Tennessee Lithics

[Ron Kelley]

Chuck sent me ten lithic pieces. Today I picked two that looked like they would be tough Materials. I think they are Rhyolite and quartz. I can see why the ancient knapper would discard these in favor of knapping that beautiful Tennessee Skunk Chert that flakes easily. They measure 3.5 inches long. Thanks again Chuck.

[Kentucky point]

Excellent work! I'll bet that was some tough knapping!

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Ethan, The four Rhyolite pieces and one quartz were a challenge.

[CTex]

That man has some serious skills

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Kevin, I continue to learn each time i knap a point.

[Scorpion68]

Ron - I'm truly amazed at what you've done with that material. I would simply have put it in my wife's flower garden along with all the other stuff I've put in there. That milky quartz is some beautiful stuff but I know it's gotta be hard to knap. Like CTex says - you've got some serious skills.

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Chuck, That quartz had some extra tough material mid way down the point.

[redrocks]

Nice work on some tuff stuff Ron

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Red, They are tough materials but the Native Americans on the east coast sure knew how to work with these tough materials.

[redrocks]

Yes they did as it's one of our more common lithics here. But that one Iooks a bit more sugary than our more common milky quartz

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Red, The stone near the tip and base is good quartz. The material half way between the tip and base is sugary and was hard to knap.

[redrocks]

Oh yeah I see what you mean upon closer observation ...came out nice though

[Ron Kelley]

Today I didn't have much time to knap so I chose a piece that flakes easy. This spall was 7/16 inch thick so i pushed long flakes right from the get-go (More than 3/4 of the way across from both sides.) By pushing long flakes I can thin the stone down. Well it's not thick now. I got it down to 3/16 inch thick. The two and a half inch point weighs less than half an ounce (12 grams.)

[redrocks]

I missed this post Ron that came out awesome. .I can't believe how thin you got that...Nice work

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Red, That one would fit between the ribs.

[Ron Kelley]

Here are Three more points I knapped from Chuck's Tennessee lithics:

See that brown rock in the upper left of the photo? That is some poor rock that was difficult to knap away. This is probably why the biface was abandoned but I did manage to get a nice point.


I don't know what this blue-gray speckled rock is but it flaked fairly well:

[redrocks]

You definitely did manage to get two nice points...very nice Ron.

[Ron Kelley]

This Slab was sawed and had a few small flakes removed. I intended to leave the light tan material on the base but it was not good chert. I had to crunch the light color off. I got two small points from this stone.

[Scorpion68]

Ron - is it the quality of material that causes those hinge fractures? I don't notice it so much on the other lithic material.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Chuck, I think the hinges are the result of the flintknapper not taking the required time to avoid them. My bad really.

[Ron Kelley]

This gray rock has sparkles in it and it's some real tough stuff. I think it's a rhyolite. I have knapped seven of the ten stones and have been lucky to get a point from each. I have three more to knap.

[OnewiththewilD]

I really like that one that’s cool ! I can just feel it’s stubborness,lol

[Scorpion68]

Beautiful work. I thought you might get a bit of a test on this stuff.

[redrocks]

Nice work ...it looks like tuff stuff alright

[buster123]

Nice knapping, but are you knapping discarded preforms?

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Buster, No buts here. These are discarded bifaces. A lot of the material that I purchase from rock dealers is ancient spalls too. I purchased some hornstone that turned out to be an 85 pound ancient core that had spalls removed from the entire surface. I kept that one.

[Hoss]

Nice work Ron

[Ron Kelley]

Thanks Matt, I have knapped a lot of points with better flake patterns but I sure did enjoy the challenge of knapping some very tough material.

[JoshinMO]

Nice Stuff Guy's! I'm curious about The Rhyolite Source a bit. How far It traveled and such.

[Ron Kelley]

It traveled all the way from Tennessee to the U.P. :-)
I know what you mean Josh: I just couldn't help the little joke. Joshin ya.

[Scorpion68]

Josh - the rhyolite came from a mountain located along the Dale Hollow Lake.

[JoshinMO]

Oh, Thanks Guy's