Adventures in Flinknapping Part 1b - Safety

Safety

One of the most frequent topics covered in all of the knapping learning resource materials is safety.  When you think about it we are taking a sharp brittle object and placing it under extreme stress to the point of breaking with the goal of producing a another sharp object.  The small flakes produced during knapping are some of the sharpest objects known by man.  There is no doubt, if you knapp, you will eventually see your own blood.  Safety equipment will be the easiest of your equipment to source in the city environment.  Around here even some of the grocery stores carry safety glasses.

Glasses

At the very least wear safety glasses.

Let me say that again; At the very least wear safety glasses.  Tiny cuts, that on your hand are barely mild annoyances, can be major trauma to your eye.   Don't risk your ability to see.  Safety glasses, goggles and face shields are inexpensive and there is really no excuse to not wear eye protection when knapping.  Also do not forget to provide glasses for any spectators that would like to watch you knapp.

Gloves

Most videos on youtube show the master knapper happily chipping away bare handed.  Then in the next video he's wearing a bandaid, in the next video three bandaids.  If you don't wear gloves you will cut your hands.  I was knapping for about five whole minutes before my first blood offering.  It was nothing major by any means but located right in that annoying spot in the crease for the joint.

The danger here is that small flakes cut painlessly.  While most cuts will be mild and superficial, there is a risk of nerve, tendon and muscle damage that can cause permanent loss of mobility.  Wearing a glove at least on the hand you use to hold the material in is strongly recommended.  It's not really a matter of if, but when, you will cut your hands so keeping an open pile of bandaids very close at hand is also a good idea.

Legpad and Handpad

If you are percussion flaking you will need a tough pad to place on your leg.  Using a thick folded sheet of leather as a leg pad is the most common solution but not the only one.  The pad just needs to be flexible enough to contour around your leg, tough enough to not cut up easily from the flakes and provide enough padding against the hammering action of percussion flaking.  I recommend doubling up on the leg padding for the first couple of days.  After my first day with real tools my leg looked like I had been beaned by a baseball.  Some people use an old piece of carpet  placed upside down and have good results.  Rubber doormats are another common source for padding material.

Pressure flaking in the hand without a protective pad of some kind would be insane.  The pressure flaker will drive into your hand without a pad of some kind. Until you gain control, and also when driving larger flakes the tip of the pressure flaker will contact your palm with great force.  It is possible to pressure flake on your leg but again you need protection from the flaker itself as well as the razor sharp flakes it removes.  One of the things I intend to do is build a slotted hand pad but until then I am using some small pieces of leather stacked up.

Silicosis

When you are knapping you are creating razor sharp flakes of material of many sizes from larger than your hand to smaller than you can see.  Some of these small flakes instantly become airborne and are almost invisible.  Sharp flakes this small can enter your lungs and cause tiny cuts that over time add up and cause a condition know as Silicosis.  To combat this always try to knapp outdoors in a breeze.  If you must knapp indoors, great ventilation is a must.  Some knappers recommend working between a fan and open window wearing a mining grade respirator.  Please be aware that the dust that comes off your work is not good for you.

Ground Cover Cloth

A ground cloth or tarp to knapp over helps solve several problems. It catches most of the smaller debris that you will produce.  This will make the area safer for other people and pets as there will be fewer sharp rocks to step on.  It also helps you contain your debris so that it will not at some later date be confused with a real ancient knapping site.  It also provides a way to roll up your tools and materials into a neat bundle.  You can use an old sheet, large curtains, table cloth, or buy a tarp.  It just needs to be fairly sturdy and not full of holes or lace like.

Adventures in Flintknapping Part 1a

My Adventures in Flinknapping Part 1a

Learning what not to do.

When I ordered my first knapping tools and materials from Goknapping.com, I also ordered 25 pounds of Texas flint from ebay.  Due to the timing of my orders the stone from ebay arrived three days before my tools from Goknapping.com.  When the rocks arrived I was very anxious to get started and make some chips.

Not wanting to mess up good stone I selected the gnarliest looking nodule in the box.  I then chose my implement of destruction; a small steel tack hammer.  The tools of flinknapping modern and aboriginal all have one base attribute; they are somewhat soft and 'grip' on the stone surface when struck or pushed.  A steel claw hammer is not soft and does not grab the rock surface at all.

I learned that I can break large unpredictable hunks with a claw hammer but have almost no control while using one.  My recommendation to beginners is to definitely avoid the temptation of trying to knapp with a claw hammer.

Adventures in Flintknapping

My Adventures in Flintknapping

A few weeks ago I was looking over Wilderness Outfitter's online phase two topics noticed that one of the study areas was knapping.  As usual their articles and videos rekindled my interest in yet another bushcraft skill.  I have always had an interest in learning to make primitive and stone tools.  Flintknaping is also one of the bushcraft skills that can be learned and practiced just about anywhere.

I milled about for a couple of weeks doing internet searches for learning material, trying to see what free resources were available.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a thriving community of knappers online.  Like any other hobby knapping has it's own set of terminology, tools and skills to be learned and mastered.  Thankfully there are several books, hundreds of articles to read, and thousands of videos to learn from, covering he entire spectrum of the hobby.  I felt that I would like to share what I find as I go along to both hel others looking for the same information and to help solidify my personal understanding.

After a couple of weeks of getting acquainted with the very basics, I decided that I would like to actually make an investment and learn to do it.  The next decision to make was if I would try to make my own tools or just purchase them.  Knapping is a great hobby in that if you live in the right place, the tools and materials can be entirely free.  Stone tool making was accomplished for hundreds of thousands of years by gathering materials that are literally just laying around in nature.   Knapping tools and materials are readily available online and it is possible to locally gather all of the supplies you will need, even in an urban environment.

Tools

The basic tools of knapping are the percussion device,  pressure flaker, abrading stone, and personal protective equipment.  Modern knappers have a choice of two categories of those basic tools.  Traditional tools are what our ancestors used and can be as simple as a well chosen stone for a percussion device called a hammerstone.  Traditional pressure flakers are made from animal antlers or bone hafted into a wooden handle.  Abrading stones can be found as pieces from sandsone or sometimes granite.  Modern tools are mostly made from copper.

Finding traditional tools in the urban environment can be tricky but not impossible.  Your best option is to find another experienced knapper and ask them where to find tools.  Natural hammerstones and abrading stones can be found in some garden centers and landscaping supply houses.  Antlers for pressure flaking can be bit more difficult to find.  Hunters, taxidermists and leather craft stores are the best local sources.

Modern tools can be manufactured relatively easily but do require access to some tools.  All of the base materials to construct modern knapping tools can be found at home improvement stores.  Percussion tools called copper boppers can be made from lead, copper plumbing caps, dowel rods and epoxy glue.  Pressure flakers can be made from hardened copper electrical grounding wire and dowel rods.  Low grit grinding wheels make for near perfect abrading stones.  You need to have access to a power drill, bits, propane torch, hammer, a vice or anvil and something hard and round to pound the copper caps into shape. Unless you have many of these materials and tools on hand, I found that initially it is not very cost effective to build your first set of modern knapping tools.

Materials to Knapp

If you live in the city the options for free knapping materials are different but are still abundant.  One of the most readily available materials to the modern knapper is bottle glass.  Using this material is often called bottle knapping and the techniques are the same as with obsidian.

Natural knapping materials can be found in nature, but is not readily available for those of us living in the city.  Our easiest source of non glass material to knapp is from the internet.

Time to order

After searching around I finally decided to order my tools and stone from Goknapping.com.  I researched and found thier prices to be very competitive.  They have all of the gear you would need as a beginner, and are a one stop shop.  The shipping and handling (rocks are heavy) was the least costly I could find.

After placing my order I went back to looking for more learning material while I wait for the shipment to arrive.