12344mag: For decades, Cookie and I have been out and about. We've found some pieces, but most everything of substance were only halves. We've never been rabid pot hunters, as serious digging/sifting on our mostly public lands is a no no. Mostly as a challenge, I picked up some raw materials, perched on the pickup tail gate when I got home, and chiseled out what might have almost looked like a 1 1/2 inch point in about 3 hours. Not too bad I thought. Only took 3 hours.
I kept struggling in spare moments for a month or so, and soon had an extensive collection of maybe 4 crude points if one held them up and looked just so. Subsequently I came upon a flint knapping book by a gentleman named Waldorf (like the hotel). His presentations laid out the basic principles of getting rocks to break in desired patterns and I was off and running in about another 2 months. The book is about the same dimensions as a Saturday Evening Post if one comes from that era.
There are many other publications out there on the subject now, many employing paleo techniques and others building complex jigs and using hydraulics, rock saws, and impact tools to bang out their fabrications. Also many technique discussions in refereed journals.
One blessing for me is that I can gather obsidian at almost tons per hour rates. Many sources on public ground here in Harney and Lake counties. Locally near Glass Buttes, Oregon there has been an annual flint knapping gathering in early spring (like March). One might be able to surf up some references. I've been to a portion of one of those, and it's about a 3-day affair with everything from seriously scruffy mountain men to university PhD's camping out and hammering on rocks while passing on their discoveries and techniques. A very informal and remote event, and weather can and does do anything that time of year.
It is a neat and challenging hobby, and while there are some extremely adept makers out there, I've not met one yet that considers himself a master.
