Flint and stone knives gallery

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And this is how she turned out! Threw in some hemp cordage for good measure.
Now to make a sheath for it too...

Ooh very nice, did you pressure flake over the percussion to get that flaking?

now I like that must be great to live in an area with plenty of local flint.

Yep, started off with a flat nodule and had a handaxe in mind! I went a bit nuts and ended up with a knife, it was pecussion all the way untill it was getting delicate, and switched to the Ishi stick for the last of the thinning and shaping.
Hopefully I'm off to get some more flint today, ah! sea breeze...

I had to have a go at a Danish Dagger after seeing the one above.

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That's awesome!

Did i see some Polish banded flint?.. and if so, could you share your source?

Which picture?

mr.hertzian cone wrote:Good man. Lets hope this cold weather is not the onset of the next glaciation
The knife is not of my own design, I saw this one and thought I would beef it up a little[img][/img]!

This one! That is one sexy nodule.

I'm afaid that picture came from an American source, and it is banded flint from Poland, pwaarrr...
Having worked a little of that stuff (from a slab bought from a chrystal shop in Glastonbury), I've decided that it needs heat treating! The grey stripes are tough: [img][/img]
Next to it is also some gem hippy shop Agate slab that also will also need some heating. The flakes are stopping dead.

was the pic from PP? i'm guessing thats what you meant by 50 pages of american stone knives! their primitive weapons section is just droolworthy.
i got some little agate slices from a museum too, thinking it would be good for some pretty arrowheads but there were some little fractures that made it useless sadly, but at a quid a piece it was well worth the try.

I keep forgetting i recently replaced my belligerently luddite Nokia 3210 with a BB recently, so i can post this knife i made on thursday and took a piccy of before i left for the weekend. This is my first knapping for a few months, tv glass, set in an antler tine with ppg. i tanged the blade and non-paleo drilled into the pith to haft it - it takes sideways pressure very well.

Awesome work! T.V. glass becoming rare, get it while you can.

Cheers! I was pretty chuffed.. The same day I'd previously hafted an older blade in a slotted elder haft with ppg immediately after my vice failed on me, encouraging me to end a long spoon making phase and start knapping again. I was gonna wrap the first one with sinew but I couldn't be bothered to beat it etc especially as it's very short muntjack I was given ages ago and wasn't sure it was worth the bother for short fibres considering the time I had available. I'll probs set some time aside to process the stuff so I have it on hand next time I want to do hafting, which is a skill I need to work and experiment on a bit

Very nice, I heard if you boil the antler tines in water the inside goes soft like sponge, you can just shove the tang in and leave it to cool and it hardens again. I haven't tried it yet, I've got a small piece of antler I must give it a go tomorrow if I remember.

Grendel wrote:Very nice, I heard if you boil the antler tines in water the inside goes soft like sponge, you can just shove the tang in and leave it to cool and it hardens again. I haven't tried it yet, I've got a small piece of antler I must give it a go tomorrow if I remember.

Cool, if that's so then it would be a great help... dont forget to try it out and let us know!
It's a surprisingly deep subject is hafting, i've had success with simple slot and glue hafting (sometime with a wrap of hide or leather) on some items where they have stood up well to sideways pressure and being dropped etc, but on other items it has lacked any strength. Another problem with this has been the need to use modern tools such as metal chisels/gouges, carving and hook knives to really shape the inside of the slot to closely fit the blade. With primitive tools on seasoned wood at least (of which i have a ready supply from tick and stave offcuts) i feel that this would be lengthy and frustrating task.
After the above effort though i reckon i'll lean more towards a bit of a tang set in a hole for a few more efforts.

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Thought I'd post the finished knife with the sheath!
I like this one, not all of my knives get a sheath.

Excellent stuff, and it's always great to see a finished item that uses a range of skills. Did you womble the leather and may you take the knife out camping/working now you can hang it from your belt and such?

Nice sheaf, you make me want to steal the idea. I just made three likely candidates.

skalla wrote:

Grendel wrote:Very nice, I heard if you boil the antler tines in water the inside goes soft like sponge, you can just shove the tang in and leave it to cool and it hardens again. I haven't tried it yet, I've got a small piece of antler I must give it a go tomorrow if I remember.

Cool, if that's so then it would be a great help... dont forget to try it out and let us know!
It's a surprisingly deep subject is hafting, i've had success with simple slot and glue hafting (sometime with a wrap of hide or leather) on some items where they have stood up well to sideways pressure and being dropped etc, but on other items it has lacked any strength. Another problem with this has been the need to use modern tools such as metal chisels/gouges, carving and hook knives to really shape the inside of the slot to closely fit the blade. With primitive tools on seasoned wood at least (of which i have a ready supply from tick and stave offcuts) i feel that this would be lengthy and frustrating task.
After the above effort though i reckon i'll lean more towards a bit of a tang set in a hole for a few more efforts.

Good you posted this today, I completely forgot. Absent mindedness is my thing you see, and everybody has to have their thing.

Anyway gave it a go and a resounding success. tried it with two different types of antler inner, one thick and one spongelike. The thick one I boiled for 30 mins it went quite soft and I could easily make this hole with a nail. The other one I boiled for 5 mins with the same effect. I get there impression if I doubled the boiling times it would be soft enough to poke a flint tang through. The inners of the antler didn't go hard when I plunged them in cold water but after they dried. Which makes me wonder if boiling is needed at all, soaking over night in cold water may work, I'll let you know tomorrow.

The leather is indeed wombled, found a heap of leather off cuts in a skip some years ago. Most of it has become palm pads and patches for palm pads, running out now. Boo.
Mr. G: Those knives look very nice, feel free to try some sheaves for them, the leather was cut to size and scored with dividers on the inside to gauge the depth of the stiching line and then pricked with the dividers to get even spacing for the stiches. The holes were then put through both pieces of leather with an square sectioned awl and stiched with synthetic sinue. The loop was stiched on in the same way before the two halves where joined. Simples!

Splendid knives Grendel and i love the naturalistic look of the handles and wrappings... what is the white-ish stone?
As for the ability to soak/boil the antler for hafting, thats just awesome. The spongy inner'd piece is very like the type i have been getting via Highland Horn so i will be sure to use that technique once i get some more, and this thread is just the motivation i need to get making pointy things. When i get home tomorrow i may well start a Cudgel thread too!
Mr HC, i fully sympathise, i have a pretty large pile of wombled leather from a variety of sources, but it's all been used for pads and such, as well as seats in soggy woods while doing grimy stone age stuff and left out in the rain for a few nights etc so it is all well past it's best. I really need to start a basket for "best" scounged stuff to be reserved in. Frankly i've got lazy on the old womble front and have even passed a few leather sofas left out as trash and not butchered them which really is not like me.

The white stone is chert. I'm out of antler too,but will definitely try it as soon as I get some

skalla wrote:Splendid knives Grendel and i love the naturalistic look of the handles and wrappings... what is the white-ish stone?
As for the ability to soak/boil the antler for hafting, thats just awesome. The spongy inner'd piece is very like the type i have been getting via Highland Horn so i will be sure to use that technique once i get some more, and this thread is just the motivation i need to get making pointy things. When i get home tomorrow i may well start a Cudgel thread too!
Mr HC, i fully sympathise, i have a pretty large pile of wombled leather from a variety of sources, but it's all been used for pads and such, as well as seats in soggy woods while doing grimy stone age stuff and left out in the rain for a few nights etc so it is all well past it's best. I really need to start a basket for "best" scounged stuff to be reserved in. Frankly i've got lazy on the old womble front and have even passed a few leather sofas left out as trash and not butchered them which really is not like me.

It worked with cold water too, took about 6 hours to soften. The was one the same as on the left of the pic. Also I somehow think cold water is less harmful to the outside of the antler.

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