Week Six - I Made a Website

This week, I tested out the heat-treated agates, repaired my pressure flaker, and made a website! I was also informed that the links to my pictures have not been working. I wish I knew this earlier, but I think I fixed it. Please tell me if the link asks for your permission before viewing the image.

The main pressure flaker I use has been getting dull and has gotten quite shorter. As such, it started to become difficult to use, so much so that I began to use the flattened pressure flaker instead. Many times, the wooden dowel the copper rod is embedded in would be in the way. I asked my father how I could fix the pressure flaker, and he said to take a knife and shave down the wood to expose more of the copper rod. He also got out some files so I could sharpen the flaker. The one on the left was the dull version, and the one on the right is the sharpened version. The copper isn't all that durable, so it does wear down over time, especially if you are using it for several hours a week for a couple of months. Now, it should be much easier to use, and I know how to repair it in the future.

This was my first arrowhead to be made from the heat-treated agates. The agate on the left was the one used and was about the perfect size. The agate was extremely hard to work, though. This was partly due to the shape and edges of the agate, but also simply because the agate was a piece of tough material. The edges of the agate had a rounded contour. This is nice if you plan to keep the agate in a collection, but it also made pressure flaking nearly impossible. Control-click the graphic to see a larger version.

The pressure flaker would slip off the edge. I could have placed the pressure flaker higher up on the edge, but that would require more pressure and strength. Eventually, I moved on to the copper mallets to prepare the edge. I could deliver a more powerful blow with them which manage to flake part of the edge. The other parts of the agate's edge could not be prepared with the copper mallets, so I tried something new. I had read that the copper mallets are softer than stone, so I got the idea that maybe using the hammerstones would be able to deliver the blow necessary to remove this rounded edge. They were slightly harder to use than the mallets, but they did work better. A weird thing I noticed while using them was that they smelled like gunpowder. I think that this may be more due to the bags they were stored in rather than the stones themselves smelling like gunpowder.

In the end, the arrowhead turned out okay. There are few flat sections I was unable to remove, and the tip did break off while working at it. The edge is clean, though, and the overall appearance is appealing.

After the first agate arrowhead, I tried using the agate circled in the left image. It slipped my mind to take a before photo, so the left photo is what you get. You can see how the agate looks really cool and would make a beautiful arrowhead. I broke off the smaller portion of the L-shape and began working. Unfortunately, it was as hard as the novaculite from last week. I tried going at it with the copper mallets, but it only broke the small piece more due to some interior cracks. Also, the white portion of the agate had very large crystals that wanted to simply crumble away when pushed against. In the end, I couldn't get anything from that agate, so I was glad I broke it in half so it was not entirely wasted.

My second arrowhead of the week was made from the porcellanite, or non-volcanic glass, I used last week. I had a few shards leftover, and I kept them in case I could use them. The piece was more square shaped, so I went with this style of notching in order to do something unique and to not have to reduce the size of the piece too much. All in all, it turned out rather nice and was much easier to make than the agate arrowhead above.

I forgot to take a picture, but this arrowhead was made from the bottom of a small, white jar. My dad broke the jar for me to use weeks ago, but I never got around to it. Working this glass arrowhead was extremely easy. I had sort of became used to the stone, so I didn't realize how much easier glass is too work. Popping off the first flakes require about the same amount of pressure, but once the edge has been reduced and worked, the glass has the obvious advantage. I believe I mentioned in last week's post that the longest flakes can be removed from the unworked edge of the material. That is, an edge that is at right angles with the face of the piece. I noticed while working this glass arrowhead that I could remove long flakes even while I finishing up the piece. In other words, I have become more skilled at flintknapping. I also have been developing and strengthening the muscles needed, as well.

The arrowhead turned out really nice, but there is one discolored spot in the glass towards the upper left of the arrowhead. It is sort of clear there, so I think there must have been some inconsistencies in the glass used. Perhaps the chemicals used to color the glass were not fully mixed in.

Absolute trash is what this agate arrowhead is. It was made from the agate seen on the left. This piece of agate was about an inch and a half in diameter. I tried a bit of flaking on the edge, and it was very difficult. Because of this, I decided I ought to break the agate in half before I began to work. After all, my finished arrowhead would be a nice size, but look horrific due to the large flat portions that would remain. Instead of snapping cleanly, I got a bunch of little slices as the agate fractured radially. Many of these slices also had cracks within them, so they would snap in the middle of working them. When an arrowhead is extremely small, it is difficult to place the pressure needed to remove a flake because the material will wiggle and flip about. This meant that the final outcome is not at all clean, is way too thick for its size, and still has the flat sections.

I doubt that we failed the heat-treatment. Instead, I think that agates are just very hard to work no matter what. I do not think I will make any more arrowheads from agates as I do not want to waste the beautiful agate slabs my dad has. Besides, next week is the final week, and there are some very cool pieces of glass I want to make some arrowheads from.

This arrowhead was rather small, and like the other porcellanite arrowhead above, it was made from a small shard I held on to. This was a shape I have been wanting to make for some time, but I could never get the material to work with me. The tang on the upper right was damaged, but it turned out fine.

These two arrowheads are a couple my father made, and he decided to take some pictures of them the same way I have. The left is a piece of obsidian with a bizarre golden sheen. My father thinks that I might be caused due to the minerals that made the obsidian. Although it can't be easily seen in the photo, it looks very cool. That arrowhead was originally part of a spear point he was making that snapped in half. I mentioned in the previous blog in which I attempted to make a glass spear point. I hope to be able to make an obsidian spear point next week, but if it breaks in half, I will make two smaller points. The one on the right is a piece of gray fiberglass, and it has an almost otherworldly effect. My father has a couple pieces of candy-striped fiberglass for me to use, so they should look beautiful if I can get them to work with me. It is not pictured, but there is also a piece of iridescent glass I am eyeing. When held to the light, a fire dances within. Please be sure to check out my next blog to see how these will go. Since they are all glass more or less, I will hopefully not have much difficulty working them.

All in all, I am quite disappointed with this week. I wanted to make some stone arrowheads from a number of different materials, but I failed with the agate. I think it might be more that the material was too hard and not that I am not skilled enough. Either way, I also made fewer arrowheads than I wanted to. Part of this was due to Thanksgiving taking a large chunk of time I could use away and because I had a number of other things to do. I also made that website, though I mainly worked on it while at my Grandma's when I didn't have access to my flintknapping tools. Personally, I do not really care for the two-week period we had last week or this week. I am on schedule, though, and I will move on to some neater pieces for next week's blog. Be sure to come back next week to see them!