Thursday, July 3, 2008

Stone Age Exacto Knife

Being a flintknapper, I love working large platters of stone. Though, sometimes it feels like you start off with a large spall and you're lucky to end up with a bird point...lol. Hiking around, I will periodically stumble upon a chunk of stone that has the right qualities to knap. They are generally on the small side...perhaps the size of a golf ball. Some native peoples, lacking ample stone resources, made the most of small blade cores. This turned into this evenings exercise in primitive skills. I found a small flint-like rock. Using a quartzite pebble I managed
to percussion strike a number of micro-blades. They were sharp. I cut my finger. Taking it a step further I split a stick I found, and compression hafted one blade with some tough plant fibers I didn't recognize. It may be small, but in a pinch it could skin a rabbit.

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