I was working on a biface I've had for about a year. No plan on what to do with it, just letting the rock tell me what to make. The "fluting" was done with pressure, so it's not exactly right. But since I try to avoid taking flakes from the base this was a nice way to dip my toes in. Overall I'm pretty happy with how my second raw Georgetown point turned out.

Wasn’t super happy with how the last one turned out so I decided to take another whack at it. Still had a couple hang ups but maybe I learned something for next time. Raw Georgetown

Ended up getting a nice Adena from that rough stuff from yesterday

Most of the time I feel like I am just dissembling big rocks into tiny rocks. Once in a while I get lucky and get something that resembles an arrowhead. Though if you looked at them closely they are not even close to being right. I can't get the biface right and generally end up just thinning the stone away on one side to nothing. When I do get a biface I can't get it thin enough so end up with chunky arrowheads that need to go on a diet.

Just got to keep practicing and watching videos. I am enjoying it but what to do with all of the tiny little pieces?

Recently my professor for my anthropology course conducted a flint knapping demonstration. Providing an interactive opportunity for us students. (Immensely interesting for me, I could barely stand still.)

I stayed after class and sparked up a conversation about the hobby, eventually he ended up gifting me a large piece of opaque obsidian/dacite. This is the piece I made from the main nodule. I plan on gifting it back to him soon.

Grabbed a rough piece of Burlington for a challenge. Ended up with a decent biface that's pretty rough material on the bottom half. I'll be using it for a stemmed point. My notching isn't very good on nice materials, so I know this one would work me over.

One of the weirdest rocks I’ve found. The core is super rough while the material near the cortex is still good. Anyone ever heard of a freeze cracked core? First one I’ve found like this.

1.wood bopper

2.copper bopper

3.wildboar femur bopper

4.large stone hammer

5.small stone hammer

6.pointed flaker/copper ishi stick(korean war bullet)

7.blunt flaker/copper ishi stuck(bullet)

8.wood flaker

9.pointed flaker(bullet)

10.simple copper flaker

11.copper flaker/punch

12.cow bone flaker

13.wildboar teeth flaker

I had one more copper(bullet) flaker, but I lost it

What do I need more?

(I want to buy an antler but it is so expensive to me..)

I made this Acheulean Handaxe from basalt several weeks ago during a demonstration for an archaeology class at Berea College. Acheulean technology is perhaps the longest utilized stone tool tradition, lasting from about 1.8 million to as late as 170,000 years ago. This is modeled after some of earlier examples made in Africa from similar stone, by Homo erectus. Despite the name “handaxe” these are thought to have functioned more as multipurpose cutting tools, rather than for chopping.

Got a bit better at knapping I think with a bit of working on flint with help from a knapping teacher! Looking forward to making more in the future.

I want to remove the lighter coloured flint that’s on the soon to be hafting point

I know that I missed the submission date for this month's challenge by a few hours

But I figured id show off my little point anyways.

I loved working with such a unique glass, it sparkles prettily in the light.

This is what I use as my bopper and my punch, but I need a soft hammer, or at least something bigger than this. Where do I buy deer antlers in Israel ?

I stalled my notches on this one, but I'll take it.

Picked up some glass tiles for practice and they’ve been working great!

Hello, I have recently gotten a few blocks of obsidian and am looking for someone to help me make some custom Armenian style crosses made from them, any help or suggestions on who could help me would be appreciated

Hello hello everyone! 👋

Before i went off to the Bois D'Arc Knap-in, I did some tool maintenance and decided it was a great time to take a photo of everything I kept in my toolbox! It started out pretty small, swelled a bit in sized, and then shrunk back down to where it is now and honestly I think I'll be set for good with all that I have now.

Tool List (Pic #2 - Starting upper left corner moving right like reading a book):

• Orange storage container for my diamond files
• Blue storage container for my extra copper bits and copper punch
• My green slotted 3D-Printed palm pad above
• Small 20 gauge 3D printed pressure flaker
• Black 16 Gauge Copper 3D-printed pressure flaker
• Orange 16D Steel Nail 3D-printed notcher
• Green 4 Gauge Copper 3D-printed pressure flaker
• Blue 12 Gauge Copper 3D-printed pressure flaker
• Yellow 6 Gauge Copper 3D-printed pressure flaker
• Red Horseshoe nail 3D-printed pressure flaker
• 1" Solid Copper Billet
• 1.5" Solid Copper Billet
• Above those is a bag of 3D-printed point scans for quick references

Tool List Pic #3

• 2 grades of abrasion stone, one fine and one corse
• An assortment of pliers for tool maintenance
• Screwdriver for set screws in pressure flakers
• Extra horseshoe nails
• Bag on top has a bunch of finger tape for when I want to go glove-less
• The paint brush above that is for brushing flakes off myself because splinters suck and when your hands are sweaty, stuff sticks to you. Paintbrush fixes this 😎

Tool List Pic #4

• 3/8" Diameter Indirect Rods (1 Copper and 1 Brass)
• 1/2" Diameter Indirect Rods (1 Copper and 1 Aluminum)
• 3D-Printed Precision indirect Tool
• Safety Glasses Case + Safety Glasses
• 2" Diameter UHMW Plastic Dowel for indirect
• 1.5" Elk Billet for Indirect (Gonna eventually need another one of these)
• File for copper end bit maintenance

Last two pics are first aid kit which I've used a bunch, and my toolbox all packed up! I often leave the UHMW Plastic dowel behind because I don't use it unless I'm doing stuff like glass or light brittle rock. It's a lot less violent than the elk antler (though I still use it anyways often times).

Just thought I'd share with y'all, and if you have any questions feel free to ask! Always love me some friday tool talk 🙂‍↕️ Stay safe and happy knapping!

- u/SmolzillaTheLizza 🦎

Saw Smolzilla post and figure Id share mine. I won this mechanic dolly and it's been one of the best additions to my knapping set up.

Spent most of the summer knocking out points from some Texas flint I picked up at a rock shop swap meet, and for months my pressure flaks kept hinging out halfway across the face no matter how sharp my copper tool was. Turns out my problem was never the tool, it was that I was skipping proper platform isolation and just mashing the edge before I flaked.

What changed things was slowing way down on the abrading step. I switched to a small piece of sandstone and started doing maybe fifteen light passes per platform instead of the three or four rushed swipes I used to do, checking under a headlamp at a low angle so I could actually see the crush. Once the edge had that dull, slightly matte look instead of a sharp glassy lip, the flakes started running long and thin instead of stepping out.

I also started grinding my platforms in smaller, more isolated spots rather than running the abrader down the whole edge in one pass. Isolating each platform individually seems obvious in hindsight but I'd been treating edge prep like one continuous operation instead of a series of little setups, one per flake.

Finished a decent 3 inch bifacial point last night, first one in a while that didn't end in a step fracture two thirds of the way through thinning. Still get outshined every time I look at old Clovis or Folsom examples in museum photos, the amount of control those knappers had with way less feedback than I get from a headlamp is humbling.

Anyone else go through a phase where the fix wasn't a new tool but just slowing down on prep? Curious what platform routines other people settled into, especially for finer grained material like this Edwards flint versus the coarser Burlington chert I usually work.

I was shooting for the brown blade from memory. By the time I looked it was already to late to copy it exactly, but I'll still take whatever this is lol.

Here are some of my reference photos for Hayes points. These are all authentic examples of Hayes points, I do not own these points. Posted as reference for:

u/waspix223

I have more photos of Hayes as well as Agees I can dig up...but they may be on an old phone.

Made out of a variety of silver sheen found at Glass Buttes. Almost looks like midnight lace obsidian but silver sheen instead of black!

$50 + shipping. US only. DM me if interested.