Sunday Afternoon Knap

to celebrate the F1 result in Belgium i spent about an hour flint knapping in the afternoon.

i was hoping to make a big leaf-shaped arrowhead but i missed a strong ridge and split my stone in half...

i used the opportunity to practice making the deep in-cut used to tang and barb, and cut through the oddly shaped larger half to make a much smaller leaf.

the mud coloured flint seemed quite brittle and having not practised for ages i found the balance of power difficult with the copper point, and just crushed the edges with the antler.

in the end i found i could make the flakes i needed with 'nibbles' holding the piece up rather than down between my knees.

the result is ok for shape, but not so thin.

update

as a simple thank you to my archery teacher, i improvised a setting for the point - using a fresh bamboo pole for the shaft, i bound the point on with the inside of a shock-cord, and finished it off with some pigeon feather fletches.

not at all practical, but looked a cool gift.