Blog by: Ray Harwood. (contact at: figflint@yahoo.com)
standsalone3@yahoo.com
Hello,
My name is Jim Conacher
. In 1989 I found my first arrowhead in east Texas. It was made of petrified wood and is what we call a killer point, a simple triangle. For almost the next two years I beat on almost every type rock I could find with no luck in making points. Then I found a piece of
. In 1989 I found my first arrowhead in east Texas. It was made of petrified wood and is what we call a killer point, a simple triangle. For almost the next two years I beat on almost every type rock I could find with no luck in making points. Then I found a piece of
standsalone3@yahoo.com
for a number of years before I heard an advertisement on the radio for a Knap-in(something I knew nothing about) and they said something about making arrowheads so I went. This was at Flint Ridge. As I walked around the park looking at all the points Iwas amazed because at this time I thought i was the only person doing this.
I spent the rest of the day walking around and eventually bought a starter kit from one of the venders. I then went home and read the directions because the kit had a stick with a nail in it. And from what I had already taught myself and what I learned from the directions that came with the kit I pressure flaked my first point. I then took this into my Father-in-law, because back then I was married,and showed him; him being part Indian. He proceeded to tell me that points were all over the area and that it was a nice find. I then informed him that I had just made this point and he couldn't believe it.
While at the Knap-in I came across Ed Mooreland giving a demonstration over his tarp to a man so he could sell him some rock. I had never seen Flint Ridge flint before and had been asking everyone about petrified wood. I eventually went and talked to Ed and he talked to me about the flint from Flint Ridge. This is the state rock of Ohio and is considered a gem stone because of the colors. Ed demonstrated how to drive flakes off the flint. At this time I got one of his business cards on Flint knapping.
After using all the flakes in the kit I had purchased I
called Ed up and asked him about lessons. I was at his place as much as I
possibly could be so that I could pick his brain and learn more. The first
point I ever fully saw him make was out of a piece of Chert that I had bought
at the knap-in. He worked it with percussion and pressure flaking but during
the process he broke it but was able to save it. Breakage happens to the best
of us. At this time I noticed he was using copper tools and this is the first
time I had heard of copper tools. I commenced to pick his brain about then
also. Needless to say I still have this point.Since then we have knapped
together and gone out of state to other knap-ins. I started mining, processing
and working my own flint. I now make a variety of reproduction arrowhead styles
covering all the time periods. I also make arrows, bows, war clubs, knives,
atlatls and play with pipe stone.
My products are in Europe. I have arrowheads in super-nice
modern collections. I have people that use my bows and arrows to hunt. Now I go
to a variety of Knap-ins in multiple states but always return home to Flint
Ridge.
Knapping and mining flint is all that i do now due to the
simple fact that there are no longer any jobs available.
It's funny how finding something from the past that you have
no idea how it was made can change your whole life.
The Dog Valley knapping: Belinda Woodward
The Dog Valley knappin was great! we had a lot of people show up for the event. Some of the fun events we put on were: played horseshoes, amazingly delectable potlucks meals, lots of knapping, and napping and lots of good wood smoke smelling fires, to and enjoy. We had a great time visiting too, with many great times.
Some of the knappers that showed up were: Dick Woodward, Newt Woodward, Jim Hopper, Phil Churchill, Greg Nunn, Burr Garetson,
Kenneth Eley, James Shipley, Larry Averett, Grady Bowen, Bo Earl, Eric Ewers,
Ken Howard, Jim Smith, Dan amblin, Andrew Straup, and also many rock hounds and many friends attended. We also had alot of guided trips to local sites. Many amazing pieces of lithic art were made and showed and knapping demos complimented what was displayed. Lots of trading of material and points. It turned out great again. Thanks everyone. Contact me about next years event.
Elmer Snagnasty
Points points points! All the glorious points, and now with
the ability to send them through the mail and have one from every state, every
point type from every state, and every single knapped projectile point and the
county it came from, bought on a hunch or with papers of authentication, not so
different than Baseball cards. Not just the points but the blades too, and the
Celts and the Beads, and the pottery, and the bones, and the fossils, and the
antiques, and reliquaries, and even books about them: you can own your very own
mini museum. Own all the precious remnants of a way of life that looked nothing
like the land around us today. Those fragments may be the closest thing you’ll
ever come to time travel.
Imagine fences as creeks, asphalt as earth, fast food was a
rabbit and Eagles were airplanes, no prisons, no stores, no billboards, and no
voting boxes, no paper. Imagine a place where you walked around, maybe
barefoot, you knew how to make everything you needed from the flora and fauna
around you. And while there were problems, as I tend to omit in this little
daydream, I find it’s easy to get nostalgic, it’s easy to drift off into a
setting where the stars are still visible. In this place it’s not always about
the things you know, but the things you don’t have to know. You don’t have to
know the date; you don’t have to know the time. You don’t have to know, you can
just be. There is a complete shift in your obligations. Nature fixes your
messes and the things to be fearful of are not these phantoms we conjure up nowadays,
but actual Beasts, actual hunger, protection from the Elements. Some things are
the same as they have ever been. This place was real, worldwide, not that long
ago; the Garden of Eden was yesterday.
But what if you can find one thing that you left there? It
really doesn’t matter what, just one thing, a token of your time spent in the
Garden. And carry it with you into the Future. What would that be? It might be
a different thing for every person. It might be a story, a tradition, maybe a
concept, or an idea.
I’m hardly going to pretend that Knapping is the end all and
be all of anything. I make the most expendable part of the archery tackle for
all practical purposes. But even if I know about atomic theory, electricity,
chemistry, science, history, art, medicine, the internet, literature, biology,
Mandelbrot hypercube fractal Mathematics, Hadron Particle Colliders,
antigravity subzero ceramic floating wafers and friggin’ microwaves, I
ugh…kinda just like the idea that somewhere on Planet Earth out of billions of
people, maybe a couple of them know how to knap, just simply for the intrinsic
sake of still having people…who know how to do that.
 |
| Snagnasty |
The Diversity of Ishi's Points
Morphological typologies of projectile points in North America have often been employed as time-sensitive prehistoric cultural markers. By Ray Harwood.
The diversity of Authentic Ishi's points From Private Collections
Through a shadowy maze of secret connections and back room meeting and a plethora of
postings, E-mails, phone calls and letters. Lots of dead ends but some pay dirt.
Projectile point typology has been a controversial subject, best
summarized by John C. Whitaker (1994) "Archaeologists are
occasionally accused , even today, of a pathological desire to
classify everything into neat little pigeonholes. While
classification can be carried to absurd extremes, there are a number
of good reasons why we are interested in typology, studying and
establishing schemes for classifying objects and phenomena." This
being established. the Ishi point being discussed is actually a
hybrid of a classic western point type the Desert Side Notch Point,
referred to most often as the "Redding Subtype", mean weight = 2.99+-
0.98, basal width/max. width ratio = 1.00 +- (Shackley, 2001). The
Desert Side Notch point is best known for its characteristic
Isosceles triangular, basic shape with side notches and concave
base. The blade edge is straight while other California area side
notched points have an excurvate blade edge. The average width to
thickness ratio for this point is 5/1. Some specimens have some
basal grinding for the haft. The average length of the Desert Side
Notch is 2 to 4.5 cm. The carbon 14 dates for this series suggest
that it appeared sometime after 1,100 A.D. and continued into the
Historic era. An archaeologist named Lyton found a Desert Side Notch
point in association with the charred bones of a domestic cow at
Hanging Rock Shelter, Northwest Nevada, therefore indicating use by
historic Northern Paute.
Smaller then the more stylized Ishi point, the Desert Side Notch
resembles the side notch Cahokia points from the Midwest and the
Ishi point resembles attributes of certain Basket Maker III points
of Colorado.
To demonstrate the diversity of Ishi's points and existing specimen
data of Ishi's points(see Shackley , 1991, 1994, , 1996, 2000 ).
Unfortunately Ishi gave away and sold many of his points while doing
his demonstrations. But fortunately many of these have been tracked down in private collectionsand studied and there are 120 specimens in
museums, some of which are now available as castings (Peter Bostum's Lithic Casting Lab). The "classic Glass Ishi" is an ornate DesertSide Notch, and the style reflected in this paper, the totals of
these specimens is 49 and another 8 DSN with serrated edges,
certainly not what most of us see in our minds eye as a true "Ishi"
yet he made them. 17 of the specimens are corner notched, expanding
stem points, with another 5 of these being the same form but
serrated - again = certainly not what most of us see in our minds
eye as a true "Ishi" yet he made them. 10 of the Ishi specimens are
of the cottonwood triangular -concave base-again = certainly not
what most of us see in our minds eye as a true "Ishi" yet he made
them. 18 are basal notched with contracting stem, 6 more are basal
notched with contracting stem but serrated-again = certainly not
what most of us see in our minds eye as a true "Ishi" yet he made
them. Of the "classic Ishi" is a ornate Desert Side Notch the bulk
were made after , and during, 1911 at the museum 49 in the museum
collections, 4 in private collections for a total of 53, 2 were
excavated at Payne's Cave, TEH193 (see Shackley , 1991, 1994, ,
1996, 2000 ), 3 at Kingsley Cave, TEH-1, (again see Shackley , 1991,
1994, , 1996, 2000 ). For a grant total of 53 classic Ishi points .
The problem with cross-tabulation for statistical data is this, what
if Ishi (or Kroeber) simply held on to his best points, or his
worst? this would have set a majority of "non classic Ishi's into
the public giveaways and left a disproportionate number of the
classic style in our data base. We can sit and think, were the
cottonwoods preforms for "classic Ishi's?", saving preforms for
opportune times of concentration are best for advance notching. and
so on... After looking at all the Ishi's I see none that were not
very well crafted, despite the stage of reduction/production. The
medial oblique -parallel flaking on prepared platforms set and
abraded to perfection. Ishi's point style and form varied from one
setting to the next, his environment, necessity or public opinion
seems to have played a role in the point type he crafted at any one
time.
Morphological typologies of projectile points in North America have often been employed as time-sensitive prehistoric cultural markers. This article demonstrates that the contingencies of point manufacture, hafting, use, and rejuvenation create morphological changes that may render questionable use of these morphological typologies as prehistoric cultural markers. Thirty projectile points were replicated according to the attributes of a commonly employed typological scheme for the Great Basin. Experiments with hafting, impact, and rejuvenation demonstrate that a single point-type may manifest more than one "time-sensitive" shape within its normal uselife.Morphological Projectile Point Typology: Replication Experimentation and Technological Analysis
J. Jeffrey Flenniken, Anan W. Raymond
American Antiquity, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 603-614
Many projectile points have a diagnostic element that may, or may
not, earmark some chronological period, region or cultural
tradition. A class of artifact sharing generalized, definable
attributes is known as a "type", the type may then intern be part of
a larger tradition. Within each tradition there are often several
distinct sub-traditions. Sub-traditions are most often characterized
by stylistic variations.
Projectile point typology has been a controversial subject, best
summarized by John C. Whitaker (1994) "Archaeologists are
occasionally accused , even today, of a pathological desire to
classify everything into neat little pigeonholes. While
classification can be carried to absurd extremes, there are a number
of good reasons why we are interested in typology, studying and
establishing schemes for classifying objects and phenomena." This
being established. the Ishi point being discussed is actually a
hybrid of a classic western point type the Desert Side Notch Point,
referred to most often as the "Redding Subtype", mean weight = 2.99+-
0.98, basal width/max. width ratio = 1.00 +- (Shackley, 2001). The
Desert Side Notch point is best known for its characteristic
Isosceles triangular, basic shape with side notches and concave
base. The blade edge is straight while other California area side
notched points have an excurvate blade edge. The average width to
thickness ratio for this point is 5/1. Some specimens have some
basal grinding for the haft. The average length of the Desert Side
Notch is 2 to 4.5 cm. The carbon 14 dates for this series suggest
that it appeared sometime after 1,100 A.D. and continued into the
Historic era. An archaeologist named Lyton found a Desert Side Notch
point in association with the charred bones of a domestic cow at
Hanging Rock Shelter, Northwest Nevada, therefore indicating use by
historic Northern Paute.
Smaller then the more stylized Ishi point, the Desert Side Notch
resembles the side notch Cahokia points from the Midwest and the
Ishi point resembles attributes of certain Basket Maker III points
of Colorado.
Not every man in the Yahi culture made and used arrowheads. Pope
(1913) stated that the flintknapping art was the special function of
the older and more skillful men. "Ishi seems to have been associated
with the medicine man of his tribe. Besides the usual customs, he
preserved many of the more highly developed arts and crafts of his
culture".
Kroeber's accounts (1961) of Ishi's practices collecting knapping
glass are quite vivid, and this particular passage captures the
event in detail: " Plate glass, brown glass from beer bottles and
the blue glass of "Milk of Magnesia bottles" were among Ishi's
favorite lithic materials. " As a final irony of the time of Ishi's
concealment, Ishi was cut off from trade to the north and south and
Yana country had no obsidian or flint. Painstakingly and silently,
Ishi had visited the length of Lassen Trail, every campsite of
emigrant, hunter or camper, up and down Deer Creek, and the cabin
middens and ranch dumps of whatever dwelling he could reach by light
and return from by night, combing them for the discarded bottles
they were likely to contain. Once back home, he shaped at his
leisure, the pieces of glass into his ammunition."
Dr. M. Stephen Shackley has done, what I consider, the most important Ishi lithic research to date, he is currently engaged in a number of research projects at the Hearst Museum and continues field and lab research on archaeological obsidian in western North America including northern Mexico. Dr. Shockley’s research continues to involve undergraduate and graduate students in the energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence laboratory in the Department of Geology and Geophysics. .
In 1990 Dr. Shackley began a metric and morphological analysis of Ishi's stone tools curated by the museum in Berkley from the period between 1911 and 1916 when Ishi lived at the museum, then in San Francisco. Dr. Shackley published his findings in his land mark Ishi Article in Berkely Archaeology; The Archaeology Research Facility Newsletter; Spring 1996 Volume 3, Number 2 Ishi Was Not Necessarily the Last Full-Blooded Yahi:Some Inferences For Hunter-Gatherer Style and Ethnicity.
1996 Ishi was not Necessarily the Last Full-Blooded Yahi:
http://www.qal.berkeley.edu/arf/newsletter/3.2/yahi.html Some Inferences for
Hunter- Gatherer Style and Ethnicity. Berkeley Archaeology 3(2):1-3.
”As part of the study, I compared the metric and morphological data of Ishi's projectile points to those from historic Yahi and Southern Yana contexts in collections from Kingsley (CA-TEH-1) and Paynes Caves (CA-TEH-193) housed in the museum, excavated in the 1950's by Martin Baumhoff, then a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology. Immediately apparent was the extreme difference in form and metric attributes between Ishi's assemblage and the points from historic Yana contexts. While at the museum, Ishi produced almost exclusively triangular, concave-based side-notched points with relatively large blades, and triangular, expanding stemmed, corner-notched points mainly with straight bases; the notches are typically "keyhole" notches produced by using the "point-of-tool" method of notching. These styles were almost completely absent from the historic sites, and one side-notched point recovered from Kingsley Cave was produced from a brown chert absent in the region, and possibly exchanged as a finished tool.
Another line of evidence strengthens the inference that Ishi consistently produced points dissimilar to the Yahi. In 1908 when a group of engineers came upon the last four Yahi, including Ishi, on Deer Creek they stole many of the artifacts from the camp. The group consisted of an old man, an old woman, a young woman, and Ishi. One of the arrows, now at the Hearst Museum, is tipped with a glass arrow point. This point, based on an x-ray, is a triangular, expanding stemmed, corner-notched point with a straight base, morphologically identical to those produced by Ishi at the museum, but dissimilar to the forms recovered from the Yana sites. While we will never know if Ishi actually produced this arrow (apparently no one thought to ask him), the evidence suggests he did. In 1990, the research stopped at this point with way too many questions.”
Afterward, Dr. Shackley returned to the museum and searched for collections from sites containing historic Maidu or Wintu material. One site was found, the Redbank Site (CA-TEH-58), excavated by Adán Treganza in the 1950s that was characterized as a historic Wintu village. It was Immediately apparent to Dr. Shackley’s trained eye, the projectile points of Wintu were nearly identical to those produced by Ishi while at the museum “ particularly the triangular, concave-based "keyhole" side-notched points with relatively large blades. Quantitative analyses, mainly a Mahalanobis method, discriminant analysis, concur with the morphological assessment. The projectile points produced by Ishi while at the museum, and likely while living the aboriginal lifeway at Deer Creek, are quite similar to Wintu point forms and not ancestral Yahi point forms, lending further support to the physical anthropological evidence. Interestingly, the ethnographically collected arrow with hafted stone point collected in 1885 from the Wintu area illustrated in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California (pp. 330, fig. 4, top), curated at the Smithsonian, appears to be a side-notched point of this style including a notch produced by the point-of-tool method.”
Chris Nichols RIDGE CRITTERS!
My attempt to start making effigies, all started last summer at flint ridge knap-in, I had a buffalo I knapped years ago from a flake that had that basic shape already, it was the center piece of a case of mine and caught the eye of the newspaper reporter, who ended up putting it on the front page of the paper and asked me if was for sale. I had to say no, it was the first effigy I had made and held a special spot in my journey as a knapper! After that, I knew I had to start making them.
It started with the buffalo, then to birds and even a beaver. I wanted to stick with animals that held the most meaning to a way of life that is that is long gone for most of the world. I have a few more animals ill be working on in the weeks to come, bears, turtles, and fish
It started with the buffalo, then to birds and even a beaver. I wanted to stick with animals that held the most meaning to a way of life that is that is long gone for most of the world. I have a few more animals ill be working on in the weeks to come, bears, turtles, and fish
Chumash Indian Style Spartacus Sword
Ray Harwood
Purple Sheen Obsidian, opaque, obtained from the Bowden Brothers, was knapped into a 12 inch by 3 inch blade and mounted into a hand carved handle. Mounted with Carpenteria-
Chumash tar adhesive and trimmed with modern made Chumash like beading.
The Chumash made these but alot smaller. I think they are the ones you descripbed. The swaord is Chumash style but not a replica of anything , I was trying to make a Sparton short sword but used Chumash style carved wood handle with "Carpenteria - tar" with Chumash
style inlaid beads. I always loved how the Chumash inlaid the supper white dentillian shell beads into the pitch black Carpeteria Tar, witch gave a really cool contrast, like stars in the night sky. I left the handle a little rough to simulate the craft style of that area near Ventura, California.
DAGGER WEEK! By Emory Coons
They was a rock i chipped them out..... the end.....Lmao I always liked daggers and swords stone, metal, or ground out like the terracotta warrior's in china, they always held a fascination to me. each is individually done and even though there the same shape each has it's own unique feel and story. It is like i say a art not just a tool to be used for death and destruction. the angles challenge the artist when being made out of each stone.
If the blow to the edge is off the piece might be several and nothing more than dust on the pile of flakes for some lucky archaeologist in the future if we have one left. When i was younger i couldn't afford metal swords or blades so i made my own some with eagle heads on or the shape of it depending on if I was trying a design and the rock let me know what it was going to be or had the look of. there was no set plan and some just manifest out of the stone, sure it's nice to build something that no one else has tried or seen and that's why i love chipping rock because you never know they'll be around long, long after I'm gone and if they inspire the next great artist great it truly is the best feeling to know I here at this point and time to enjoy what I do.
If the blow to the edge is off the piece might be several and nothing more than dust on the pile of flakes for some lucky archaeologist in the future if we have one left. When i was younger i couldn't afford metal swords or blades so i made my own some with eagle heads on or the shape of it depending on if I was trying a design and the rock let me know what it was going to be or had the look of. there was no set plan and some just manifest out of the stone, sure it's nice to build something that no one else has tried or seen and that's why i love chipping rock because you never know they'll be around long, long after I'm gone and if they inspire the next great artist great it truly is the best feeling to know I here at this point and time to enjoy what I do.
Come on down to beautiful Leavenworth Indiana on the bank of the Ohio River for a weekend of knapping and good friends. Eric Morris puts this show on every year, father's day weekend, June 14-16. Let's make this year's knap in the best yet! Contact Eric Morris. (812) 968-4615
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As for the daggers. I watched Mike Stafford make a small dagger back around 91 and I watched every flake removal. I never tried to make till about 3 years ago.
I had a strange dream about making them. I woke up that morning and went out to the shop and made one on the first try. It was only about 6 inches long and stitched on one side. It was a strange feeling making that first dagger. Like I wasn't the only one in the shop. VERY strange huh. This is not the first time this has happened. I have dreams all the time of very old knappers and villages. It was the same with eccentrics and other points also.
OK now you think I'm off my rocker. That is OK my wife thinks so. This is the way it has always been for me ever since I found my first arrowheads when I was 5 years old.
It would be interesting to see how many other knappers are like this. OK now you know I do have a teacher. It is knappers of old. I some day hope to see some of the old daggers in person
.
Both of my Grandparents had an artifact collections.I found my first arrowheads when I was 5. I chipped my first arrowhead when I was in the 4 grade. I used a nail in a handle and a railroad spike as a hammer.We don't have any knappable material where I live close so I used small flakes that I found in the fields. When I was in high school I found DC Wldorf's book on flintknapping. It Took off The bug bit me hard. In 1988 I meet Jeff Pig and Dan Lincoln at a show that I was knapping at.They gave my a few pointers and some larger chert. I attended my first knapp-in in 1989 at the Jeff Pig farm. I have been hitting it hard ever since. I like to swing large antler. I realy like to make large percussion points.Though I love a challenge.I have been known to make eccentrics,fluted points,Danish daggers and now working on learning fog work.
Pedernales Knap-In will be held the weekend of April 10-14 2014. This is the weekend before the Nibblet's Bluff Knap-In in Louisiana.
The Pedernales Knap-In site takes place at the Blanco County Fairgrounds in Johnson City, Texas. This is located on the north end of Johnson City, Texas, on the west side of U.S. Hwy 281, and on the south side of the Pedernales River.
You can preview the site by going to either Google Maps (satellite view) or Google Earth. Navigate to Johnson City, Texas (west of Austin), then follow U.S. Hwy 281 north to the Pedernales River. The rodeo arena is a good, easy to find landmark. You will be able to see the grove of trees between the rodeo arena and the barns.
Knappers last year were pleased with the new site. We have access to a small covered pavilion (for inclement weather knapping) and a large area between the pavilion and the rodeo arena with several nice shade trees. The Blanco County Fairgrounds offer knappers plenty of parking, easy in-easy out access, several nearby convenience stores and restaurants, electricity for late-night knapping, water faucets, on-site trash dumpsters, and enclosed restrooms. I will rig up a makeshift shower like I did last year. Knappers will be able to camp at their knapping area or in the parking area. Better yet, since the Fairgrounds are adjacent to the Pedernales River, camping is available next to the River if one so desires.
What we don't have on site is motor home/camp trailer hookups. However, there is the nice Roadrunner RV Park (830) 868-7449). It is located 1.5 miles south of the Fairgrounds on the east side of U.S. Hwy 281 and just across the road from the Valero convenience store and gas station. There are also a couple of motels in Johnson City for those who want more comfortable accommodations. They are near the traffic light at the intersection of US 281 and US 290. One is the nearly new Best Western (830) 868-4044 and the other is the older and less expensive Hill Country Inn (830) 868-2614.
Given the high cost of travel these days, we are trying very hard to maintain a cost-effective and affordable Knap-In. There will be no charge for camping. However, all Knappers and/or Vendors will be required to pay a $10 Registration Fee for the event. As usual, we will once again be asking knappers and vendors to donate items for our Saturday afternoon auction/fund raiser to help cover Knap-In expenses.
The Pedernales Knap-In will be open to the public at no charge. Since we are located right on the west side of U.S. Hwy 281 with high visibility and plenty of parking, we hope to attract the public in good numbers. We will also be submitting press releases to the local newspapers to advertise the event.
In closing, we hope to see many of you the second weekend of April, 2013 at the Blanco County Fairgrounds in Johnson City, Texas for the Pedernales Knap-In!!!
Let's Get Crackin'!!!
Ron Fieseler, Chairman
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
When I was a kid I was very interested in arrowheads. I used to find them once in a while when hunting with my dad and brother. Like many folks dabling in flintknapping I eventually came upon Waldorf's book, "Art of Flintknapping". The books has sold many thousands of copies and is considered a classic. I never had enough flint around to learn his method, but I used to read it and gaze at the photos often. Waldorf also wrote in the original "Flintknappers Exchange" - the classic knapping publication that brought knappers together from academic and folk communities. I met D.C. Waldorf in 1984, through my old newsletter, "Flintknapping Digest"
At eight years old old D.C. became interested in Indian traditional technologies. At about fourteen years of age he discovered the a nail could pry flakes from the edge of broken glass and flint spalls. Later he found that ciopper and deer tines worked better for the pressure knapping method. D.C started percussion knapping about 1968 after reading Howell's book "Early Man". H was, at the time one of only a hand full of knappers on the planet. He joined the Archaeological Society of Ohio. His point become so well made that he was banned from selling or displaying them at the meeting.
Waldorf uses antler and stone for percussion and copper and antler for pressure. D.C. and his wife Val took over the "Flintknapping Digest",at my request, and turned it into "CHIPS" - this was a huge success. He also wrote many other books, including
novels out of his rural Missouri cabin. D.C. and Val made a good living with "Mound Builder Books". Later D.C. Waldorf became one of the pioneers of the new Danish Dagger movement. He worked with other dagger knappers on occasion such as Callahan and Stafford.
James K. Bowden, 703 Coronado Drive, Redlands, CA 92374
Tel.: 909-557-5515
email: flintknapping@earthlink.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/past2presentprograms
Gallery: http://www.flintknappers.com/gallery/past2present
Web Site: http://www.past-2-present.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jameskbowden/boards/
Tel.: 909-557-5515
email: flintknapping@earthlink.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/past2presentprograms
Gallery: http://www.flintknappers.com/gallery/past2present
Web Site: http://www.past-2-present.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jameskbowden/boards/
There are two main target goals. The first is to provide presentations/programs for schools and other groups of people of all ages on a variety of subjects relating to nature, history, and the sciences. The second goal is to provide sales from a mobile trading post of items like modern made arrowheads..
James K. Bowden
Flintknapper James K. Bowden has been passionately creating
images of the past for more than twenty nine years. Flintknapping is the art of
flaking rock to create stone tools. This process has been used by people
throughout the world from the earliest of times and into the modern day.
Jim’s flintknapping began in 1984 when he became intrigued
with the art as an archaeology student at Palomar College. At the start, Jim
was largely self-taught, but later on he studied with other knappers, most
notably Richard Cerrutti, Leslie Quintero, Phil Wilke, Steve Carter, and Jim
Winn.
Jim enjoys working with any material that can be flaked
including modern man-made materials and a variety of stones. He both replicates
authentic pieces and creates his own unique designs. Arrowheads, atlatl dart
points, knives, blades, drills, eccentrics, hide scrapers, fishing net weights,
hammer stones, and hand axes are a few of the tools he has knapped.
Because of a lack of sizable stone in the early days, Jim’s
pieces tended to be small in size. Today, Jim’s forte is intricately flaked
eccentrics and small, delicate arrowheads with serrations, fine pressure
flakes, deep notching, or long drawn out “ears.” This work fills a special
niche in the modern world of flintknapping.
The tools and methods used closely follow those from the
past traditions. The tool kit includes hard (basalt) and soft (sandstone)
hammer stones, moose, elk or deer antler billets, sandstone abraders, leather
pads, copper tipped “Ishi stick” pressure flakers, and nail side notchers. Even
though a few of the tools represent modern conveniences, the process remains
“primitive.”
The pieces are framed and ready for display and are all
permanently signed and dated with a diamond tipped scribe, making them
collectable museum quality replicas or artwork.
Today, Jim makes his home in Redlands, California with his
wife, daughter, and of course, a huge pile of rocks.
James K. Bowden, 703 Coronado Drive, Redlands, CA 92374
Tel.: 909-557-5515
email: flintknapping@earthlink.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/past2presentprograms
Gallery: http://www.flintknappers.com/gallery/past2present
Web Site: http://www.past-2-present.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jameskbowden/boards/
Past to Present Programs & Trading Post, LLC
CHEF AND KNAPPER
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Artist Bio
Grog Verbeck
was raised in the small town of Staatsburg, on the great Hudson River in New
York. He is descendant of the Osage and of Cherokee tribe by way of his
mother’s great grandmother, a full-blooded Cherokee. Since Grog was a young boy
he had an interest in indian artifacts and life skills including bow hunting,
tanning and firestarting. In college he pursued Native American studies and new
world archaeology. He made his first arrowhead as a boy and has been addicted
to flintknapping as an art for nearly ten years.
Grog Verbeck is a professionally trained chef by
trade and runs a private chef service, www.HeyChef.com, in Lake Tahoe, California.
Together with his wife and children, he travels between his home in the Sierra
mountains and at the seaside in a remote bay in Southeast Alaska. In both parts
of the world he spends his time knapping in his studio, the peaceful and
ever-providing Mother Nature.
Artist Statement
I love this art because it is a common link
between all peoples of all times of all continents. It’s the one thing all our
ancestors created in order to survive. This is not so with all tools and
survival techniques based on the geographical region of the people, but with
stone tools there is no exception. We all made them and used them, as a matter
of survival.
This primitive skill, in its truest form, is a
dying art. It has recently seen a surge in popularity, but in all the world
there are very few people alive today who can create a stone point without the
use of power tools. This ancient art illustrates the very nature of survival of
all people and we will have lost a truly critical elemental art form if the
tradition is not carried on.
I want my sculptures to show people the very
root of our survival. This craft requires complete attention and has become a
form of meditation for me. It keeps me in touch with the natural world that
surrounds me and when I’m working I feel able to peer into ancient minds and
bridge another time. It gives me answers and ties me to my past.
Quote:
From eye, through
mind, with hand, into line, it spills out on paper.
From ear, through
mind, with hands, a tool spills itself out of the rock.
Grog, a chef by trade, and runs a private chef service, HeyChef.com, in Lake Tahoe, California.
“HeyChef! began serving Truckee in 1996 and focused on the private chef services of
accomplished chef, Grog Verbeck. For more than a decade before landing in Truckee, Chef
Grog served in New York as the private chef for Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, where he
prepared meals for their celebrated dinner guests from the theatre and political worlds, including presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.” {http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf)
As many of my blog readers know, I am writing a series called “big blade blogs”, I have covered Theodore Orcutt, Emory Coons, Cole Hurst and know, Grog Verbeck. Although my fellow Bakersfieldians were acquainted with Grog, I having been out of the loop for quite some time, had never heard of him. It was quite serendipitous; I was on a trip to Anza Borrego desert with my eldest son James , he was returning home to U.C. Davis and gave me ride to a knap in near Sacramento on the way. There in the center ring was Grog Verbeck knapping out very large, monster bifaces. Grog is a long time student of the master knapper, Greg Ratzat of Neolithics fame, in fact he cooks for the class up at Glass Buttes.
According to “Gogslithicart.com: Grog Verbeck was raised in the small town of Staatsburg, on the great Hudson River in New York. He is descendant of the Cherokee tribe by way of his mother's full-blooded great grandmother and his great uncle served on the Osage tribal council. Since Grog was a young boy he had an interest in Indian artifacts and life skills including bow hunting, tanning and fire starting. In college he pursued Native American studies and new world archaeology. He made his first arrowhead as a boy and has been addicted to flintknapping as an art for nearly ten years.” Grog knaps boulders and spalls and an occasional giant slab. Grog obtains his lithic material from the glass buttes area of Oregon with his long time friend and mentor, Graig Ratzat.
Links:
Grog Flintknapping video:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharwood2686/AnzoBorrego2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIiegdC9loTilgE&feat=email#5319217016479070066
Grog’s web Site:
http://grogslithicart.com/index.html
Grog article:
http://tahoeculture.com/2008/12/01/truckee-flintknapping-artist-grog-verbeck/
Grog article:
http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf
The song link:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=55033732
Ballad of Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog
By Hank Ray
Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.
Grog flint knaps giant obsidian blades and the sword in the stone
and small flakes of stone pressure flaked with bone.
Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.
Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.
"As of late many knappers are creating ever larger
pieces of lithic art in the form of huge bifaces.
Emery Coons reportedly percussion bifaced a 50 inch
preform and managed a 40 inch finished neofact. I
wrote the Coon's family and requested information and
a photo by received no response.
At the California knap in this year, large the key
word.
Many from other states, such as Coons in Oregon, are
also thinking large and obsidian suppliers are selling
more mega slabs than ever.
Named the Orcutt syndrome after an old time knapper
named Ted Orcutt, whom was known for his massive
biface work. More later..."
Western Region Knap-in
(Puget Sound Knappers..Paleo Planet Posting)
"It's true. There are several of us that are working on a Western Region Knap-in (everyone will be invited). Myself, Bo Earls (Utah Valley Flintknappers), Ray Harwood and Gary Pickett (Bakerfields Knappers), Dino Labsite (California Knapper) and several others looking into dates and locations. The target date will be in 2014 and we're considering Labor Day weekend (August 30th - Sept 1st) plus a few days. We are looking closely at the Carson City area for several good reasons; 1) is a good destination for families, sightseeing (both in town and out), 2) close to Reno, NV and Lake Tahoe, 3) great weather, and 4) several large areas including state and federal campgrounds/parks. The purpose of this knap-in is 'cross-pollination' - a chance to learn and share with other knappers and enjoy the community of knappers. There is a lot of interest and if we can pull this off I expect that quite a number of the West's best knapper will be there along with many of the rest of usTongue. SmokinWhenever we finalize the plan I'll be putting the information on the Puget Sound Knappers website: http://www.pugetsoundknappers.com/. The three main knapping groups working in this - Puget Sound Knappers, Utah Valley Flintknappers and the Bakerfield Knappers Association, all have pretty much the same culture which means the event will be free to all who'd like to attend. Any costs will be covered by voluntary donations, auctions of donated items, raffles of 'Community Points, and knapping competitions. In addition to free admission there will be free knapping instruction, free rock, loaner tools and safety equipment. We'll also prbably have one or more 'Potluck' meals. We'll of course make an announcement here on PaleoPlanet."
My name is Johnny Corley and I'm an Oklahoma Native
My name is Johnny Corley and I'm an Oklahoma native. I
started knapping in March of 2012 and I have loved it ever since. I tend to
work a different material each time and I have a weakness for agate and other
gem stone material.
As many of you know, Moore, Oklahoma got hit yesterday by an
EF-5 tornado. I live just minutes to the north. Many of you do not know that I
am a storm chaser. I caught the storm and watched it blow through and words
cannot describe the scene that unfolded. Many lives were lost, many just children not
even in their teens, and the storm is now classified as the new most
devastating tornado in history. In 99 the very same community got hit by what
is now the second most devastating tornado in history. I am ok and so is my
family, but many of my friends have lost their homes or worse. Any prayers will be
greatly appriciated and I will pass on any words of condolence to those I know
who were affected. Thanks.
DON CRABTREE'S FIELD SCHOOL COOK AND MASTER BIFACER, Flintknapper Jeannie Binning
 |
| Jeannie Binning FLINTKNAPPER |
Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist.
while lecturing at the University of Arizona at Tuson.
The story of modern California knapping. I met Jeannie Binning at the
1984 NARC knap in. Jeannie one of the better knappers, and is most
likely the best female flintknapper in the world , She is now an
instructor at U.C. Riverside. This is where she got her Ph.D..
Jeannie was born and raised in southern California and got her BA
degree and Cal. State Northrige while working at NARC. Jeannie
Binning is a master at knapping obsidian and true to her instructors,
Don Crabtree and later Jeffery Flenniken, she is excellent at
knapping large wide obsidian bifaced blades. Jeannie was told me the
story of when she first went to the Crabtree Flintknapping Field
School in Idaho. She and some other students arrived at the little
airport and some old guy came and picked the up in some old jalopy,
the guy was nice enough and rather unassuming. It wasn't until they
were at their destination that she learned the old guy was" the dean
of American flintknapping", Don Crabtree. She told me that when Don
was teaching her some technique and he cut his hand. he was on blood
thinners for his heart condition and blood was squirting everywhere ,
but he kept on knapping, he was intent on teaching me. Jeannie has
been to many of the Field Schools, first as a student then as an
assistant.
Here is Jeannie's School:
LITHIC TECHNOLOGY FIELD SCHOOLField School Dates: Saturday, June , 2013
Field School Location: California Desert Studies Center, ZZYZX, California
Desert Studies Center Information: http://biology.fullerton.edu/dsc/school/about.html
Registration Instructions: Complete this Registration Form and return it to the address below with a refundable deposit ($450) or payment in full. Upon receipt of your completed Registration Form, you will be sent a confirmation letter and additional information. Please note that the remaining payment is due two weeks before the Field School begins (May ). Checks or money orders only
 |
| DON CRABTREE AND GENE TITMUS |
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| RAY HARWOOD AND JEANNIE BINNING |
 |
| Jeannie Binning FLINTKNAPPER |
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| Jeannie Binning FLINTKNAPPER |
|
| Jeannie Binning FLINTKNAPPER |
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THE OLD WRIGHTWOOD KNAP IN
Sever Carter flintknapping. Steve Carter came up from Ramona in his old flatbed truck, Steve was into pattern flaking and amazingly thin percussion bifacing .
Peter Ainsworth gets some advice from Jeannie Binning.
Barney DeSimone with one of his knives, note the detailed pattern flakes, his son came withhim this year and holds up a nice biface made by his pop.
Jimm Winn with one of his flint knives. Jim Winn used the traditional methods of percussion and pressure flaking to knapp his points. Never use flake over grinding. His tool kit includes both aboriginal or traditional tools such as antler and stone percussors as well as more modern tools such as copper. Most of his knives and points are knapped from spalls or cobbles of chert, jasper, or obsidian.
The late George Hough has some flint he had dug up in Idaho, Jim Winn, Barney Desomone and his son and others were getting there trades ready. Jim got mad at me because I took some hammer stone swings a really big beautiful piece that he had his sights on, luckily I didn't damage it to bad and he was able to use it.
!
I remember the 1988 Wrightwood knapin. This was one of the knap-ins held at Jackson lake. Jackson lake is an alpine type lake in the high country. Location and Directions: Jackson Lake is located in the Angeles National Forest near the city of Wrightwood. From Los Angeles take I-10 East to I-15 North. Travel N. on I-15 to Cajon Pass - Hwy. 138. Turn left (north) on Hwy 138 and travel 8 miles to Hwy. 2. Turn Left on Hwy 2 and travel 10 miles to Big Pines, then turn Right on County Road N4 and travel 3 miles to the lake. This is a small lake of 7 surface acres at an elevation of 6,000 feet. It is open all year but sometimes freezes over during the winter. Tent and RV camping is available near the lake. There are no concessions. Nearest supplies are 7 miles to the East in the own of Wrightwood. It was cold at night and warm and sunny in the day. It was the most beautiful place for a knap-in of all. The camp was a flat plateau just above the lake itself and it had a hard sandy floor, it had a good open area for archery, atlatl and knapping.
Jim Winn came up to Wrightwood in 1988, he had skipped a year or two. Jim’s interest in flintknapping began shortly after he moved to Oregon in 1979. His neighbor was an avid collector and took him on his first arrowhead hunt. He was hooked! Jim spent the next few years actively hunting points. Some of the points he found were incredibly well knapped, and I became determined to learn how it was done. He discovered DC Waldorf’s book, “The Art of Flintknapping” and he been knapping ever since!
Jim Winn used the traditional methods of percussion and pressure flaking to knapp his points. Never use flake over grinding. His tool kit includes both aboriginal or traditional tools such as antler and stone percussors as well as more modern tools such as copper. Most of his knives and points are knapped from spalls or cobbles of chert, jasper, or obsidian. I had done some rabbit hunting, atlatl shooting and Barney DeSimone and I had been to Jim’s house, then in the Valley to flute Clovis with a jig.
Barney DeSimone came up "the A-wop-a-hoe", was his joke- he is Italian and everyone thought he was an Indian, so he said I am a "wop" and a hoe -so people thought he was a "A-wop-a-hoe", which is not a real tribe! Steve Carter came up from Ramona in his old flatbed truck, Steve was into pattern flaking and amazingly thin percussion bifacing before anyone else I have known about. Alton Safford was there and he demonstrated using sinew, bow shooting- did knapping and ate a lot of apples, he also brought some longbows he had made, his nickname is "Longbow Safford" . Peter Ainsworth and Jeannie Binning showed up from the acedemic knapping community and were doing very nice "Crabtree" large biface work. I can't remember much more about that knap-in except it was really fun and wonderful 4 days in heaven.
WRIGHTWOOD KNAP IN STARTED IN 1984, SET UP BY RAY HARWOOD AND ALTON SAFFORD AT JACKSON LAKE., BUT OUR FIRST CALIFORNIA FLINTKNAPPING RENDEZVOUS WAS IN 1983 AT CSUN. SET UP BY RAY HARWOOD. AT THE FIRST KNAP IN 1983 : RAY HARWOOD, ALTON SAFFORD, JOHN ATWOOD, RICK WESSEL, CLAY SINGER, GEORGE HUFF, JENNIE BINNING, ROY VANDERHOOK, TERRY FREDERICK, JOE DABIL, FRED BUDINGER, TED HARWOOD, NANCY HARWOOD, BRIAN GUNTHER, AND A HOST OF OTHERS. FIRST LOCATION: C.S.U.N. . SECOND: JACKSON LAKE FLAT. THIRD; CAMP GUFFY (TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN) FOURTH: INDIAN HILLS RANCH. Ray had flintknapped in an artistic vacuum until he was in his early 20s. This is when Ray met fellow Ishi fans, Joe Dabil, Barney DeSimone, Steve Carter, Jim Win, Jennie Binning and Alton Safford. Barney had a small business called Yana Enterprises where he marketed his Ishi posters and items and had become an expert Ishi style knapper, to the point that he had killed a wild boar on Catalina Island armed with a sinew backed bow and Ishi tipped arrow of glass of his own making. Atlton was an avid traditional bow hunter and knapper, he had even hunted big game in Africa a few times with stone points. Years later Alton and Ray started the yearly California Flintknapping Rendezvous. Joe Dabil had become a California legend by the late 1970s and had the nick name of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists of the day. Joe could make fire in of minutes with a natural yucca file board and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style flintknapping methodology. Joe's Ishi points of both glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flintknapping methods. Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a Doctor informed him he had a life threatening decease he fled into the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making, brain tanning and of coarse...flintknapping. As miracle have it, Joe lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness skills today. Steve Carter was already an established master knapper when Ray met him in the early 1980s. Steve had been friends with J.B.Sollberger of Dallas, Texas and with J.B.s inspiration, at the 1978 Little Lake knap-in, Steve developed his own unique knapping style, one in which he detached the flakes of the top of the preform as opposed to the bottom that rests on the palm of the hand. Steve was versatile and also used the Ishi style knapping techniques. Steve's work even impressed the Grand Masters; Sollberger, Titmus, Callahan and Crabtree. Jimm Winn was there at the second or third Wrightwood knap-in with Barney Desimone and George hough and George Hough and Dick Baugh. Jim did a lot of heat treating of local materials there in the famous Wrightwood fire pit at Jackson Lake Flat. After the close of the Flintknappers' Exchange in 1981, there was a void for two years. Communication among flintknappers slowed to a stop. In 1984 at the knap-in at the Northridge Archaeological Research Center I was talking about the need for a newsletter to Clay Singer and Terry Frederick, they suggested I do it, well I had dyslexia, couldn't type and had no money, okay! Alton Safford, Jeannie Binning and Joe Dabill encouraged as well. I couldn't get anyone to help me with the project so I did it myself. I started work on the first issue, all the words were misspelled, the grammar was just as bad, I cut and past the cover. I wanted to call it the Flintknappers' Monthly but I couldn't find those words in the old NARC newsletters so I got close with "FLintknapping Digest" and cut and pasted it on the cover. I used the address list in the old Flintknappers' Exchange at the end of each article to find the knappers. It worked I began to get a flood of mail about it. It was really amateurish and I got a lot of flak, but everybody who got it loved it. Clay Singer said "it has a folksy, underground publication look" . In any case it got better with each issue. I remember asking J.B. Sollberger to write an article for me and he got really mad. He said that I was just trying to associate with his name to gain fame and make the newsletter sell better , I was unaffected and said yes, so do I get the article? We got along fine after that and I did get the article, I think he trusted me to tell the truth after that. He even made me some fluted points. The "J.B." in J.B. Sollberger is rumored to stand for "John the Baptist" . So you see with a reputation like that truth means a lot. I was amazed that the little newsletter was doing so well, my mom was too, she never thought such a weird newsletter would work. I was 24 years old when I started the newsletter and didn't have a whole lot else going, it was great, I met all my flintknapping heroes. One day I got a letter from D.C. Waldorf and he was asking about something, I can't remember, but he referred to the Flintknapping Digest as "The Digest", I put the letter in the next issue and from then on that's what everyone called it. Even now I see it referenced to time and again and it is almost always given its affectionate name "The Digest" it gave knappers a worm and fuzzy feel, like an old dog that you had when you were a kid. Even old dogs pass on, and in the late 1980s, even with Val Waldorf's help, I couldn't do it anymore. After some coaxing the waldorf's took pity on me and took the newsletter over. They gave it a face lift and a new name "Chips" . .Paul Hellweg, a fellow Army Tanker. Paul, likes to specialise inground stone axe manufacture, and he is quite good at it. He was actually a Crabtree and Flenniken Student, but went over to the servival camp when he got a job teaching it at C.S.U.N. where I first met him in the early 1980s. Paul wrote some nice articles for the Flintknapping Digest in 1984 and published a book on knapping the same year, Flintknapping, The Art of Making Stone Tools that has sold over 50,000 copies. Hellweg has also written many other books and is doing quite well financially. I attended a week long Callahan school with him in the summer and and he appears to be thinking of redoing his book and becoming more active in the knapping world. San Diego, California was a hot bed of really good knappers in the early 1970s, it sprung from a visit from Sollberger sometime in that era. Only Steve Carter remains of that group. Navodne (Rod) Reiner, another California sad story , Rod was one of the San Diego flintknappers that Steve Carter hung around with in the 1970s. Like Steve, Rod was a really good flintknapper, all traditional, and good person. Rod did a lot of knapping and made nice pieces of lithic art but was also interested in the experimental aspect as well. Rod came up with the two man fluting technique; Reiner gripped the biface in his left hand, held it down tightly against his thigh, while his right hand used the full weight of his body from the shoulder to bear down on the flaking tool. Then, to this he added a little more force by using a second person to deliver a light tapping blow to the end of the pressure flaker with a mallet. Reiner stated that the mallet strikes just at the instant that the pressure flake is pressed off. With Rod's method both constant pressure and a releasing percussion impact a nice flute is detached. Rod, whom was also at the Little Lake knap-in was a very good knapper and a big influence on Steve Carter, but Rod was killed early on in a hunting accident. Chris Hardacker was another, he just faded into the woodwork, I saw him working as a digger for Jeannie Binning at one of her digs in the middle 1980s. Robert Blue of Studio City, California was inspired by a collection of Reinhardt's points , Reinhardt had been long dead but Blue did find fellow Gray Ghost collector, Charlie Shewey in Missouri. Robert offered to buy all of Shewey's Gray Ghosts and Richard Warren points and that money was no object. Charlie refused Blue's offer, but directed Robert to Richard Warren. After Robert bought a fair number of points, Warren shared some of his secrets with Robert Blue and introduced him to Jim Hopper, whom Warren had taught. Jim Hopper andRobert Blue became good friends and Robert became very good at art knapping. Barney DeSimone, couched Robert through his early years of knapping. Later Robert inspired Barney to return somewhat to lapidary knapping. It was Robert Blue that taught Ray Harwood to knap in the lever style of Reinhardt, Ray produced dozens of "Raynish Daggers" with the lever flaker. The Raynish Daggers were simply slab points in the form of 10 inch Danish Daggers ("2-D daggers" -not 3 dimensional). These were what Callahan called the ugliest Danish Daggers he had ever seen. After Robert's death and some prompting from DeSimone and Callahan, Harwood returned to traditional flintknapping. One interesting bit of knapping lore I overheard at a knap in goes like this:" Steve Behenes had invented this steel fluting jig that could flute supper this preforms. Steve was close to Robert Blue at the time and he sent Robert a thin Folsom and the detached flutes, Robert returned the detached flute -and he had fluted them ! . Joe Dabil, Joe had become a California legend by the late 1960s and had the nick name of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists of the day. Joe says he learned his style by trail and error using books with Ishi points as a pattern,same for the knapping tools. His notching style comes a great deal from Errett. Joe could make fire in of minutes with a natural yucca file board and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style flintknapping methodology. I first came to here about him in about 1969 and then in the 70s, he gave demos on Catalina Island for Archaeologists and movie people. His points were often seen for sale for $3.50 up and down the central to northern California coastal towns, these populated by thousands of hippies. I remember buying one in a hippie shop in Pismo Beech in 1976. The hippie lady at the counter said I could meet the knapper, but like as ass I sais "naw it's OK. I did end up meeting him 8 years later, in 1984, at CSUN. Joe's Ishi points of both glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flintknapping methods. Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a Doctor informed him he had a life threatening decease disease he fled into the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making, brain tanning and of coarse...flintknapping. As miracle have it, Joe lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness skills today. The information set forth in this text relied heavly on the fallowing publications: Fintknapper's Exchange: Atchiston, Inc. 4426 Constution N.E. Albuquerque, NM 87110 Etidors: Errett Callahan, Jacqueline Nichols and Penelope Katson. Flintknapping Digest. Harwood Archaeology 4911 Shadow Stone Bakersfield, CA 93313 Editor: Ray Harwood Bulletin of Primitive Technology. Journal of the Society of Primative Technology P.O. Box 905 Rexburg, ID 83440 Dave Wescot, Editor Chips Mound Builder Books P.O. Box 702 Branson, MO. 65615 Editors: Val Waldorf, D.C. Waldorf and Dane Martin. New Flintknapper's Exchange. High Fire Flints 11212 Hooper Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70818 Editors: Jeff Behrnes, Steve Behernes and Chas Spear 20Th Century Lithics. Mound Builder Books P.O. Box 702 Branson, MO. 65615 Editors: Val Waldorf and D.C.
YOSEMITE KNAP-IN
Ben Cunningham will host the 3rd Annual Yosemite Knap-in at the Indian Village in Yosemite National Park, California the first weekend in August.
Ben
209-372-0303 - office
209-352-4086 - cell
Photos by: Ray Harwood
FROM GLACIER POINT
Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft (1,444 m) above the valley floor.
The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.[5]
The bears in Yosemite are all black bears, even if they are brown or blonde.
The bears feed on plants in the meadows in the moring and afternoon. The bears
do try and eat your camp food.
Ray Harwood knapped these obsidian items. These were viewed by thousands of
interested visitors during the Yosemite knap-in.
The Yosemite shuttle goes all through the park for free! starts at 7:30 A.M.
Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft (1,444 m) above the valley floor.
You can see Yosemite Falls from numerous places around Yosemite Valley, especially around Yosemite Village and Yosemite Lodge. A one-mile loop trail leads to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall (the eastern side of the loop, from the shuttle stop to the base of the waterfall, is wheelchair accessible).
Ben_Cunningham was the host of the knapin. Ben works hard there at the museum and indian village.
Ken Kehoe
Knappers Unite!
2 0 th Annual Coyote Hills Knap-In!
Aug. LAST (Sat. & Sun.) from 10:00 to 4:00
at
Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, CA.
http://www.ebparks.org/parks/coyote_hills
Camping available for Sat. night.
For more details call Ken Peek at:
(510) 537-1215.
Hope to see you there
Ken Kehoe
Ken Peek
Jeannie Binning. California State University Riverside PhD in Archaeology . Flintknapping since the 1970s.
Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist.
Here is Jeannie's School:
LITHIC TECHNOLOGY FIELD SCHOOLField School Dates: Saturday, June 11 to Friday, June 24, 2011
Field School Location: California Desert Studies Center, ZZYZX, California
Desert Studies Center Information: http://biology.fullerton.edu/dsc/school/about.html
Registration Instructions: Complete this Registration Form and return it to the address below with a refundable deposit ($450) or payment in full. Upon receipt of your completed Registration Form, you will be sent a confirmation letter and additional information. Please note that the remaining payment is due two weeks before the Field School begins (May 27th). Checks or money orders only.
YOSEMITE KNAP IN
Class of 2000 · PhD · Archaeology
Website http://www.obsidiandesigns.com
About Susan: Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist, Science Fiction Fan
Susan Gleason.Owner at Phoenix Obsidian Designs. Studied Archaeology at University of California, Riverside. Lives in Grass Valley, California. It's complicated...From Grass Valley, California. Born on October 27, 1970. Susan said she sold a very large quantity of lithic art at the Yosemite knap-in.
Yosemite, Flintknapping. .Knap In, Ray Harwood. obsidian, Bakersfield Arrowheads, Hank Ray, Jeannie Binning, Ben_Cunningham, Susan Gleason,Bears, Deer, Half Dome.
Link to Merkle's 'Finegold knap in". Merkle and Patric Aims are long time flint knappers, Pat is a member of the "Bakersfield knappers".http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/44156/Finegold-knap-in-photos-and-article
Above Ray Harwood shows how to spall obsidian. Below RAy sits in a native bark dwelling with his "Moby Dick" arrowhead.
Ray started flintknapping in 1969. He got his Archaeology degree in 1984, Studied with lithics expert Clay Singer. Ray often plays country blues guitar or banjo at
knap ins. Ray has a black belt in Karate and was a tanker (armor) in the Army.
Ray is an avid mountain biker, scuba diver and other stuff.
THE YOSEMITE KNAP IN AUGUST 6TH AND 7TH, 2011
The above is the T shirt Ray designed, and wore at the knap in.
"Chip" the flintknapping bear
Forwarded Message ----
From: "Ben_Cunningham-Summerfield@nps.gov"
Sent: Wed, June 29, 2011 4:39:19 PM
Subject: Yosemite Valley Knap-In
Good Afternoon Fellow/ess Knappers -
I am dashing this note off to get an idea of how many of you might be
interested in attending a knap-in here in Yosemite National Park. In case
you are wondering Dave Sunderland sent me your e-mail addresses. If you
are interested please send me your mailing address and telephone number(s)
and the best to reach you at. This is simply exploratory and I am looking
at August 6 and 7 for the actual knap in with arrival possible on the 5th.
I have some details to wrap up with camping arrangements and such, but
please let me know one way or the other.
Thanks
Ben
209-372-0303 - office
209-352-4086 - cell
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Mariposa Grove
Some of the most remarkable natural resources to be found in Yosemite National Park are the giant sequoia trees. In the park these trees are found in three separate groves. The largest group of these trees is located in the Mariposa Grove.
Perhaps the most remarkable sequoia in the grove, and indeed the park, is the Grizzly Giant, originally known as the "Grizzled Giant." This enormous tree is believed to be 2700 years old, the oldest known sequoia tree. Sequoias are among the oldest know organisms on earth, surpassed only by the venerable bristlecone pines.
2012 YOSEMITE KNAP IN
Photos by: Ray Harwood
HUGO NAMI, KNAPPER IN ARGENTINA
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| Hugo Nami making experimental site in Northern Peninsula Mitre, Terra Del Fuego 1985. Photo by: Thomas Clemens. |
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| Hugo Nami making experimental site in Northern Peninsula Mitre, Terra Del Fuego 1985. Photo by: Thomas Clemens |
Hugo Nami making experimental site in Northern Peninsula Mitre, Terra Del Fuego 1985.
Photo by: Thomas Clemens
Archaeologist, researcher; Born: 1957 Location: Lomas del Mirador Country: Argentina Professor of Archaeology. Buenos Aires , Argentina. Hugo came to the USA in the 1980s and studied with Errett Callahan an American archaeologist, flintknapper, and pioneer in the fields of experimental archaeology and lithic replication studies. Hugo worked for the Smithsonian Museum for a time.
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| Coffee break in Chile, excavation 1986 HUGO NAMI |
Nami also worked closely with wilderness expert, Joe Dabill and Dr. Robson Bonnichsen, Director, Center for the Study of the First Americans and Professor of Anthropology, Oregon State University. Hugo has written hundreds of books and papers on Archaeology and flintknapping. And has had dozens of knapping students in Argentina. Hugi is a Karate expert and blackbelt.
as
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| Hugo studied with Joe Dabill |
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| Hugo studied with Callahan. |
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| Robson Bonnichsen. La Plaza Museum. March 24th, 1988 photo by Hugo Nami MERCLE'S FINEGOLD KNAP IN |
For more information go to www.lettherockroll.com.
THE FLINTKNAPPING
ON THE WATER
THE MUSIC
FUN AND FOOD
FINEGOLD
FRESNO/FINEGOLD KNAP-IN
The Road to Finegoldknap-in at Merkle's Ranch is about 11 miles from the Verlo Gas station on Highway 41, in the foot hills just above Fresno, California(to the East.)
Just fallow the signs shown above. The road is paved for a while than a good dirt, country road through majestic ridges and and rolling hills dotted with beef cattle, wild turky and so on. Oak trees and and old brown barns and fences along the root.
One small creek bed before the main river crossing and your there.
I got to the main knapping camp friday afternoon and visited everyone and setup my camp next the the river. I had my archery equipment, my dobro guitar, mountain bike and flintknapping kit. I set up my bed in the back of my Ford Explorer. Then I walked over to the fire and did some more visiting. The noext morning (Saturday), Patrick Aims and his large family had gallons of coffee bewing and the delectable aroma filled the camp. The they cooked up some amazing breakfast vidals.
Flintknapping, the art of chipping knives and arrowheads out of flint and obsidan started about 8:30 AM on Friday(Saterday for me) and went on from there to Sunday afternoon.
JOKING AROUND: Giant potato gun firing, John Piri befriending a Llama, Gary with Ray point in head, and friends head in hole.
Top Patrick Aims with Fox skin quiver he made. 2, Gary archery. 3, Matt Archery.
4, Ray Harwood archery.
Finegold knap-in all night jam session. Started about 4:30 PM and went allmost all night long.
Carol Peri and her buffalo chilli and Patric Aims and family made tri-tip and fixins, Gary brought his famous pies. I ate so much I passed out at the bon fire and my hat caught on fire. FOOD WAS GREAT!!!!
THE FLINTKNAPPING DIGEST STORY
THE FLINTKNAPPING DIGEST STORY
BY: RAY HARWOOD
San Diego, California was a hot bed of really good knappers in the
early 1970s, it sprung from a visit from Sollberger sometime in that
era. Only Steve Carter remains of that group. Navodne (Rod) Reiner,
another California sad story , Rod was one of the San Diego
flintknappers that Steve Carter hung around with in the 1970s. Like
Steve, Rod was a really good flintknapper, all traditional, and good
person. Rod did a lot of knapping and made nice pieces of lithic art
but was also interested in the experimental aspect as well. Rod came
up with the two man fluting technique; Reiner gripped the biface in
his left hand, held it down tightly against his thigh, while his
right hand used the full weight of his body from the shoulder to bear
down on the flaking tool. Then, to this he added a little more force
by using a second person to deliver a light tapping blow to the end
of the pressure flaker with a mallet. Reiner stated that the mallet
strikes just at the instant that the pressure flake is pressed off.
Wit
h Rod's method both constant pressure and a releasing percussion
impact a nice flute is detached. Rod, whom was also at the Little
Lake knap-in was a very good knapper and a big influence on Steve
Carter, but Rod was killed early on in a hunting accident. Chris
Hardacker was another, he just faded into the woodwork, I saw him
working as a digger for Jeannie Binning at one of her digs in the
middle 1980s.
In the mid 1970s flintknapping was really popular in University
archaeology departments around the world. Inspired by Francois Bordes
in France, Don Crabtree in Idaho, Robert Patten in Colorado, D.C.
Waldorf and Jim Spears in Missouri, Errett Callahan in Virginia and
J.B. Sollberger in Texas.
The knappers were in contact with each other but there was a high
degree of frustration over a lack of continuity and organization, no
medium existed for their use. The idea of a flintknapping
publication, for and by flintknappers, was born. Errett Callahan
realized that many useful ideas and suggestions which were being
exchanged between flintknappers, through the mail, could not be
shared with other knappers because there were no means for publishing
the information. What brought the whole thing to a head was realizing
the sense of frustration which J.B. Sollberger expressed in one of
his letters to Errett Callahan. Sollbergers letters were typically
packed with both practical and theoretical knowledge Solly had gained
from years of experience. Without any link to the academic arena of
the mid 1970s, it was very unlikely that J.B. Sollberger would have
ever gotten his ideas in print. Callahan suspected that if this was
true with J.B. Sollberger than it must be true for hundreds of
flintknappers around the world as well. What was needed to midigate
this problem was an informal means of getting the flintknappers ideas
into print. Without the hassles of formal writing and the
gratification of not having to wait long periods of time to get into
print, if it ever shows up at all. The idea came together and Volume
1, Number 1 of the Flintknappers' Exchange came to be on January
1978. The new journal had a very journalistic nature, more than dry
and academic. Without being amateurish. It was printed and mailed out
3 times a year at a cost of $2.00 per issue. It was edited by Errett
Callahan and Jacquelin Nichols and published by Atchitson Inc. The
technical editorial board included : Callahan, Flenniken, Patten,
Patterson, Sollberger, Titmus and a California kanpper named Chris
Hardaker. Hardaker was also production assistant. Later Penelope
Katson was managing editor.
The journal was great it launched the first knap-ins and
introduced the stars and theories of modern flintknapping. The
journal lasted almost four years and ended, without warning, with
Volume 4, Number 2 in the summer of 1981.
After the close of the Flintknappers' Exchange in 1981, there was a
void for two years. Communication among flintknappers slowed to a
stop. In 1984 at the knap-in at the Northridge Archaeological
Research Center I was talking about the need for a newsletter to Clay
Singer and Terry Frederick, they suggested I do it, well I had
dyslexia, couldn't type and had no money, okay! Alton Safford,
Jeannie Binning and Joe Dabill encouraged as well. I couldn't get
anyone to help me with the project so I did it myself. I started work
on the first issue, all the words were misspelled, the grammar was
just as bad, I cut and past the cover. I wanted to call it the
Flintknappers' Monthly but I couldn't find those words in the old
NARC newsletters so I got close with "FLintknapping Digest" and cut
and pasted it on the cover. I used the address list in the old
Flintknappers' Exchange at the end of each article to find the
knappers. It worked I began to get a flood of mail about it. It was
really amateurish and I got a lot of flak, but everybody who got it
loved it. Clay Singer said "it has a folksy, underground publication
look" . In any case it got better with each issue. I remember asking
J.B. Sollberger to write an article for me and he got really mad. He
said that I was just trying to associate with his name to gain fame
and make the newsletter sell better , I was unaffected and said yes,
so do I get the article? We got along fine after that and I did get
the article, I think he trusted me to tell the truth after that. He
even made me some fluted points. The "J.B." in J.B. Sollberger is
rumored to stand for "John the Baptist" . So you see with a
reputation like that truth means a lot. I was amazed that the little
newsletter was doing so well, my mom was too, she never thought such
a weird newsletter would work. I was 24 years old when I started the
newsletter and didn't have a whole lot else going, it was great, I
met all my flintknapping heroes.
One day I got a letter from D.C.Waldorf and he was
asking about something, I can't remember, but he
referred to the Flintknapping Digest as "The Digest", I put the
letter in the next issue and from then on that's what everyone called
it. Even now I see it referenced to time and again and it is almost
always given its affectionate name "The Digest" it gave knappers a
worm and fuzzy feel, like an old dog that you had when you were a
kid. Even old dogs pass on, and in the late 1980s, even with Val
Waldorf's help, I couldn't do it anymore. After some coaxing the
waldorf's took pity on me and took the newsletter over. They gave it
a face lift and a new name "Chips" .
One of the articles published in 1981 in the Flintknappers' Exchange
really woke up the worlds' flintknappers to a real danger. Jeffery
Kalin of Norwalk, CT. wrote Flintknapping and Silicosis. The article
shows how knappers that inhale dangerous dust can die early. More
people wore dust masks than ever, at least for a couple weeks. Terry
Frederick wrote in a letter stating Sears and Roebuck carries
respirators. According to the American Antiquity article " The main
academic lithic journal in the United States, Lithic Technology, had
some 300 subscribers in 1997, according to the editor, George Odell.
Many of these are lithic analysts rather than knappers, but many
knap, at least at some level, and many academic knappers are not
subscribers. The newsletter Flinknappers' Exchange, which ran from
1979 to 1981 and was oriented toward archaeologically involved
knappers, had some 700 subscribers, according to Errett Callahan, one
of the editors. Perhaps 300 to 500 is a reasonable conservative
estimate of the number of academic knappers in the United States. The
authors of the American Antiquity article did not think Flintknapping
Digest was important enough to include in their article, but it had
at one time, nearly 600 subscribers. At one point I published The
Stone Age Yellow Pages with a list of all the know knappers, this was
also not good enough for the article. According to the article, "
Between 1991 and 1994, Jeff Behrnes edited a second flintknapping
newsletter aimed at non-archaeological knappers, The Flintknapper's
Exchange, and compiled a list of over 1,300 names, mostly knappers
with some related craftsmen and small business. The current
newsletter, Chips, has around 1,200 subscribers, according to D.C.
and Val Waldorf . The Bulletin of Primitive Technology recently
reached 2,907 subscribers, while many of them are more interested in
other pursuits, Callahan feels that most of the knap.
The internet has really put a new twist on the knapping world.
Richard Sanchez, A knapper from Texas, led the way with his Flint
Forum an online "list" or interactive newsletter. Sanchez, along with
a very few others, helped fight the cyber knappers against fraud and
other unethical practices Sanchez, who was inspired to knap by his
father-in-law, was also a computor wiz. Compining his two passions
Sanchez started the "cyber-silca" revalution. He began two popular on-
line news platforms one "The Flint Forum List" and later The Tarp
List" . These lists insired others to get into the field. Richard
does not play around with glass, obsidian or labidary and stays on
track with traditional Texas flintknapping in the Sollberger
tradition od bifacing with antler billet off isolated platforms.
Richard is what modern traditional knapping is all about.
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
Joe Dabill - Instructor in Primitive Technology
Contact Information
Contact Person: Joe DabillPhone: 805-466-4336
,
Programs/Resources Offered by this Provider
Native Skills Demonstrations
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
Organizational Information
Type of Environmental Education Provider: For ProfitMission Statement: Joe Dabill, Instructor in Primitive Technology
Joe Dabill uses natural materials to make beautiful and fully functional tools. Tribes hire him to teach native skills to their children. Several museums have his work on display and he is published in the Journal of Primitive Technology.
His skills include: edible and useful plants, bow and arrow construction, flint knapping, tanning animal hides, fire making by hand drill, cordage making, Indian games, instruments and jewelry.
Counties Served: Marin, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Ventura
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL/ RAY HARWOOD |
Dr. Jeannie Binning with Steve Carter.
Dr.Jeannie Binning bifacing a large obsidian spall, onlookers are Peter Ainsworth, Terry Frederick and Steve Carter. Jeannie alway drew a hefty crowd when she made large Crabtree bifaces.
Alton Safford ,Steve Carter, Joe Dabill and Peter Ainsworth in the knapping circle.
Terry Frederick enters the "knapping zone"
Barney DeSimone using an Ishi stick.
Steve Carter has a strange knapping method, he pulls the flake from the top!? Errett Callahan said Steve is one of a kind! Steve has the respect of both academic and folk knappers.
Ray Harwood tells Barney DeSimone and Steve Carter to look at the camera. We were planning out trip to Arizona for obsidian - we went but did not find it.
Alton Safford Demos the sling! Damn son---
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
On lookers admire Steve Carter's work, among them Barney DeSimone.
Terry Frederick shows Alton Safford and Steve Carter hiscollection ofSollberger points. Solly was supposedto be at this knap-in but had to cancell at the last minute.
Dr. Peter Ainsworth, an archaeologist, was just out of the Flenniken knapping school and was knapping a pattern flaking Cumberland point here,
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
Joe Dabil does a demo while Alton and Steve Carter look on.
Steve Carter meets Scott Yo, Alton Safford and Terry Frederick look on.
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
I remember the 1987 Wrightwood knapin. It was the first Wrightwood knap-in that people were actually selling stuff, before that it was all trading and knapping and so on. This was one of the knap-ins held at Jackson lake. Jackson lake is an alpine type lake in the high country.It was cold at night and warm and sunny in the day. It was the most beautiful place for a knap-in of all. The camp was a flat plateau just above the lake itself and it had a hard sandy floor, it had a good open area for archery, atlatl and knapping. Joe Dabill came with his friend Terry Fredrick, I had known the two friends since 1983, but we formally met in 1984 and the CSUN knap-in. Joe Dabill is a local legend for wilderness skills and native American crafts. Joe did demos on flintknapping Ishi style, fire drill, atlatl throwing and so on. I forgot my sleeping bag and the night was comming on so Joe showed me how to make a fire bed, the only thing was -it was to shallow and my pants started on-fire, it was wierd -I was dreaming I was in a burning barn! He has joked to me about that for 20 years! Terry was a part time archaeologist and knapper of Chumash points of Monterey Chert.
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL PETER AINSWORTH . BARNEY DESIMONE. |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL PATRIC AIMS |
As miracle have it, Joe lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness skills today.
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL RAY HARWOOD |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL RAY HARWOOD |
Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin Spring Classes - 2003 MAPOM's Fall Classes in California Indian Skills will take place in the Spring and Fall. Classes are held at the reconstructed Miwok village, Kule Loklo, at beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore near Olema in western Marin County. The classes are designed to give students a concentrated look at one aspect of Native culture. The subjects of all classes are adult skills taught on an adult level and usually involve hands-on participation by students. Traditional materials are used in our classes. Students provide some tools. Classes are for adults (over 15-years-old) and participants must pre-register by mailing a check or money order to MAPOM, 2255 Las Gallinas, San Rafael, CA 94903. Please add $5 membership fee if you are taking a class from us for the first time (or are a senior or a full time student), and $10 if you are renewing your membership. We'll send a confirmation with details of what to bring and a map. Price reductions for California Indians and people working with groups of Indian children. MAPOM thanks the American Indian Cultural Center of San Francisco for a generous donation in support of these classes. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call Sylvia Thalman 415-479-3281 or e-mail us at MAPOM@aol.com. For registration information or detailed info, see our website at www.MAPOM.com. TOOLS FOR CHOPPING, SCRAPING AND DRILLING - April 5 (Saturday) 10 am - 4 pm This new class will cover manufacture of chert hand tools, including hafted hand axes, used for working wood as in bow and arrow making, adzes for reducing wood on bows and arrows and for scraping willow for basket making, bits for shafted drills. These were fastened to the shafts with sinew and asphaltum. Instructor: Joe Dabill $65 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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| FLINTKNAPPER JOE DABILL |
/ Joe Dabill, Teacher HEAD WATERS Classes: Wilderness Skills, Bow and Arrow Making, Joe Dabill is nationally recognized as an expert in bow making, fire making, flint knapping, hide tanning and more. He has been teaching wilderness skills since 1980. He has been teaching classes at Headwaters Outdoor School since 1992. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Native American Arrowpoint Jewelry . . White quartz crystal from Calaveras, California. Quartz Crystal . The same crystal used to make computer chips. Silicone Crystal . Reddish amber with dark streaks and swirls. Australian Agate . Volcanic glass from Northern California. Black Obsidian . . . These Arrow Point Neckpieces are made as authenicately as possible to actual ancient native techniques. From the hand-shaped arrow point, to the hardwood arrow shaft, to the deer hide neckstrap, these are in fact made with the similar materials and techniques that indigenous hunters used for milleniums. Duplicated to exacting detail by native skills and survival specialist, Joe Dabill of Mission San Miguel, California, these neckpieces offer a reminder of the people that originally settled the land.
By Ray Harwood
"As of late many knappers are creating ever larger
pieces of lithic art in the form of huge bifaces.
Emery Coons reportedly percussion bifaced a 50 inch
preform and managed a 40 inch finished neofact. I
wrote the Coon's family and requested information and
a photo by received no response.
At the California knap in this year, large the key
word.
Many from other states, such as Coons in Oregon, are
also thinking large and obsidian suppliers are selling
more mega slabs than ever.
Named the Orcutt syndrome after an old time knapper
named Ted Orcutt, whom was known for his massive
biface work. More later..." Ray Harwood Aug. 30. 2000
MEGA BLADE KNAPPING WITH COLE HURST
By Ray Harwood
PHASE ONE OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE:
PHASE TWO OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE:
PHASE 3 OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE
THESE PHOTOS OF COLE KNAPPING SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING THE BIFACE DURING THE CAREFUL PRECISSION KNAPPING PROCESS. The slightest mistake can lead to disaster, in that a lot of time and effort on a very rare piece of stone is gone in a fraction of a second....stone is a very unforgiving medium to work with.
TED ORCUTT UNDOUBTEDLY KNAPPED WITH THE SAME PROCESSES.
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COLE HURST: MEGA BLADE KANPPER
Many have heard of the large biface knapper of the last century, Ted Orcutt,. Many don’t know that there is an every growing number of modern flintknappers that are following in Orcutt’s foot steps. I plan to showcase as many of these new obsidian biface masters as I can. Here is the first mega blade knapper, Cole Hurst.
Cole Hurst was born October 14th 1960 in Fort Madison, Iowa and within a few years his family moved to East Wenatchee, Washington where he still resides.
Growing up he found arrowheads, scrapers and fragments of stone artifacts which sparked his curiosity in how they were made. Cole started flintknapping in the mid 80's when he was in his mid 20's. Cole Hurst didn’t know what I was doing, just experimenting. It was in the late 80's that he got a copy of "The art of Flintknapping" by D.C. Waldorf. Then later he met D.C. in 1990 when he was there in East Wenatchee with the Buffallo Museum of Science to take part in one of the digs at the Richey Clovis site, which is only a few miles from where he lives. That is when Cole’s knapping really took off. He has made several trips to Glass Buttes to quarry Obsidian, also e has networked with other flintknappers to aquire stone from all over the United States and around the world. Cole bought a rocksaw to conserve on materials as well as a kiln for heat-alteration.
Cole has held the Wenatchee knap-in since 1995. Cole is a member of Knappers-R-Us since it's beginning in 2001 and has a page on www.Flintknappers.com/cole.htm . Cole has chipped different point types found across the U.S. Cole has played with many different styles of knapping. Danish, Egyptian, Mayan Eccentrics, paralell pressure and percussion flaking and Flake over Grinding. Through the 90's his main focus was the Wenatchee style Clovis points. Cole made many and tried several different fluting techniques with pressure jigs, today it is direct percussion fluting. In the mid to late 90's Cole wanted to make larger pieces and began making the large bi-faces, his first deer dance blades. Since that time, the large Clovis points and Ceremonial blades is about 80 percent of Cole’s knapping. He has made many up to 16 or 18" and the quest for even larger blades has lured him. Finding material large enough is a quest in itself. Just in the last few years have Cole found pieces up to and beyond 24". Currently Cole is working on a pair of blades that may exceed 28”
-“Some may think using slabs is kinda cheating. I don't. Much harder to get into with all the squared edges and fragility. Not to mention getting more than one centerpiece by spalling.”- Without slabs hundreds of pounds of obsidian would be wasted, when one boulder can produce one or two giant blade on a good day, if sawn with a diamond saw these precious large pieces can yield dozens of large to giant blades. These giant blades are indeed rare and precious. With many of the lithic sources being considered for National Park status, these quarries will be off limits forever, and the time of the giant blades will end, and their value increase many times over,
Who was Ted Orcutt?
BY RAY HARWOOD
Ted Orcutt, The Karok Master, King of the Flintknappers. at the he
turn of the last century there were many flintknappers working at
their craft. One of these knappers stands out among the rest as he
carried on a sacred tradition, the white deer knapper. The White Deer
knapper had the honor of knapping the massive obsidian blades for the
world renewal ceremony known as the White Deer Dance. The White Deer
Dance was very a huge undertaking and organizers spent years planning
for one event. The event was not only time and labor intensive but
was also financially very costly. To make things work out, each tribe
took a turn hosting the event that often lasted 3 solid days. The
actual dance involved dancers carrying stuffed albino dear skins on
polls followed by obsidian dancers that carried a set of two- twin,
massive obsidian bi-faced blades tied in the middle with a buck skin
thong. He who knapped the sacred, giant, ceremonial blades for the
Karok, Hupa and Yurok was a man of honor. The man who last held this
honor was known as king of the flintknappers, he was Theodore Orcutt.
Theodore Orcutt was born February 25, 1862 near the Karok Indian
settlement of Weitchpec on the Klamath River. Weitchpec is now at the
upper or north edge of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in
northern California. His mother was a full blooded Karok Indian, born
at the Karok settlement of Orleans, Oleans is only a short distance
from Weitchpec on Hwy 96, his father was a Scotsman. Theodore's
father, Albert Stumes Orcutt had fair skin, blue eyes and light hair
and was about 5.11 inches tall and ran Orcutt Hydraulic on the South
fork of the Salmon River at Methodist creek, Albert came to this area
from Maine where he was carpenter, although he had been a sailor
earlier in life. Later in life Albert had a small farm and Orchard on
the Klamath River.
Theodore's mother, Panamenik -Wapu Orcutt, was closer to 5 foot 6
inches , with jet black hair, brown eyes and dark skin. His mother
had the characteristic traditional female Karok tattoo on her chin, 3
vertical strait lines. At adolescence all traditional Karok girls had
their chin tattooed with three vertical lines, or stripes. Using a
sharp obsidian tool, soot and grease were stitched into the skin, the
same tattoo was on the biceps. The tattooing was for several purposes
all relating to gender and Klan affiliation. She was considered a
good cook and hard worker, she could make baskets, new the ins and
outs of herbalism and acted on occasion as a midwife. She also spoke
both the Hokan language and English. Theodore's mother stayed close
to him all his life and even in old age she made trips to visit with
him. His mother lived to the advance age of 107 years old.
In about 1865 young Theodore was given his Indian name, "Mus-su-peta-
nac" translated to English means "Up-River-Boy", Karok traditional
names were not given for several years after birth so if the child
died at a young age they would not be remembered by name and the
late 1800s was not good, at the Federal census of 1910 there were
only 775 Karoks living in 200 Karok homes.
As a child, Theodore road his pony to the local one room school house
and was a quite and good student. He was a quit boy and a very good
writer, had excellent penmanship and was well read, he was, however
largely self taught, because of his many other obligations. He helped
around the house and was diligent in his chores. While the country
was celebrating its first centennial, 1876, Ted was 14 years old and
had begun his flintknapping apprenticeship with his Karok uncle "Mus-
sey-pev-ue-fich" , his mother's brother, whom was a master
flintknapper and was considered the village specialist. It was a
great honor for Ted to be chosen to such a prestigious mentor (mentor-
a wise and trusted counselor) and he practiced when ever he could.
The raw material of choice for stone workers in northern California
at the time was obsidian. Obsidian is a volcanic, colored glass,
usually black, which displays curved lustrous surfaces when
fractured. According to Carol Howe (1979) "the amount of control that
a skilled workman can exercise over obsidian is amazing. Teodore
Orcutt, a Karok Indian, one lived at Red Rock near Dorris,
California. He learned the arrowhead maker's art from his father, who
was the village specialist. The giant blade in figure 1, now in the
Nevada Historical Museum at Reno, Nevada, is an example of his work,
though not ancient, it represents the almost lost hertage of an
ancient art. Orcutt told Alfred Collier of Klamath Falls that it took
years of practice for him to became proficient."
While still in his teens he began to master the art of flintknapping.
First he learned the percussion method of knapping (Percussion method-
the act of creating some implements by controlled impact flake
detachment) and after several years he could reduce a fairly large
mass of obsidian into a flat plate like biface (biface-a large spear
head shaped blank with flake scars covering both faces), he was also
becoming more adapt to the pressure flaking techniques with a hand
held antler tine compressor (Pressure flaking- a process of forming
and sharpening stone by removing surplus material with pushing
pressure- in the form of flakes using an antler tine). His
arrowheads, spear points and other flint work became quite nice and
he began to experiment with eccentric forms and often knapped
butterfly, dog, eagles and other zoomorphic (zoomorphic-abstract
animal shaped art) and anthropomorphic (anthropomorphic-abstract
human shaped art) forms out of fine quality, fancy obsidians provided
to him by his uncle. He was also in his teens when he learned the art
of bead weaver, brain tanning of hides and arrowsmithing.
In 1885, Ted was 23 years old and spend nearly all his time after
work flintknapping and crafting traditional Karok items. It was at
this age that one morning Ted's uncle told him to get his bed roll as
he was now ready to participate in the sacred act of collecting
lithic material. This was an honor that Ted had looked forward to for
many years and he was very excited. Ted ran back to tell his mother
but she was already standing outside with Ted's bed role and some
food she had prepared.
Not only the obsidian collecting was important but the
cerimonialism involved in doing so as well. Obsidian mining was
something that had been done by hundreds of generations of Karok and
it was not to be taken lightly. Before white mining laws came about,
Native Americans relied on the concept of "neutral ground", even
tribes which were bitter enemies could meet at the obsidian quarries
and share knapping and lithic information.
As their buckboard wagon arrived at the obsidian outcrop, Ted jumped
out of his seat down into the dark damp soil, his boots leaving
imprints in the half dried mud, it was early spring and the grass was
vibrant green. Black obsidian chips glistened and sparkled all over
the land scape. When Mus-su-petafich showed young Ted how to mine and
quarry obsidian he first left an offering of tobacco, when he
performed lithic reduction (lithic-greek for stone, term most often
used in science, reduction-the miners often made preformed artifact
blanks to lessen the bulk for transport) Mus-su-petafich drove the
obsidian flakes off the core with a soft hammer stone. Large blocks
of obsidian were quarried by splitting them off giant boulders with
the use of fire. Mus-su-petafich would build a bon fire against the
rock. As each flake came off, no matter what the method of
extraction, he would set it in a pile and categorized them as his
ancestors had and said "this one is for war, this one is for bear,
this one is for deer hunting, this one is for trade, this one is for
sale". The various piles were kept separate until they were knapped
to completion and were all set aside for their original purpose. Mus-
su-petafich told Ted why each flake (or spall) had a special purpose
based on its form, structure, fracture-ability, texture, hardness and
color. There was a different Karok word for each type and variability
in the obsidian. Red obsidian was considered ritually poison and
these were usually saved for war or revenge, at this time in history
many of the customs had changed and Mus-su-petchafich made beautiful
points for sale and trade with varieties of obsidian that were once
reserved for the kill. There were numerous instances when Mus-su-
petchafich had to obtain subsurface, unweathered material, but these
were for the most part small pit mines.
It took Ted many years of mentoring with his uncle before he began to
fully understand the Karok lithic tradition. The two men made
thousands of arrowheads, lithic art and traditional Karok costumes
and marketed them, not only to traditional Indians but also, to a
wealthy eastern clientele. As Ted got older flintknapping became an
obsession, nearly all his extra time was spent either collecting
extravagant lithic material or flintknapping, in bad whether and at
night he would plan his strategy for some lithic challenge he was
working on and his quest for every better lithic material began
taking him farther and farther from home. Oregon's Glass buttes,
Goose Lake, Blue Mt., in Northern California, Battle Mountain
Chalcedony in Nevada Opal, agate and jasper from the coastal areas
and the inland deserts. On several occasions Ted Orcutt made trips to
Wyoming, the Dakotas and many locations in Utah and Idaho where he
would find specific lithic materials for special orders. Herb Wynet
was Orcutt's traveling partner and "sidekick" on many of these trips
and Herb would do all the driving so his friend "Theo" could gaze out
the car window at the country-side. Ted could look at the geology and
topography of an area if he had been there before or not and give a
good prediction, with great accuracy, where the lithic material would
be, he was correct nearly every time. On these trips Orcutt kept a
list of artifact orders on hand, this way he knew what lithic
material to get and what to focus on at his afternoon knapping
sessions on the road. In this manor Ted never fell behind on his
orders while on his flint hunting adventures. In 1902 Ted moved to
Red Rock Valley near Mount Hebron he was now 40 years old and his
percussion biface knapping was becoming better than ever. In the
earlier years Ted and his uncle had made I name for themselves among
the Native Americans in their area by knapping the large White Dear
Dance ceremonial blades for the White Deer Dance Rituals, Ted was now
challenged by these massive blades and he had a compulsive need to go
ever larger and more spectacular using many varieties of flint and
obsidian to make ever more elaborate pieces. By 1905, at age 43
Orcutt was knapping hundreds of obsidian blades of massive size, his
command over the percussion method of knapping was now unrepressed in
the history of the world.
In 1911 Ted was 49 years old when he got the job of postmaster of the
Tecnor post office in Red Rock. It was August of the same year that
Ted sat on the wooden bench outside his house and read about Ishi in
the local newspaper, the whole thing with Ishi took place only a few
miles from Ted's house, curiously, the Hokan language family
encompasses both Yahi (Ishi's language) and Karok (Orcutt's
language). It was a local joke to Ted people would say "hey Theo, did
you hear Mr. Ishi is the last arrow head maker!"
Ted was self-educated, read a good deal and by all accounts wrote a
good hand. The job as postmaster was taxing and left little idle time
to knap stone so in 1926, at the age of 62, he gave up the postmaster
job and began hauling mail from Mt. Hebron, at Technor, in Red Rock
Valley, first with horse and buggy and later in a Model T Ford, which
Ted bought new. During this time Orcutt was knapping more than ever
and was selling items through out the eastern United States, Europe
and Museums through out the world. He had well received exhibitions
at the California State Fair in Sacramento, a permanent display in
the Memorial Flower Shop in Woodland, California and he had shipped
his points to many hundreds of museums and collectors. He had a claim
where he mined obsidian near Wagontire, Eastern Oregon. It was in
this period also that Ted's ceremonial blades went from the 30 inch
long giants to the 48 inch long monsters that made gave him the
title "king of the flintknappers". This same time period Ted took a
half ton block of glass Mountain obsidian and carefully and precisely
knapped a 48 1/2 inch long ceremonial knife, which was 9 inches wide
and only 1-3/4 inch thick. This massive bifaced blade still hold the
world record for size, it rests in the Smithsonian Institute, a
similar one is in the Nevada Historical Museum at Reno, Nevada. In
the Natural History museum in Sacramento there is a massive
collection of large Orcutt blades, 176 in all, they are in an old box
marked "source unknown". The Southwest Museum in Los Angeles has many
Orcutt blades and also some of the White Deer Dance costumes Ted
made. As for the 48 inch blade, one witness to the giant blade
manufacture heard Ted speak really softly while working on the giant
blade, " I get awful nervous when I'm working on this, I'm afraid
I'll break it just before I finish."
 |
| more big foot knives by Ray Harwood |
2013 Bitterroot Valley Knap-In, Larry Creek campground in the Bass Creek Recreation Area, Bitterroot Valley, Montana
Hosts Richard and Joan Urata
Thursday June 20th to Tuesday June 25, 2013
Joan and Richard Urata will be hosting the 3nd Annual Bitterroot Valley Knap-In at the Larry Creek Campground in the Bass Creek Recreation Area, Bitterroot Valley, Montana, from Thursday June 20th to Tuesday June 25, 2013. We will be there to set up from noon Thursday 6/20 thru noon Tuesday 6/25 for clean-up. As with all PSK knap-ins, everything is free. This is a family event. There is a paved parking lot for RV’s (no hookups) and vehicles. There will be lots of room for tents under the trees or under the stars. Forest Service restricts RV’s to 30 ft. and vehicles need to stay in the parking lot – camp gear will need to be carried a short distance to your campsite. This is BEAR country so tenters should bring a long rope to hang your food up in the trees, or leave it in your vehicles. There will be a pot luck dinner Saturday evening with the hosts providing the main dish. This will be a Forest Service group area with trees providing about 75% shade where we will be gathering and tenting. There is a 50 X 50 yard open area for an archery/atlatl range and tents. There is a large supermarket 6 miles away and restaurants 6 to 8 miles away in Stevensville. There is a motel 15 miles away in Lolo.
The RV spaces at Larry Creek Group Campground are limited so be sure to make your reservations with Richard & Joan to guarantee a space in the group camp. A list of alternative RV Parks and Hotels is available by emailing Joan at the address below.
Charles Waters Campground – the first come first served campground - is about a mile from Larry Creek in the same complex – cost is $10/night and no hookups or $5/night with Senior National Park Pass. This campground has individual spaces and will be busy the weekend after the holiday.
If you are planning on coming to the Montana Knap-In please drop us a line at richurata@cybernet1.com or call us at (406) 360-1752 and let us know how many are in your party and if you are tent camping or staying somewhere else in your RV. The Forest Service likes to get a tentative number of attendees so they can help us in our facility planning.
Directions:
Drive to Missoula, Montana, on Interstate 90. Take exit 101 and head south on Reserve Street (also designated Hwy 93) to Hamilton. Turn right on Brooks street (also designated Hwy 93). You will pass 2 towns, Lolo and Florence. Turn right onto Bass Creek Road, 0.6 miles south of mile post 71 to Bass Creek Recreation area. Go 2 miles into Bass Creek Recreation area then turn right to Larry Creek campground group area. Go 1 mile on gravel road to our group campground. You will pass a parking lot for day users on your right.
