Week Two - My First Attempts

To start off this new week, my father introduced me to the tools and the techniques I will use. I also made three arrowheads which I will discuss. This post may be quite long due to the amount I will need to cover, but following posts will be more reasonable. On a separate note, donations of materials are welcome!

As I mentioned before, my father has all the tools I need and then some. Although some of these tools will probably not be used, I will still talk about their use to familiarize you before getting into my first attempts.

The round stones on the left are called hammerstones. They'd be used in hard-hammer percussion flaking by striking the edge of the material at a nearly parallel angle to create flakes. I won't be using them as hammerstones are typically reserved for axes and other large tools, not arrowheads. It can't be seen in the picture, but the ends of the stones are indented and damaged, indicating they were once used for this purpose. As such, you ought to look at the ends of any ovalish rocks you come across as it may be an Indian artifact! The hammer on the right is the modern equivalent.

Often you will need to rough out the general shape of an arrowhead before you can move on to the pressure flakers. These copper mallets and deer antler would be used by striking the edge of the piece to prepare the edge for pressure flaking. If the edge is too smooth, too thick, or at a right angle, pressure flaking will be difficult.

These are the pressure flakers. I will mainly be using the copper ones on the left as they are easier to work with, but the antler tines would have been used by the native populations. Nonetheless, they are still used by flintknappers today. It appears to be a matter of preference more than anything, but my father uses the copper pressure flakers as they do not need to be sharpened as much. To remove flakes of material, the pressure flaker is pressed down and into the edge. This causes the material to fracture conchoidally.

Made of sandstone, these abraders are rubbed against the edge of the arrowhead. As you'd expect, it dulls the edge, However, this is needed to prepare the platform, or the place the pressure flaker is pushed against. If the edge remains super thin and sharp, it will simply crumble under the pressure. Dulling the edge allows more pressure to be applied before it flakes, creating a longer and thinner flake. You can see these have been used numerous times due to the indents present.

Garrett asked if materials for flintknapping could be found in the surrounding area and the answer is yes. The gray and red rocks are porcelanite and can be found here in Montana. The blackish-brown rock is flint from the Knife River in North Dakota. The shiny, black rock is obsidian, also referred to as natural glass due to its characteristics. As a result of its characteristics, obsidian was highly prized among native populations. It can be found in Yellowstone, and there is evidence that obsidian was traded among different tribes. Finally, the yellow rock on the far right is Yellowstone agate from the Yellowstone River. Although there are sources of natural materials for flintknapping in the area, it is important to note that only rocks that produce conchoidal fractures can be used.

These are the materials I started with this week. The top piece is a glass plate while the bottom piece is blue glass from a bottle. As mentioned before, I will be working with glass for a few weeks until I become comfortable with the techniques needed.

To start off the week, my father showed me the tools and gave me a demonstration of their use. Afterwards, I gave it a shot.

These are my first three arrowheads. Sorry if they are hard to see. I should be able to take better photos next time.

This was my first arrowhead. It was made from a piece of the bottle glass and has a triangular shape with a notched bottom. It actually looks pretty good, but it does have quite a bit of room for improvement. The side facing the camera is thicker than the opposing edge, and a flat portion wasn't removed on the other side. Both of these problems will be resolved as I get better and become able to drive the flakes across the surface of the material, thinning it. Glass has two parallel and flat sections to it. If they aren't removed, the arrowhead doesn't look natural. This piece was originally larger, but I accidentally broke the tip off and had to shorten it. This arrowhead took me three hours.

The second arrowhead was made from the glass plate. Unfortunately, I had problems breaking the plate into usable sections and then roughing out the shape of the arrowhead. As a result, this arrowhead is smaller than I would have liked. Similar to the other arrowhead, I had trouble removing the flat section of the glass on one side and one side was thicker than the other. I spent an hour on this arrowhead as it was smaller and I was more confident in my skills. My dad recommended notching it and showed me a similar looking arrowhead in a book. Notching it was difficult, though, due to the thickness of the material. This book will be where I get most of my ideas for arrowhead designs.

Despite being my third arrowhead, this one is my worst. I was unable to remove the flat sections on both sides of the arrowhead and it is still quite thick. As such, it isn't sharp at all. In retrospect, I should have worked slower and took more time with it as only an hour was spent working on it. I do plan on returning to it when I am more skilled to finish it.

Overall, the problems I encountered can only be fixed with more experience. As I become better at flintknapping, I will be able to remove flakes that are longer and thinner. Most of the flakes I create are thick and short, so it is difficult to thin a piece and remove the flat section. Natural stone won't have those unnatural flat sections, but I still need to learn the skills. After watching my father work an obsidian point for a while, I noticed that he uses the abrader after nearly every flake he removes. I will try to use the abraders more often as I am certain I am not preparing the platform well enough. My father also works at a point on and off. Maybe producing an arrowhead in a single session is not a good idea.

Despite the troubles I came across, I am on schedule as I gave myself a few weeks to learn the skills on the glass. I will also try to spend more time on each point instead of rushing it. Perhaps I will bring my materials and tools to school towards the end of the project, but for now, I'll just read one of the books my father has or work on my blog. Lugging all the tools to school so I can work for a half hour isn't too attractive of an idea. The main thing I need to do to get better is to practice.