Learn the Ancient Art of Flint Knapping
For students of Native American culture and history, making traditional flint arrowheads and spearheads is a fun, fascinating hobby. What follows is a step-by-step guide for making your first arrowhead.
1. Picking a Rock
The first step in making an arrowhead is picking the right rock. The most traditional material for making stone tools and arrowheads is flint. If you live an area where limestone and chalk abound, you can find flint nodules. To find a flint rock, look underneath trees, in the roots of upturned trees, and anywhere near running water. Besides flint, obsidian, jasper, chalcedony, hornstone, and quartzite are also good materials for making arrowheads.
The rock you choose should be fairly large; start with something at least four or five times the desired size of your finished product. Whatever type of rock you choose, it should be as free as possible from any flaws, such as frost fractures or veins of quartz.
2. Gathering the Tools You Need
To make traditional arrowheads, you’ll need:
A hammerstone – a large, round, hard stone, typically limestone or quartz. The hammerstone will be the tool you use to strike your core rock.
Pressure flaking tool – an antler horn, sharpened wooden stick, or copper punching tool. This tool will be used for finishing your arrowhead’s fine details. Traditionally an antler horn or sharpened stick was used for finishing work and some flint knappers still use these, but many modern arrowhead makers use copper punching tools because they last longer.
A thick towel or cloth – the towel is used to protect your leg as you work with the rock initially, and later to protect your hand as you finish the arrowhead.
3. Shaping the Flint
How to Make Arrowheads
Your first step in making your arrowhead is to remove a large flake from the rock you’ve chosen. The larger the rock, the more chances you’ll have to get this step right.
To remove a flake from your rock, start by draping the towel or another thick, tough cloth over your thigh. If you’re right handed, drape the cloth over your left thigh. Balance the rock with your left hand on your thigh, and hold your hammerstone with your right hand. Strike your rock with the hammerstone with a glancing blow, rather than a direct blow. The angle you use to strike the rock should be less than 90 degrees.
When you strike your rock with the hammerstone, make sure to strike through the rock, as if you are aiming for a spot between your feet and the rock just happens to be in the way.
The flint will begin to break off in large, flat flakes. Choose one of the larger flakes to create your arrowhead. Once again, start with a flake larger than what you think you will need, especially if you are a beginner. Repeat the process of striking the flake at an angle with the hammerstone in order to shape the flake into a roughly triangular shape.
4. Finishing your Arrowhead
You can use the hammerstone to crush off smaller pieces of the flint around the edges until your flake is close to the shape you want for your finished arrowhead.
At this point, switch from the hammerstone to an antler, bone, sharpened wood stick, or copper puncher. Don’t use a tool like a screwdriver; it is too hard and will break the rock. Instead of striking the flake the way you did with the hammerstone, you will use this smaller tool for what’s called “pressure flaking”. Pressing the very tip of your tool at an angle against the edge of your flake, press down hard and chip off tiny pieces of flint.
Pressure flaking will take the longest of all the arrowhead making steps. You will probably want to rest your flake on your thigh, holding it in place with your opposite hand as you press down with your pressure flaking tool, or you can hold it in your hand for a better angle. Make sure to have something between the flake and your hand, because if the tool slips you are likely to puncture your hand. Move up your triangular-shaped flake along the edges in a clockwise fashion, taking off one little chip at a time. You may need to pressure flake from both sides of your arrowhead.
The final step is adding the notches, where the arrowhead will tie in to the arrow shaft. To add the notches, use your pressure flaking tool to press straight down where you want the notch. Start at the outside edge, and work towards the center of the arrowhead, removing just a fraction at a time. If you try to remove too much of the flint at once, you are likely to crack or break your arrowhead.
Once the notches are complete, you’ve finished your arrowhead. Making an arrowhead requires patience and a little skill, but with practice, it’s a hobby anyone can enjoy. It’s satisfying to look at a finished arrowhead and know that the ancient art of flint knapping still lives on today.
Related posts:
