Stonehenge 181
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Stonehenge

Stonehenge AGAIN!

harestonesdown H
harestonesdown Mar 21, 2013 16:13:57
Replying to Evergreen Dazed

Evergreen Dazed wrote:
harestonesdown wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
harestonesdown wrote:
Wonder how much i could knock out the arrowheads i knap if i walked round offering them ? Saw a bloke last summer knocking out "druidic" staffs, sold all he had in one afternoon !
I'd quite like to learn how to do that. How long does it take you to make a decent arrowhead? Are we talking barbed/tanged type?

You could definitely flog them, no doubt about it!

They can take 30-60 minutes depending on detail etc. Mine aren't the best by any means, though i have made a few decent examples over the last few years including barbed and tanged, i've given most of them away though. My problem is continuity of practice as i've no local source of flint.
Surprised by that, thought it would take lot longer. Then again, I suppose you get quicker as you get better at it?

You'll have to fill a bag with flint on your next Avebury visit!

There's a certain skill to it, but it's not as hard as you may think unless you're looking for paper thin examples which do take a serious amount of time and a LOT of concentration. Lost count of how many i've broken almost at completion, you can always make them finer, and that's the problem, knowing when to stop.
This year i'm heading down in the car so i intend to bring back as much as possible, there's some really big bits by the sheds up at Harestones Down that i'd like. All surface stuff though so it's of questionable quality.

E Evergreen Dazed
Evergreen Dazed Mar 21, 2013 16:18:52
Replying to harestonesdown

harestonesdown wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
harestonesdown wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
harestonesdown wrote:
Wonder how much i could knock out the arrowheads i knap if i walked round offering them ? Saw a bloke last summer knocking out "druidic" staffs, sold all he had in one afternoon !
I'd quite like to learn how to do that. How long does it take you to make a decent arrowhead? Are we talking barbed/tanged type?

You could definitely flog them, no doubt about it!

They can take 30-60 minutes depending on detail etc. Mine aren't the best by any means, though i have made a few decent examples over the last few years including barbed and tanged, i've given most of them away though. My problem is continuity of practice as i've no local source of flint.
Surprised by that, thought it would take lot longer. Then again, I suppose you get quicker as you get better at it?

You'll have to fill a bag with flint on your next Avebury visit!

There's a certain skill to it, but it's not as hard as you may think unless you're looking for paper thin examples which do take a serious amount of time and a LOT of concentration. Lost count of how many i've broken almost at completion, you can always make them finer, and that's the problem, knowing when to stop.
This year i'm heading down in the car so i intend to bring back as much as possible, there's some really big bits by the sheds up at Harestones Down that i'd like. All surface stuff though so it's of questionable quality.
Re quality, grimes graves is open again in April.. :)

Yeah I see what you mean with the knowing when to stop. Must be gutting when you've got a good one on the go and it breaks.
I've picked up plenty of other stuff but i'm still yet to find an arrowhead 'in the wild'. I'm going to go back up to Windmill Hill next visit, kick over a few mole hills!

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