknown metamorphic, one slate, one granite, and one diorite. Those cores the Indians made are laying out there in the dirt somewhere. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one an artifact hunter has found. It would be a rare find indeed.

 

[DirtyHandsCleanPoints]

T

I have a few. Four quartzite, two unknown metamorphic, one slate, one granite, and one diorite. Those cores the Indians made are laying out there in the dirt somewhere. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one an artifact hunter has found. It would be a rare find indeed. View attachment 2145986 what a day that would be I never even thought about that until now just added another find to my bucket list lol

 

[LandSeig]

So that’s how they use to make those! 😆 Fine work there, I like the material.

 

[dognose]

Here is a bannerstone core, I have posted this in the past. I obtained this core from my friend Ben Thompson in 2006.
the measurements are 1 1/4 inches in length, approximately 1/2 inch wide on the widest part, but this is not truly round, the opposite end is approximately 1/4 inch wide, again not truly round.

Terry Crafton at the Collinsville relic show had a number of authentic bannerstone cores. They are extremely rare in my opinion.

 

[ToddsPoint]

the measurements are 1 1/4 inches in length, approximately 1/2 inch wide on the widest part,

From the length, I’d say that came from a quartz butterfly. My shortest one is from the same and about the same length. I think the taper on yours came from movement of the tube drill as they cut. Like maybe the banner was supported during drilling but the tube was not. No doubt on the rarity. Especially one made from quartz. Very nice piece.👍🏻