Scottish Chert

I've just spent the weekend away in the motorhome. I ended up at Wanlockhead, and did 'the tour', which includes the lead mines. If you are ever in Scotland, take the time to go there, it's worth it. In fact 7 of the 700 known minerals were found originally at Wanlockhead.

There is a chert found in the area, sort of attached to another mineral, but hard as I looked, I couldn't find it.

It also occurred to me that if I did find some, it would be so frost damaged that it would be useless.

Well, the hunt goes on........

Frost damage is pretty erratic, I've got flint from frost damaged sources, sometimes 9 out of every 10 nodules can be useless but there's always a good one, also only part of a nodule is often damaged, when sourcing stone preform it a bit on site to remove the damaged parts.

good advice, you should be able to at least get some flakes for arrowheads if the main body of the chert is flawed. There is other stone in Scotland that will knap, there is Pitchstone on Arron that is a lava type rock (not quite Obsidion!) and I've seen Barbed and tanged arrowheads made from Boodstone which is red and sometimes green!

I've come accross a couple of pieces of bloodstone, but so far not fit or large enough for knapping. Still to get over Arran way to check out the pitchstone.

I've got some UK pitch stone it's almost identical to obsidian. Though there are lower more grainy grades.

That's the problem, getting something that can be knapped.

AOn the same subject, I was waiting for a customer to get back home on Thursday. So, being it had finally stopped raining, and the sun was shining, I sat on her doorstep, and lo....

A driveway full of little nodes of flint. What else could I do but hit one stone off another. Flint was a bit poor, but got a little micro flint roughly knapped. Did make me wish I had a pressure flaker about my person though.