beginners stone supply ?!?

[Sockrsblur]

Hi guys. Recently I purchased a stone snapping beginners kit online from stone breaker. Very basic with 12 pieces of 5 different kinds of stone. I LOVED IT! LOL but now I want more stone. But not a 12lb piece. I loved this ready to go obsidian flakes. From what I can find on line its not that cheapand that's ok but I was hoping for a little direction to prevent multiple buys to find what im looking for. Thanks for any direction you can provide!  I collected sinue from a doe my brother shot last fall. And ran all around collecting what I thought was river cane last fall... turns out its some type of switch cane I guess, much thinner walled. I still scrapped down the nodes sanded it heated and straighted it just to get a little feel for what it was all like. I would love to make arrows out of natural things I could gather from nanure. Well this is getting long so in closing ill add i always was an Archery nut but I am new to traditional gear. Im honestly drawn to building all my own gear. Love the web site, its amazingly HUGE! Thanks, jim.

[sam barrett]

I just started knapping myself.  You could use glass.  Very cheap, often times free.  Just break the bottom out of a beer bottle and go to town.  Glass is also one of the easier materials to work with from what I understand.  Good luck.

[Pat B]

You can get 1/4" plate glass scraps from the dumpster behind your local glass co...or ask them, they will probably give you all you want.
 I know there are plenty of knappers here on TradGang but PA has a thread specifically for knapping. Check it out. Those guys trade back and forth all the time. You may even have natural sources of knappable materials where you live.
 Another option is the tank and tank top from a toilet. This ceramic is tough to knap but will make excellent points and blades.

[SCATTERSHOT]

For practice, you can use Thunderchert. (Broken pieces of ceramic toilet). Cheap, and I'm told it works beautifully.

television glass works real good if you can find an old tv.





as you can see im not real good at it but its fun and i learn somthing new everytime i try, just made me some copper boppers and im going to get me some chert to work on this weekend.  i think ( semo) was selling some chert over on the classifieds he might be able to hook you up with some.   good luck

i might try that broken toilet myself, i know where ones at.

[Grey Taylor]

Thunderchert works great. Use the tank, not the bowl.

Guy

[Pat B]

Thunder chert or johnstone! d;^)

[JamesKerr]

I agree use the glass. The toilet ceramic does work fine for percussion flaking but it does not pressure flake well. Glass is just like working obsidian. It takes well to both percussion and pressure flaking but if you have to really abrade it well and you have to be carefull and not hit it to hard or use to much pressure when pressure flaking. I recommend novaculite as a great stone for beginners. It will pressure flake almost as easily as obsidian will but is a little more forgiving if you use to much pressure and it makes a stronger hunting point than obsidian.

[JamesKerr]

Oh and may I add that Curtis Smith has some of the best quality stone for a very decent price. The only thing is sometimes he does not have novaculite.

[Sockrsblur]

Thanks for the tips and input guys! All appreciated!

[Jon Stewart]

check out PlaleoPlanet.com and primitive Archer.com both have good kanpping sites.  carefull on old TV glass.  Heard its a bit nasty if you breath it.  I work with the wind to my back or if no wind a fan blowing the dust away from me.

I also find that the older the glass the better it works. I find desert glass all the time and it works good.  Also good practice for your percussion

[JamesKerr]

I second Jon Stewart never knap in an inclosed area. You always want either the wind or a fan blowing on you to keep from breathing the flint or glass dust.

[shawnee]

The dangerous stuff on the TV glass is the silver coating on the back.  Use gloves, and rinse it off with an outside faucet.  I've been told the coating contains mercury.

Once the coating is off, it's just like working regular glass or obsidian.

[Pat B]

You should be knapping in a well ventilated area anyway because of silica dust from most rock.

[Grey Taylor]

Silicosis is nothing to mess around with. More than one knapper has fallen prey to it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

Guy

[calgarychef]

If I knap in the garage with the door closed my lungs definately feel it.  So it's true, good ventilation is a must with this stuff.