A couple of points

A Copena point made from horse creek chert. Horse creek is a rare and coveted material by flintknappers.

An Evans point made from flintridge flint.

Michigan Flintknappers Chelsea Knap-in 2014

 This year's knap-in at the Chelsea Rod & Gun Club was fun. I had a great knapping and hanging out with my fellow knappers. I ended up doing a point trade with Douglas Alcorn, who is a very talented young flintknapper. I also got taught how to use a Sollenberger fluting jig by the extraordinary Ed Mosher. The pictures are taken by both me and Frank Stevens.

Bob Love's Michigan Flintknappers Poster.

Bob's impressive display of Stone Age tools. Bob is our President.

Some of Bob's points for sale.

\From left to right: Dan Belknap, Greg Bennick, Douglas Alcorn. My set up is about where Doug is standing.

Doug's keeper case. The points he makes are superb.

Points that Doug has collected from other knappers. The point I gave him is top row, second from left.

Greg (left) and Ed Mosher (right) busy knapping.

Ed's display of excellently made points. 

More Ed Mosher points.

John (left) and Joe (right) were on my left in the corner.\

Greg's keeper case.

Frank Stevens' setup. This is the guy to go to if you want rock!

A point that Frank finished.

Ed preparing the fluting jig for me. He made the preform then let me do the rest.

Set for fluting.

Me, ready to flute this thing!

The results of the first flute. It went well.

The second flute would have gone to the tip but it drifted to the side and removed part of the point.

This picture has the broken tip re-attached. Still salvageable!

The finished Clovis point! Thank you Ed for the opportunity!

 The event was on April 5&6. Saturday, the day I was there, was for knappers only. The next day, I was voted as future president (as a joke)! At the knap-in, flintknappers usually talk to old friends, knap, buy rocks, and just have a good time. This was a fun event and I was glad to be a part of it!

A couple of points I received in trades.

I have done a couple of trades recently and I thought that I would show what I got. These are all very nice and look great in my display case. The first two points are made by Brian Larochelle. I have not met him in person but over a Facebook flintknapping group.

 The next point is made by Douglas Alcorn. He is only 19 and is wayyy better than me. This point is very thin and the notches are exceptional. I am proud to have this in my collection.

Pictures of the 2014 Chelsea knap-in are coming soon!

More stuff that I have made.

 Spring seems like it may come, but it isn't getting much warmer the forty on most days still. This means that I still have to knap in the basement, for the most part. Here are a few of the things I have been able to finish.

This is a Gibson-Hopewell point. It is made from tough, raw Pedernales river flint. It was ABO except for the notches which were assisted by a copper flaker. The Hopewell culture did have some copper for pressure flaking, as has been found at archaeological sites. Here is a link to a prehistoric Hopewell copper flaker that was recovered: "Hacker Flaker"

This little goober is called a "Homan" arrowhead. This would have been used to hunt any game available to native Americans. This is made from heat-treated Arkansas novaculite.

This style of blade is called an Evans point. The stem (the contracted area at the base) is the main hafting area while the notches in the blade portion where either decorative or assisted the hafting. It is also made from heat-treated Arkansas novaculite.

A Gibson point from novaculite. This is one of my favorite points now.

A basal notch point made from black butter dacite.

A nice walk...... several hundred yards out on Lake Michigan!

 When it is winter in Michigan the Great Lakes freeze. This winter has been extremely cold and windy for weeks at a time. The result, a lot of thick ice with ice bergs on the Great Lakes! The five lakes are all at least 90% frozen. Seizing the opportunity, my family and I went out to take pictures as celebration for my birthday. We were quite surprised at what we saw. The ice was at least three feet thick. I had to take a picture of the arrowhead in my pocket on the ice.

Michigan Flintknappers meet at the Kalamazoo Traditional Archery Expo 2014

The Kalamazoo Traditional Archery Expo is a huge show for those interested in traditional archery. This category includes all natural, primitive bows but mostly "longbows" (fiberglass backed). This expo is meant for people all ages and experience levels. You can buy bows and other archery equipment, tools and materials to make your own archery equipment, and hunting gear. But such a show would not be complete without stone arrowheads and flintknapping. In order to accommodate this, the Michigan Flintknappers set up a booth there to demonstrate flintknapping and sell their work. I have came to knap there for four years; it is a special event for me because it is where I received my first hands-on instruction. This booth is put on by Don Gilson, Dan Belknap, Clay Wykes, and Greg Bennick. Other members of the Michigan Flintknappers filtered in and out of the booth to talk and observe. I had a great time and made a few decent points as well.

Here Don is demonstrating how to spall a nodule of Sonora hornstone. He is using a basalt hammerstone.

In mid-strike.

Here Don has set all of the usable flakes back where they came off

A close-up of the nodule.

Here Dan shows a point he just finished.

Here is a close-up of the same point. It is called a Thebes and is made from heat-treated pedernales flint. It is a very nice points and good replica of the style.

Here is Clay focused on making a point.

A case of Don Gilson's work. All of these points are large and very-well done. The "flint Ulus" are not replications but a unique, modern style that I have not seen elsewhere.

Here is my display

More of Don's points.

A four-sided arrowhead by Don.

Dan's beautiful display.

Arrows by Dan.

Arrowheads for sale made by Greg.

Greg's keeper case.

A Burn's green obsidian knife with ivory inlays by Clay.

A few large points by Clay.

A large Snyders point made from Keokuk chert, by me.

A Hopewell point from gray novaculite, also by me.