Lately I've been 'under the weather' and haven't had a chance to do much. I finally got to the point I was so bored with being sick I went out to the rock pile and picked out an angular chunk of blue/black Fort Payne chert to play with. You find this type of mineral in northwestern Alabama. There are several variations of Fort Payne cherts. Native Americans have been using this resource since Paleo time to make cutting tools, scrapers, choppers, etc. Picking up an oblong quartz cobble (looks like I had pecked a groove in it as some point), to use as a hammerstone, I pictured the angle to strike thin blades. In a minutes time I had half a dozen sharp flake tools. To illustrate this, in the middle picture I used a flake to cut 1/4 inch stiff leather. These tools can be used as is, or with some modification, made into thumb scrapers, perforators, burins, etc. Nature provides, you just need to know how to use it.
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