Red Tipped Point

[Ron Kelley]

I took sneakygroundbuzzard's advice and am paying attention to how I hold the tools. It makes a big difference. I only have a few pieces of novaculite left so the other day I ordered seventy pounds of obsidian. Three different colors: black, banded, and mahogany. I was reading the recommendations of the dealer. He recommends obsidian for beginners but does not recommend novaculite for beginners. I guess I should have started with the obsidian. It will be interesting to see the difference.
These three points are all about 3 1/2 inches long. I like that red tip.

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

Ron, very nice work
if you ask a rock dealer that sells a lot of obsidion,he will recomend that for beginners
if you as ka dealer that sells a lot of novaculite,he will recomend that lol
go figure huh
personally i tell people to learn on the hardest rocks they can find
once you figure out how to make points from the hard material,you can make it from anything
  ok,so now if your switching to obsidian a few pointers for you
with obsidian you really need to abrade your edges/platforms quit well
one of the rules we knappers have for obsidian is to ABRADE ABRADE ABRADE,and when you think you have abraded it enough
ABRADE it one more time,but you want a fairly fine grained abrader or else it will take to big of flakes off while abrading
next thing is to keep your platforms well below the center line,as it is really easy to fold a piece of obsidian in half when striking
next would be , you will probably need to lighten up on your percussion swings and pressure flaking pressure
as this material is really brittle,after all it is only glass
let your percussion tool do the work,and not so much your arm
next would be
keep plenty of BAND AIDS on hand  :evil:
when working with dragon glass your going to bleed
sometimes you will start to bleed without even knowing you got cut
i use a piece of leather to hold obsidian with to help keep flakes from getting into my hand and fingers
also, i dont know if you wear safety glasses(or eye glasses) or not when you knapp
if not you probably should, flakes can jump and get into your eyes
i wear eye glasses and still get them in my eyes at times

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Tim, Thanks for the advice. I have a fine abrader that I didn't use much on the novaculite. Using the coarse abrader on novaculite I could rake off some good sized chips before abrading the platforms.

[OBION]

Doing good Ron!  Looking forward to seeing your obsidian pieces!

[JoshinMO]

How you hold the tools, as you knap in your palm?
Great Point's! :woohoo:  I have been trying to knap on my leg even though i learned to in my palm, figure it will be easier on me. :dunno:

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Josh, When I am pressure flaking with the ishi stick I hold the stone in my left hand on the inside of my left thigh and the ishi stick in my right hand inside my right thigh. Then I use my legs to put pressure on and snap a flake off. When using the billet I just hold the stone in my left hand and strike with the right. I catch my right wrist on my leg so I don't snap my wrist.

[cgode]

Nice work Ron......I like it!
I wish I had someone here close by that I could learn from, I would try my hand at knapping! Looks like it would be fun and a learning experience as well.
Ron, where did you order the obsidian from?.....been thinking of sending someone a little to play with as a gift.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Chris, You know I am a newbie. It has been interesting to learn a little. I ordered obsidian from two dealers.

http://kentuckyflintworks.com/index.html

http://www.neolithics.com/

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

you cant go wrong getting rock from dennis or craig
both are very reputable and know their rock
and both knapp
so that means they wont ever sell material they wouldnt be willing to work them selves

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Josh, I should have added this: When I'm pressure flaking I always use a thick palm protector. This rubber pad is 3/4 inch thick. Some people prefer the leather palm protector which is three layers of leather. While I'm talking safety: I wear cheap plastic safety glasses that have the top and sides covered.

[2ndoldman]

Ron you may consider yourself a newbie but you have talent.