Subjective vs Objective

First, a couple definitions from dictionary.com

Subjective: pertaining to or characteristic of an individual; personal; individual: a subjective evaluation, placing excessive emphasis on one's own moods, attitudes, opinions, etc.; unduly egocentric.

Objective: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion, intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book.

While I believe both areas should be used when considering the quality of a piece of flintknapping work, and I have some subjective considerations listed on my main site at www.modern-flintknapping.com

Subjective considerations are left up to a lot of opinion and as the old saying goes, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I see some using terms such as "overall workmanship" "generally clean blade" "great style" "outstanding color" but yet it is never explained exactly what any of these words mean. It is all very vague.

And of course, all these subjective thoughts, could be argued by people in a never ending battle, once again the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

For this reason, I prefer using objective considerations, taking precise measurements of many dimensions of the piece and running it through the Modern Flintknapping Grading System to get a score. You can visit my main website to see what measurements are taken.

Then the subjective considerations can factored in if you have two pieces of similar score.

Flint Ridge Display

We had a great time at the Flint Ridge knapin. I was surprised by the number of people who were familiar with our website www.modern-flintknapping.com and this blogspot. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are a few pictures of our table.

Measuring Devices

It is very important to use the proper devices for measuring the diameter of a blade. While measuring the blade it is also very important to keep the blade perfectly level, any changes in angles or twisting of the blade in any direction can change your readings. I like to place the blade where both ends are the only thing touching two elevated platforms which are at the same height(which keeps the blade level across). This gives much better results than trying to hold the blade in your hand.

Pictured above is the device I use, it is a Fowler machine tool thickness gauge that measures down to 1000th of an inch. You can purchase them at     http://www.fowlerprecision.com/Products/Dial-Inside-and-Outside-Measurement/525500100.html     Please note, you need a deep throat device for measuring wider blades.

Inside & Outside Measurement TOP
Thickness	Caliper Gages	Snap Gages	Bore Gages
Pocket Style Heavy Duty Electronic Snap Cal	Internal Dial External Dial Long Range Heavy Duty Digital Models Deluxe Digital	Dial Snap Gage Electronic Snap Gage John Bull	Xtender-D Series Xtender-E Series Deluxe Cylinder Digital Cylinder Shallow Bore Gage Setting Master

Some types of micrometers may be used for measuring diameters as far as accuracy, but I have found finding ones with proper throat depths can be a problem and using the devices themselves for measuring blades can be difficult.

This type of caliber shown below, is fine for measuring width and length but it IS NOT accurate for measuring diameters.


If you read my following post, you will see just why using proper equipment is critical.

What a difference, does it really make?

I was asked by someone at the Flint Ridge knapin, what difference does .05 inches really make in the diameter of a piece. When I explained that it made a huge difference in W/T ratio which corresponds with the level of skill of the knapper. The person replied "so what, if someone is over a 10/1 ratio, it is all good, why does it matter?".

While I agree, 10/1 is a threshold and thus why the points awarded in my scoring system start to increase greatly at that point. But 13/1 takes tremendously more skill than 10/1, and once you get above 13/1, every slight increase takes more skill at an ever more multiplying rate. In other words, 15/1 compared to 13/1 take much more skill than the difference in 10/1 to 12/1, although they are is only two ratios difference in both cases.

If you go from .22 inches to .17 inches in diameter on a blade that is 3 inches in width, your W/T ratio goes from 13.6 to 17.6, that is a tremendous difference!

If .05 inches doesn't matter, then why do we keep score or run a time clock on any thing in life? The current record for the 100 meter sprint is 9.58 seconds, the tenth fastest time is only .28 slower, such a small difference, why not give them all a gold medal? What about when Michael Phelps in the Olympics beat his competitor by 1/100 of a second. 1/100 of a second! Did they both get gold medals?

I agree, give credit where credit is due, if someone makes a good blade, give them credit. But I think you get my point, slight differences in diameters on blades truly can make a big difference in the skill level being represented.

UPDATE---I just realized that a little over 1 week of making this original post, that someone set a better second place time in the 100 meter sprint. The difference between first and second is now .11 seconds.