Scottish Jasper and agate.

Hello all.

I have just recently discovered that there are sources of Jasper and agate, in Scotland!

I was wondering if any off you new if our ancient ancestors used it, and if any of you have had a go at knapping it?

I know that other Jaspers and agates need to be cooked.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

James

They are both very beutiful stones, Jasper is lovelly to flake and I've yet to try Agate, as you say they need cooking...

Thanks mr hertizian cone

Ive knapped non Uk Agate and jasper... they are nice to knap.

That's interesting, I found a source of agate in southern England, but no Jasper so far. Both very pretty rocks.

how did it knap? Did you heat teat it?

Not yet!

I've worked with Brazilian Agate and Australian Jasper though.

Phwaarr! Looks like a pretty snyders point. I do have some agate (brazillian) that I have tried to knap raw, and found it really hard to get the flakes to travel far, it's kinda sugary to knap so some heat will help.
It's in the pile of rock that will end up in the sand pit to be heat treated during the summer.... I'm hoping for dry weather at some point.

Very pretty stone...

Hoping for dry weather too. I spend most of my life in the woods teaching. It was a very hard last year. Especially as one of our sites is on clay! We ran a bow making class and in one night we had two months worth of rain! Miserable!

Still getting snow in late march here and I hate the damn cold more than most people for good reason. I get the feeling it's going to be a short knapping season.

Have you thought about knapping indoors with a fan blowing the dust away from you?

I do pressure flake indoors and don't worry too much about the fan, but I get a bit bored just pressuring and need to clobber something once in a while.

I know that feeling Grendel!

As Jasper is the talk of the day, I thought I would let you all drool over a few photos I took a couple of years ago, in the Gran Sabana region of southern Venezuela. An astonishing exposure of pure, gem-quality jasper bedrock, with the Jasper Creek River flowing over it. The local Indians, the Pemon, certainly make jewellery out of it, but I didn't see any knapped weapons.












The black stripes are an algae that manages to grow because of the rippled surface of the rock.


Cheers

Andy

Thanks Andy that is truly awesome. Nice photography too. I wonder if it's protected or whether you could just turn up with a geology hammer and a bag.


Coincidently here's something I made of Jasper a couple of days ago on Wednesday.

Very nice photos Andy!

Nice knife Grendel. Where did you get the jasper from?

I bought it from a rock shop on the internet, I can give you the website address if you're interested.

Thanks Grendel that would be great!