With a nice piece of flint or
obsidian, a swath of leather to cover your knee, and a gloved hand on the
stone, you are ready to create an arrowhead; or, a pile of scrap rock.
Knapping with a traditional
tool, perhaps an antler tip, uses downward tool tip pressure on the edge of the
stone to selectively break away unwanted flakes. The Knap Buddy puts the tip of
the tool at a target spot on the stone, but then uses a light, to harder blow
on the striker arm instead of the downward push with a tool in the hand. A
piece of large diameter dowel serves as the whacker.
The striker arm is a
5/8" dowel with a 1-1/2" piece of 3/32" brass rod sunk
1-1/8" into the end. I then wrapped the end with flat nylon string to
strengthen the tip. I cut the dowel to ~18".
The small bungee at the rear
helps the dowel return to its starting height. I made the dowel mount assembly
thick enough so as to minimize sideways wobble. The mortise on the stand is
taller than it is on the front piece. This is so the back end of the dowel can
travel high up when it is wacked. The bottoms of the two mortises are even,
front to rear, since there is no need for the dowel to rise above horizontal.
The height of the Buddy is
such that the striker tip rests a couple of inches above my leg when I am
sitting in a chair.
The Buddy is placed to the
front, and a little bit to the right of my knees. This provides an unobstructed
striker arm which I can comfortably whack.
Antiskid tape was put on the base to securely position the Buddy with foot.
I can orient the stone on my
leg to ready it for the next strike, hard or light. Since the striker
immediately returns to its starting position, rapid, repeated knaps are easy to
do.
No matter how it is formed, a
well-shaped arrowhead is still an arrowhead.
Knapping with a traditional
tool, perhaps an antler tip, uses downward tool tip pressure on the edge of the
stone to selectively break away unwanted flakes. The Knap Buddy puts the tip of
the tool at a target spot on the stone, but then uses a light, to harder blow
on the striker arm instead of the downward push with a tool in the hand. A
piece of large diameter dowel serves as the whacker.
The Buddy is placed to the
front, and a little bit to the right of my knees. This provides an unobstructed
striker arm which I can comfortably whack.
Antiskid tape was put on the base to securely position the Buddy with foot.
I can orient the stone on my
leg to ready it for the next strike, hard or light. Since the striker
immediately returns to its starting position, rapid, repeated knaps are easy to
do.
No matter how it is formed, a
well-shaped arrowhead is still an arrowhead.
