Pictures of "Modernized" Flintknapping Art

Below are several pictures of examples of "modernized" flintknapping. In Bill's version of modern flintknapping, he will take actual artifact designs and add his artistic flair and change their shape/design in various ways. He may blend various designs into one piece making a hybrid point. He may also use different techniques to make the pieces than were originally used by the artifact makers of old. All but one of the below pieces are made using the flake over grinding method. They will also usually be made thinner than the original artifacts.

Beside each piece we will give the measurements, type material it is made from and a little description of how the piece differs from the artifacts. (this may take weeks for all this information to be updated)


All of the below pieces are for sale. Email me at dwayne@modern-flintknapping.com for prices.





Knife Blade

Length-4.2 inches
Width-1.25 inches
Diameter-.20 inches

Made of Fancy Jasper from India.







Kirk Point made longer.

Length-4 inches
Width-1.5 inches
Diameter-.20 inches

Made of Obsidian







Smith with notches not as deep.
Length-2.2 inches
Width-1.2 inches
Diameter-.14 inches
Extra thin
Made from Agate









Kirk Point made longer.



Length-3.7 inches
Width-1.5 inches
Diameter-.20 inches

Made of Mahogany Obsidian





Smith with very shallow notches


Length-2.5 inches
Width-1.2 inches
Diameter-.17 inches


Made from Jasper





Long Turkey Tail


Length-5.8 inches
Width-1.3 inches
Diameter-.19 inches

Made from Rootbeer





Knife Blade

Length-5.9 inches
Width-1.5 inches
Diameter-.25 inches

Made of green Obsidian.(Burnes Green)









Very long Tang Knife

Length-5.7 inches
Width-1.4 inches
Diameter-.19 inches

Made from Rootbeer with cattails.








Long Palmer
Length-4.5 inches
Width-2.3 inches
Diameter-.18 inches
Very thin, W/T ratio 12.8/1
Made from Texas Quartz(rare material)







Knife Blade

Length-5.3 inches
Width-2.3 inches
Diameter-.18 inches

Very thin, W/T ratio 12.8/1

Made from Mookite from Australia.








Kirk with wider point.

Length-2.9 inches
Width-1.7 inches
Diameter-.17 inches

Very thin

Made of Obsidian




Hardaway Point with very deep V notch and extreme ears.
Length-2.2 inches
Width-1.2 inches
Diameter-.23 inches
Hardaway's are a local artifact design that Bill likes to modernize. You may see several variations.









Hybrid of a Savannah River point and flared Smith base.


Length-3 inches
Width-2.5 inches
Diameter-.20

Made of Flower Agate.









Smith base with long tapered point.

Length-3.8 inches
Width-1.4 inches
Diameter-.15 inches

Super thin, thinnest point in this post.

Made of black Texas flint.








Double Spoke Shave

Length-2.7 inches
Width-1.2 inches
Diameter-.24 inches

Made from Texas Flint







Long Hardaway Point

Length-5.7 inches
Width-1.3
Diameter-.19 inches

L/T ratio-30/1

Made from Fancy Jasper from India.


The above piece is now owned by Aaron Lincoln, who placed it in his "masters case".  We consider this a nice honor coming from a flintknapper as good as Aaron. Thanks Aaron.



Palmer Point

Length-2.1 inches
Width-1.2 inches
Diameter-.17 inches


Made from Mookite







Other side of above piece.












Extreme Tang Knife

Length-4.25 inches
Width-1.7 inches
Diameter-.24 inches

Made from red glass, ready to be made into a necklace.







Knife Blade

Length-5.1 inches
Width-2.3 inches
Diameter-.19 inches

Made from Obsidian







"Half" Serpentine Knife(in that only half of piece has a serpentine twist)

Length-5.75 inches
Width-2.5 inches
Diameter-.22 inches

Made from Fancy Jasper from India.





Biface

Length-5.7 inches
Width-1.8 inches
Diameter-.235 inches

Made from red glass.







Similar to a Pederales Point

Length-2.2 inches
Width-1.4 inches
Diameter-.21 inches
Made from Rootbeer.








Lever pressured Biface.
Length-6.65 inches
Width-3 inches
Ave. Diameter-.225 inches
Lever pressured using Bill's lever device he developed.(can be seen in slideshow Replicating the Sweetwater)
Made from glass.










Points with high and low leg.(something different)
On left Length-1.9 inches
Width-1.1 inches
Diameter-.18 inches
On right Length-1.8 inches
Width 1.1 inches
Diameter-.17 inches
Made from Mookite






Length- 6 inches, Width-1.6 inches, Diameter-.215 inches Serpentine design, made from Mookite from Australia. This is one of Bill's personal favorites.

Archery Past

If you read the interview with Bill on www.modern-flintknapping.com under the "about us" header and click on "about Bill" you will see that he started making bows when he was 12 years old. Archery and flintknapping went hand and hand for Bill. His love for archery lead to him competing in archery. In 1976 he won all three divisions(field, indoor, target) of the Bow Hunter Restricted category for the state of NC. 1976 was the third year in a row he had won the field division thus he was able to "retire" the trophy for that division, which allowed him to keep the trophy forever.

Modern Ross Blade

At Modern Flintknapping we often like to "modernize" the replication of artifacts. By this we mean we may make them thinner than the normal original artifacts were made. We may take a piece and reshape it in various ways. We may take two designs of artifacts and mix them, using components of both, to get a hybrid design. Or we may come up with a totally new design of our own.

This is where our name "modern" flintknapping derives from. We believe this helps keep the art of flintknapping interesting as well as allowing an artist's mind to constantly expand and come up with new designs.

Above is a picture of a Ross blade that Bill made few months back. It is 9 inches long, 3 inches wide with a diameter of .30 giving it a W/T ratio of 10/1. This is a higher W/T ratio than you would normally see on an actual Ross artifact. This blade was made using a pressure lever device which causes the large distinct flakes. This is a totally different technique compared to percussion which is what is normally used to make Ross blades

Bo Earl's "TheThin Man"

Today I had the pleasure of measuring Bo Earl's "The Thin Man" point. This is a percussion piece and as the name implies, it is very thin.

The piece measures 4.1 inches long, 2.4 inches wide and .235 inches in diameter at the thickest point.

The piece has an average diameter of .196 inches and an average width of 2.2 inches giving it a super average W/T ratio of 11.2/1. The standard W/T ratio is 10.1/1(click directly on "grading and scoring" on the main site, for it is not listed on the drop down menu, to see how I figure average diameters)

This blade has a score of 637 using the Modern Flintknapping Scoring System. For more info. on the scoring system check out http://www.modern-flintknapping.com/grading-system.html

Check out Bo's gallery at http://www.flintknappers.com/store.php?sid=Nw%3D%3D to see pictures of the piece.

Here are some pictures I took of it as well.
































I would like to thank Bo for giving me the privilege to measure such a piece.

Flint Knives

Here are several pictures of various knives. I don't have the measurements for each one, but they all have very thin blades on them.



Blade made from Magohany Obsidian with a white Larvikite handle.
























Blade made from Dacite with a wooden handle.













Blade made from Dacite with an elk antler handle.













Blade made from Dacite with a green Larvikite handle.

































Blade made from Dacite with a marble handle.

Thin Fluted Points

Here are pictures of several fluted FOG points. They range from 6-8 inches long and 2 1/4 inches wide and .25-.30 in diameter BEFORE the flutes were removed. Most are fluted on both sides with flutes up to 2 1/2 inches long. The one at the bottom is the thinnest of all, although it is only fluted on one side.






















































This is the thinnest fluted FOG point. This point is 4 1/4 inches long and 2 inches wide. It is .21 inches thick, making the W/T ratio 9.5/1 BEFORE the 1 3/4 inch flute was removed.

The diameter after the flute was removed is .143 inches, making the W/T there at 14/1!

Bill's Thinnest Point

This is a FOG point. It's diameter ranges from .115 to .14 inches thick. It is 2 7/8 inches long and 1 3/4 inches wide. This gives it a standard W/T ratio of 12.5/1. Some of the removed flakes are actually thicker than the point itself. As a reference, 1/8 inch is .125