No, not familiar with Grayghost. I spent an afternoon with a professional knapper at a conference in Bozeman in about 85, but his name has long ago escaped me. He was hammering untreated flint, and his fingers and arms clearly exhibited the stresses they'd endured over the nears. Said his doctor had long ago encouraged him to quit. He did have beautiful stuff, and I was obviously way short of his skills in working that material.
I have some Texas buddies that owe me, and they're always threatening to bring up some flint. Always escapes their mind though when they do get around to running this way. I recall seeing sizeable chunks embedded in rip rap boulders around Brownsville and Corpus Christi. Lots of variable colors as well.
We have a couple professionals in the region that display some 24 to 30" pieces in both red and black obsidian. I'm fairly sure they rough their blanks out as thin slabs with rock saws. Sadly the younger of the two rolled a 4-wheeler a couple years back and suffered some brain and vision damage. Migraines etc have set him back. With a good marketing manager, I suspect he could have earned 6-figure coin setting up shop in a well visited year round destination resort.
Sawed blanks are a bit of cheat, but they certainly conserve material. One shapes the slabs and then simply flakes off the saw scarred surfaces. I can start with a foot long chunk, hammer out a single point, and have 5 lbs of waste at my feet when done. I'm pretty much an impact and pressure flaker. With a saw, one can get 7 or 8 similarly dimensioned points out the same rock I started with, and be left with a couple lbs of waste.
Given what pops out of the ground on occasion though, there were some seriously skilled artists roaming around our continent in pre-settlement days.
1Minute& Kaywoodie
Grayghost did in fact saw his thin blanks with a rock saw. Devised some type of mechanical had operated method to flake with. Interesting guy, a friend of mine knew him and introduced him to an old knapper from West Pains Mo who in turn taught Grayghost to knap. Within a few months his ability excelled the old knapper. Google him for a very interesting read on his life. GW
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. MACHIAVELLI
