33 and 7 year old progress? thread

[Older The Better]

Not to sound hung up on glass but knowing a couple bartenders helped get me access to larger glass bottles and ones of different colors Bombay sapphire makes a really nice blue point. If you’re really struggling for flint maybe you can explore that route.

 

[Pripyat]

Really enjoying learning this hobby. The art of flintknapping came in today, going to start reading it.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Glad you got Dave's book. There's a page that shows all the angles you need to learn. A whole bunch of them. It may seem overwhelming at first but you'll eventually learn them. Waldorf is a pretty good teacher but on some things I read I had to go and do it, then come back and read it again, and then it made sense. Gary

 

[Pripyat]

I skimmed through yesterday and was overwhelmed by the angles.. Seems to be an outstanding book. Great ratio of text to illustrations.

 

[Pripyat]

User willjo messaged me a week ago offering up some stuff to help my kid out. He messaged within an hour of my son showing up at my house (he asked his mom to bring him) to get some knapping supplies so he could show his grandmother his techniques. I sent all my leather so I was out the game for a bit.. Anyway, my son freaked yesterday when a box with his name showed up. I made a video but it took him a full 10 minutes to take everything out the box. His face of astonishment when pulling out some of the pieces was priceless. He loves the point, said it was the best we have out of all of our points. Much thanks to willjo!



Really glad to get him away from obsidian for a bit. That stuff is the devil.. I sat down last night with a scalpel and dug out 5 pieces I didn't even know were in me.

 

[willjo]

Tell your son to be safe with the material and enjoy it

 

[Pripyat]

So I made a little point from a flake, it was so bad I didn't even take a picture. It had a great shape but was basically flat and had no chip removal scars over most of the front and back. The neighbor's kid asked me if I would make him an arrowhead the other day. I gave it to him yesterday. Everyone thought it was the best thing they had ever seen. All three kids were freaking out, the parents thought that I was a god-tier knapper. Now I've got a lot of small points to make for all the other kids..

I just placed an order with Kentucky Flintworks. I ordered flakes instead of spalls and I'm really excited about the order. All I really want to do is minor bopping and flaking. I am not getting very many usable pieces from the spalls I ordered previously. It is frustrating. I'm still looking for a source of local knappable stone..

Any idea what this is and if it is knappable? I only found this one piece, I believe it was brought in to fill in a washout and is not local.


I had to help my son with his homework. This was entirely him, did it at his mom's house.


"I hunt aroheds in the fild. i am lrning to mak aroheds with bopr and flakr"

 

[Pripyat]

I was really excited about my ishi stick and flakes I ordered from Kentucky flint but I'm a complete idiot and somehow allowed PayPal to use an address I haven't lived at in nearly 10 years. It cost me $15 per package to intercept and have it returned to sender. Now I've got to wait for it to make it back, pay shipping again, and wait to receive it.

I'm learning how complicated this is.. I'm learning to get longer flakes when flaking but sometimes take too much off and I struggle with not having a systematic approach to get where I want to be. I can't see the "big picture" or rather I can't wrap my head around what issues my actions will cause me down the road. My son was freaking out when he saw this point.. he thinks I'm the best knapper LOL.

 

[Pripyat]

My son is waiting for more flakes, I think he's lost some of the excitement since he kept breaking his pieces. Now that I'm kindof getting the hang of shaping, I'm thinking I'll start trying to make him some blanks that I help him with. He's dangerous with the bopper lol. I was telling him to hit a certain spot to get a flake the other day. BOP! Nothing. BOP! Nothing. BOP! he completely misses the mark, hits the piece on top, the piece breaks in half. We both died laughing. It was a great moment, I'm so proud of him for not being a brat and whining about it. Still looking for local chert, a member suggested I ask on Facebook. I'll post back if I come across anything..

Meanwhile


I think I just need a lot more time on the bench to sort out my flaking. Does it look like I'm missing any flaking fundamentals? I really struggle with symmetry. I never thought it would be so hard to make the notches look similar on each side of the piece.

 

[Pripyat]

I have a feeling that my rate of progress is about to flatline... It was rewarding getting to this point. I know these aren't "good" points but its nice to be able to produce something that anyone without knowledge of this hobby/art would acknowledge as an arrowhead.

 

[Pripyat]

I know this is rough, not to mention the back side has this hump that I don't think can even be removed.. it wasn't a great flake to begin with. It was fun, though. And my son will freak out when he sees it. His 7 year old assessment of my points to date is: "the notches need to be deeper."

 

[Pripyat]

I started posting in the knapping group on facebook, holy crap there's a lot of traffic on there. I had pretty much written facebook off as useless but I'm so impressed with some of the groups. I will get 5 replies in 5 minutes. Nuts. I'll probably slow down posting on here. I'm working on my flaking, trying to get longer flakes.



I am going to pick up some graphing paper next time I go to the store. I'm thinking I can lay my points on it to help with symmetry. I have a really hard time telling what needs to happen to the piece for it to be symmetrical. There is apparently a big difference between being able to say something isn't right and being able to say with certainty how to fix it. LOL

 

[Older The Better]

I’m still struggling with longer flakes too but looks like you’re getting it down

 

[ToddsPoint]

That last obsidian point looks pretty good. You ran flakes all the way across. Keep it up! Gary

 

[Pripyat]

I suspected my progress would slow down, I was right. I've finally got an assortment of material and I'm slowly chipping all the cheap stuff, trying my best to learn to avoid hinging and step fracturing. I'm slowly starting to get it, at the cost of many stones. I think watching YouTube videos hurt me early on as much is it helped me. I think that I missed a very important point that you guys should be able to clarify.

When you strike a stone, Should you always strike the very edge? I read a long pdf on Flint knapping basics and it seems like their take on platforms was that you always struck the edge in the same manner, but there was a lot of edge preparation involved for each hit. I tried this and got much better flakes but it is extremely time consuming.

 

[Older The Better]

Setting up and selecting the right spots makes a big difference... unfortunately I don’t follow my own advice and wind up with fat arrowheads when the flakes don’t make it to the centerline.

 

[Pripyat]

I'm progressing but getting so much slower.. I don't have the time to spend knapping that I'd like and have generally been distracted to the point that I have been neglecting the things I enjoy most. Going to start working on that. I spent well over an hour on this piece and still haven't finished it. I started getting nervous since I had so much time invested. It isn't perfect but I am definitely starting to understand a little better.



[edit] I made an order from Dennis at Kentucky Flintworks, I majorly screwed up by not noticing that paypal was sending my packages to an old address. By the time I actually receive them, I will have paid to ship them twice, plus another $15 per package to have them intercepted. Over a month later.

I just spoke with him, I think that my box of flakes finally made it. At this point I expect my flakes will be more like dust.

 

[Pripyat]

I'm still dabbling with knapping although my son has been consumed by a video game and has mostly lost interest. He is super interested in what I'm working on and still likes to set up next to me and play around but knapping is no longer a priority. My main issue is I still don't have my tools. My flaker is nearly expired - My first one I purchased is a copper nail set in wood with expoxy. My son's (gifted by a forum member) floats between between my house and his mom's. I have an ishi stick, delrin flaker, and nails in a box at kentucky flint works. I sent him payment on 10/30 to reship my packages that had to be intercepted and returned to him. Last I spoke to him, on 11/18, he had gotten back from a work trip and was on quarantine until 11/20. He said he would get the packages out when he got out of quarantine. I have sent text messages and left voicemails every week since and can't get in contact with him. He seemed optimistic about getting them shipped out, I'm not sure what happened. I'm going to be super distraught if I don't get the boxes by Christmas break as I've taken the week before and after off work.

 

[Pripyat]

Another week has gone by and I still haven't heard from Dennis. I sent him an email, a text, and called him last week. Just left another voicemail. If any of you guys have him on facebook or know him personally, would you check in on him? Something is definitely not right. Last I heard, my boxes were re-boxed and ready to drop off at the post office.

 

[PaleIO]

Another week has gone by and I still haven't heard from Dennis. I sent him an email, a text, and called him last week. Just left another voicemail. If any of you guys have him on facebook or know him personally, would you check in on him? Something is definitely not right. Last I heard, my boxes were re-boxed and ready to drop off at the post office.

I ordered from him a couple of years ago....never again! It was only after 3 months that I got a refund. Hope it works out better for you than it did for me. The never answers and when he does excuses are abundant