Portfolio New images added October 1, 2017. Ross blade made of raw Mook jasper from Australia. Another name for the material is mookite. Spectacular stone. Length: 7". I think this one will stay in my collection for a while. Here is the Mook jasper Ross blade riding on an ornate box turtle. Turtles love bling. And here is another ornate box turtle sporting a flint cube made by the talented young Danish knapper, Sofus Stenak. Just because. Length: 4". In the turtle's private collection. Turtles have excellent taste. So this happened... Yep, that's a break, not a color band in the material. And, yes, the more colorful parts of my vocabulary got a thorough workout. This is how I salvaged the upper half. This blade is made of a man-made material called ferro-silicon. Magnets love the stuff and it's much heavier than other knapping materials, but is quite brittle. Tricky stuff to knap. You may be able to tell from the way the percussion flakes terminate that the blade is thin. Length: 7 3/4". Personal collection. And this is the bottom section of the broken ferro blade. I like Daltons, particularly ones that have been resharpened by unifacial beveling. I need to make more. Length: 4". Personal collection. This Ross blade is made of an uncommon blue variety of Alibates (a silicified dolomite) from the Texas panhandle. Gorgeous stuff. Length: 7 1/2". Personal collection. Here's another Ross made of blue Alibates. This one came from a different part of the same parent rock, so the colors are slightly different. Length: 7 1/4". Personal collection. Pink novaculite Ross blade with luna moth. That's a partially healed crack across the base of the blade. Knapping was dicey. Length: 8 5/8". Personal collection. This Ross blade was made without a stem because of the crystal pocket near the bottom. It's almost certain that a large section of the base would have broken off if I'd tried to notch in or around the weak pocket. Best to leave well enough alone. The strikingly colored material is Flint Ridge chert from Ohio. Huge thanks to Ed Moreland for the chance to work this great piece of stone. Length: 11". Personal collection. Giant dance sword and Ross blade made of vivid rainbow obsidian. Yowza. Length of dance sword: 22". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. Length of Ross blade: 16". Jerry Kiker collection. Here's that Ross blade in-hand. I think the Hopewell Culture would have approved. Length: 16". Jerry Kiker "Freezecracked" collection. It seems that I've been on a Ross blade binge. I can live with that. This one is made of Rainy Buttes silicified wood from North Dakota. I really like the lines of this one. Length: 11". Personal collection. You may be getting tired of looking at Ross blades. That's unfortunate. Here are more. From top to bottom, the materials are novaculite, Flint Ridge, and Tecovas. Greatest length: 11". Personal collection. Leaf shaped blade, Parral agate from Mexico. Wild stuff and a bugger to knap. Length: about 9". Joe "Bubbles" Miller collection. Allen-ish point made of Brazilian agate. I realize it's not true to the type and it's clearly flake-over-grinding, but just chill and enjoy the material. It's candy. Length: 7 3/4". Personal collection. More Brazilian goodness which has been coaxed to pose as an oversized Allen point. Length: 9 luscious inches. Personal collection. Another Ross blade -- who woulda thunk it? This one is made of Tecovas. There's Tecovas jasper and then there's this stuff. I think it's a highly silicified sandstone with broken bits of jasper mixed in. Cool geology. Length: 10 7/8". Personal collection. It was hard to let this one go, but it went to a good home. The material is amethyst sage agate from Nevada, now residing in Denmark. Length: about 6". Sofus Stenak collection. I need better a better photo of this point. It's a replica of a the type of Scottsbluff points found in east Texas and Louisiana. I fiddled around for years with this type, never "getting" them until a couple of extraordinarily knowledgeable gentlemen took the time to share their insights. I've come to feel that this point type may be the most technically complicated style in north america. There are many subtle challenges in getting this quietly beautiful point type correct. The material in this one is correct for the type -- it's agatized palmwood from Louisiana. Length: 5". Personal collection. This is another east Texas Scottsbluff replica. It's not a dead-on copy, but in the ballpark. The material is agatized palmwood. Length: 5 1/2". Private collection. And another Scotty made in the same style. Same material, too -- agatized palmwood. Length 6 1/2". Private collection. Family portrait of east Texas Scottsbluffs made of black agatized palmwood. Greatest length: about 6 1/2". Private collections. This Scottsbluff is made in the midwestern style. The material is Cobden. Nice point. Length: about 5". Private collection. Danish daggers. Where to start... I flirted with them about 15 years ago. Finally decided to begin a serious relationship with them in the summer of 2016. Not sure that was the best decision, but now I'm hooked. There isn't another stone tool on this planet that's more complicated, frustrating, subtle, and demanding, technically and physically. And they require the absolute best material, both in size and quality. They are royal pains and I love them. These Type IV daggers might look nice enough, but they aren't correct. There are a number of things about daggers that I haven't gotten right. To my knowledge, no one has. There is a handful of excellent knappers who are doing their best to correctly replicate the best of the old ones, but no one has put it all together. I'm not at all sure that I'll ever come close, but the effort and the learning is half the fun. The material in these daggers is high grade raw Georgetown chert from Texas. Greatest length: about 11". Here's a fairly early attempt at a style with a concave pommel and pronounced pommel horns. They are too exaggerated, but it was a good exercise to see how far the stone could be pushed. Length: about 12". Here's a Type IV dagger I tried in obsidian. The problem I encountered is that the obsidian flaked so easily that the stitch flakes on the handle's center seam rolled down the sides and nipped off the handle edges making it too narrow. To salvage the piece I did some knotwork on the handle with paracord that mimics the stitching. Length: about 13". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. The neolithic Danes also made miniatures of their daggers. Here's one I made from Helgoland flint. Length: 2 1/2". Private collection. From the largest to the smallest, the materials are Georgetown chert, Tecovas jasper, and Imperial jasper. Greatest length: about 13". The largest dagger is in the Tony Podkanowicz collection. The smallest dagger is in the Michael J.Bradshaw collection. Here's the Tecovas jasper Type IV dagger. It's half-scale, of course -- just a nice way to use a great piece of stone. Length: 6 1/2". Personal collection. Here's a decent attempt at a Type IVd with a nice long run of stitching down the center seam. I see quite a few issues to correct, but it's another step down the road. Length: about 12". This shows the stitching on the sides of the handle of a Type IV dagger. There is stitching on the handle's center seam, the sides of the handle, and all the way around the pommel. Lots of fine, tight work to be done. This 3/4 scale dagger is made of an agate from the western US (it might be polka dot agate). Length: about 9". Joe "Sweet Cheeks" Miller collection. There are a number of varieties of Danish daggers. This is my attempt at one of the Type 1 daggers. The handle section on originals was partly finished. Based on finds from bogs, the handles were wrapped with spruce root. Length: about 13". I know you were wondering, so, yes, Type IV Danish daggers carve turkey breasts very nicely. Three Clovis points in different styles. From left to right, the materials are Flint Ridge, Niobrara jasper, and Quitaque chert. Greatest length: about 6 1/2". This is a point type from the Wisconsin area known as an Eared Eden. Gorgeous, well-crafted points, typically made of Hixton silicified sandstone. Length: about 7". Paul Schanen collection. Although this photo shows it's color nicely, what it can't show is the point's smooth roundness, one of the hallmarks of a good dovetail. This one is the St Charles variety. The material is Tecovas jasper from the Texas panhandle. Length: 6 1/2". Personal collection. This arrowpoint, made in the general style of a Cache River point, is made of a funky piece of Imperial jasper from Mexico. Length: about 3". I vaguely remember selling the point, but I don't remember who bought it... If anyone know, I'd appreciate a heads-up! This dark beauty is made of Rainy Buttes silicified wood. I've talked before about the rare occasions when the knapper feels like more of a privileged observer: the point seems to take shape on it's own, one ideal flake after another peeling off the stone. That was the case with this Clovis. The overshot flakes on the opposite face were just as clean and ordered as the ones visible here. I love this point. Length: about 6 1/2". Roger Warmuskerken collection. Yeah, I broke it. Almost finished, too. And yes, the color's correct -- beautiful purples, violets, and blues. This one hurt. A lot. The material was raw polychrome jasper from Madagascar. Length: about 10". And now for something completely different. There's nothing noteworthy about these points, except the material. They're made from a soft, particularly brittle obsidian from Easter Island. Greatest length: 3 5/8". Private collections. Honking big piece of Kentucky hornstone made into a classic turkeytail blade. Thin and flat with a good flake scar pattern. Nice one. Length: about 11". Joel Robinson collection Just a simple, thin blade made of exquisite material-- Imperial jasper. No edge retouch, no fancy notches, no gild on the lily. Many, many thanks to Michael Miller for passing this stone along to me. Length: 5 1/4". Personal collection. I love this style. It's a St Louis Clovis made of Knife River flint. This is made to replicate the look of a 11,500 year old original that has been resharpened once and used a bit. And just so you know, to prevent confusing this with an old one, the other side has been signed twice: once with permanent ink and again with a diamond scribe. Length: 7 5/16". Personal Collection. These are called Snyders points, but I understand they're a knife form. The finest examples seem to have been wealth or status items and have been found in high-status burials. This one is made from a nice piece of Keokuk chert from Oklahoma. I like the subtle concentric rings and the speckled "strawberry seed" pattern. Length: 5". Personal collection. This pair is made of candy-striped Flint Ridge from Ohio. They look like they could have come from the same piece of rock, but they're pretty different. I was doubtful that the piece on the left would cooperate as it has many tiny inclusions of quartz crystals. They make flakes chatter, bounce, and end in step fractures -- all bad news for a knapper. I got lucky and the piece came out smooth, clean, and thin. The patterns are gorgeous! The stone for the Snyders point (on the right) was as pure as mother's love. The color isn't quite as flashy, but the point seemed to jump out of the rock on its own. I was the lucky observer who got to sit on my knapping bench and watch it happen. Greatest length: 5 3/8". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. The red blade is a generic bi-pointed jobby. I suppose I could call it a small dance sword or a Caddo blade, but honestly, it's just what I found in a piece of Mook jasper from Australia after I eased around some troublesome cracks. Turned out pretty nice, I think. The little Scottsbluff is a wild piece of porcellanite from southeastern Montana. Porcellanite, as you might guess by the name, is a natural clay that's been cooked by underground fires in coal seams. The material is usually maroon or gray. Sometimes you find black. But maroon, canary yellow, and apple green? It's a first for me. I made a Scottsbluff as a tip of the hat to the knappers of the Cody Complex made many fine Scotties out of porcelanite. Length of the blade: 7 3/4". Scottsbluff: 3 1/2". Personal collection. Here are two more points made of Oregon fire opal. On the left is a Dalton. To the right is an Allen. Both about 5". Personal collection. These are all made of the same material which is known as Carter Cave chert (or Paoli). From left to right, the styles are St Charles dovetail, Ross blade, and St Louis Clovis, which is done in the style of an old point. The longest is something over 8". Dan Farnsworth collection. This is my second attempt at replicating a Gerzean knife from pre-dynastic Egypt. These knives were made by percussing pieces of high-grade tabular stone, then grinding the preforms to very exact contours, which were then pressure flaked on only one face. The other face was left ground. Some were mounted in intricately carved ivory handles. Some Gerzeans seemed to be wealth/status symbols, while others were used for ritual butchering of animal sacrifices. The material is from the Pedernales River in the hill country of Texas. It was a type of chert that knappers call an amoeba because of it's peculiar knobby shape. This amoeba was somewhat unusual as it was flattened. Perhaps that somehow contributed to the range of colors and patterns in this piece. Of the hundreds of amoebas that I've worked, this is the only one that looked like this. I hope to find another like it some day. Length about 8 1/2". Collection of Chris Calloway. This great piece of Knife River flint was used for a St Louis Clovis, a hand-held knife from the paleoindian era. Like another St Louis Clovis pictured above, this is done in an "old" style without my usual edge retouch and obsessive-compulsive attention to symmetry. It feels good to loosen up once in a while. For me, this is the flintknapping equivalent of a couple cold beers, chips and salsa, and feet on the coffee table. Length is 7 1/2". Ronnie Hazlett III collection. You've now scrolled to the "Holy crap!" section. The next several photos are of fire opal from a mine owned by Chuck Newnham of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Typically used for faceted gemstones, this material knaps extremely well, although it is perhaps more brittle than even obsidian. I could dust off my thesaurus and type out a couple hundred superlatives, but it still wouldn't do this stone justice. Just keep looking. Longest about 6". Collection Chuck Newnham. Chuck, I can't thank you and Robert Townsend enough for giving me the opportunity to work this stone. It was one of the highlights of my knapping career. These are the same points, but lit from the front. Look at the variety of subtle colors and hints of "fire." There are a couple spots of "moss" as well from manganese inclusions. Because of the cost and scarcity of the fire opal, these were all made from small sawn slabs. To conserve as much material as possible, I made them using the "flake over grinding" technique -- something I rarely do. Here's the unnotched blade from the photo above. The flake scars on both faces are visible through the luscious color. And here's a great piece of fire opal that I made using my usual technique of percussion flaking followed by light pressure retouch. The style is one of my favorites -- a Ross blade from the Hopewell culture. Length 6 1/4". Personal collection. Same piece backlit. I don't know that I've ever felt more thoroughly wrung out after knapping a point. I obsessed over every platform, fretted over every swing, and didn't breath for the six or so hours spent knapping this piece. It may have shortened my life by a couple years. I can't wait to do it again... The picture's a little big, but that's so you can enjoy the rock even more. That's the natural color. Amazing, isn't it? It's silicified palm wood from west Texas. We got four points out of the rock: one Plainview and three Scottsbluffs. Many thanks again, Kinley, for letting me have a go at this great stone. Greatest length: about 6". From left to right, the owners are Larry Wertheim, yours truly, Kinley Coyan, and Leslie Pfeiffer. Snyders points and Turkeytails. I think the three with bullseyes are Cobden chert. The half-hidden turkeytail is made of hornstone. They're thin, only existing in two dimensions. None of them have an other side. Greatest length, about 6 1/2". Collections of Carolyn Cavender Alexander and Tony Podkanowicz. Flock of Folsoms and guest. Three are Tecovas jasper: the largest is Knife River flint. Greatest length: about 3 1/2". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. She's got all the good stuff (I kept the caterpillar). St Charles dovetail made of Cobden chert. I'm guessing it's closer to 8" than 7". Nice piece of rock. Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. St Charles Dovetail made of Imperial jasper from Mexico. This may be the most beautiful piece of stone I've ever worked. Length, 7 3/8". Larry Alexander collection. This is the same point. I enjoy taking photos of it in various settings and different lights. You may see it again... This is a quick and dirty photo of a group of western-style Clovis points. Some were closely patterned after points found in the Drake cache. The spectacular materials are Alibates and Tecovas jasper. Greatest length: about 6 1/2". Leslie Pfeiffer collection. I didn't make these eccentrics -- I just took the photo. John Kiernan created these little gems. The artistry and technical virtuosity is simply extraordinary and deserves to be seen. Greatest length: about 4". John Kiernan collection. This group of points are made from different flavors of Flint Ridge chert. The points forming the ring are various forms of button-base dovetails. The piece in the center is a riff on a North blade. Greatest length: 7 5/8". Length of North blade: 4 1/4". William Woodcock collection. The dovetail at 9:00 is in the Tom Onken collection. The dovetail at 12:00 is in the Leslie Pfeiffer collection. The dovetail at 5:00 is in the Tony Podkanowicz collection. This Ross blade is made of a great piece of Georgia jasper. I was fortunate to maintain the full length of the stone, keeping a spot of cortex on both ends. Stone of this size and quality, especially in jasper, is very uncommon. Many thanks, Dave, for allowing me to work this great piece of rock. Length: about 12". Dave Swetmon (AKA "Delta Worm") collection. Hardin point made of highly translucent red Imperial jasper. Red Imperial is always dry and opaque with a porcelain-like feel. This is the exception to the rule though: it is as slick, waxy, and lustrous as any material I've ever seen. And I have two more slabs of it... Length: 6 1/4". Personal collection. I don't knap much quartz crystal. When I do, I swear I'll never do it again. Flakes shatter into thousands of invisible needles that shred my hands and arms. In one direction, flakes run smoothly and terminate predictably. Knapped in another plane, every flake chatters along in micro-steps that threaten to end badly. It's due to the crystalline structure, of course, but I can't predict when or where it will occur. Between the blood, the pain, and the frustration, it's not a pleasant experience. Here are my most recent crystal pieces, a pair of Drake-style Clovis points. There will be no more. I'm done with this miserable stuff. Greatest length: 6 1/8". Leslie Pfeiffer collection. Never say never... A gorgeous pair of quartz crystal Clovis points. Greatest length: 5 1/4". Tony Podkanowicz collection. This is a replica of a Mississippian mace. I borrowed heavily from key design elements of old maces without copying any one in particular. The mace on the far left of the background photo, perhaps the finest of the old maces, was the primary inspiration. The photo dates back to 1935 when these amazing artifacts were dug from the Craig Mound in Spiro, Oklahoma. This is the fifth mace I've made. They all seem to take about 14 or 15 hours to knap, which is two or three times as long as other pieces. Length: 14 1/2". Material: Georgetown chert. Don Crouch collection. Sure enough, here it is, but in the company of other pieces made of Imperial jasper. The point types include a western-style Clovis, Scottsbluff, Hardin, Cumberland-ish fluted point, and a small dance sword. Greatest length: 8 3/4". Personal collection, except for Drake-style Clovis (top left) (William Woodcock collection) and button-base dovetail in center (Craig Ferrell collection. Merry Christmas, Craig!). Hopewell Ross blade made of Imperial Jasper. This amazing piece of rock came from Bruce Bradley. Many thanks again, Bruce. Length: 9 1/4". Personal collection. Pine Tree point, Alibates chert. The background is the rusted hood of an old truck. Length, about 5". Charles Lamb collection (the point, not the old truck). Ross blades made from wildly striped flint from Poland. The material is somewhat difficult to work: the light areas are not as well-silicified as the dark brown areas. Consequently, flakes tend to crow-hop through the different areas and try to end in an undesirable feature known as a step fracture. The stone is so spectacular it makes up for any difficulties in knapping. Greatest length: 9 1/8". The larger blade is in my collection. The smaller blade is in the Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. Yet another Ross blade. This one is made of a truly exceptional piece of Knife River flint from North Dakota. I didn't spend much time on this photo. It was taken in the parking lot of my kids' school at sundown. Sometimes less is more. Approximately 11 1/2". Dave Hyatt collection. This looks like the same blade, but it's a touch larger. I've not seen another piece of Knife River flint like it. There is a diagonal line of white inclusions in the stone: in this photo it runs from the lower barb to the upper edge. To the right of the line, the stone is peppered with remnants of organic material (the white inclusions). The area to the left of the line is nearly free of them and the stone is a different shade of brown and less translucent, which is more easily seen when handled. On the opposite face, there is an old, unhealed crack that runs though the basal area. Safe to say I was nervous while working this magnificent piece of rock, but I'm very pleased with the result. Length: 12". Personal collection. Hopewell Ross blade made of Flint Ridge chalcedony. This photo does not show how translucent this stone is. In the hand it looks like smoky ice. Wonderful, rare material. Length: 7 1/8". Personal collection. Same blade backlit. Nice rock, eh? Blade made of "Cherry Quartz," a glass made in China. Length: 15". John Kiernan collection. Ross blade made of Tecovas jasper. Breathtaking stone. Length: about 7". Rod Chapman collection. Spectacular rainbow obsidian blades (Davis Creek, California material). Greatest length, about 13". Private collection. This may be the most technically perfect point I've ever made. It is a replica of an Eden point made of Knife River flint from North Dakota. Length, about 5 1/2". Joe "Princess" Miller collection. Hopewell Ross blade made of the most vivid iridescent green obsidian I have ever seen. This amazing material came from Mexico. Length, 10 1/4". Personal collection. Another enormous Ross blade made of material from Flint Ridge, Ohio. Length, about 10 1/2". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. Mississippian dance sword, 17 1/16" long, 3 1/4" wide. This is a sister slab to the huge Ross point pictured above. There are remnants of the stone's outer surface on both ends of the blade -- I tried to maintain every possible millimeter of this once-in-a-lifetime rock. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to knap it. Length, 17 1/16". Width, 3 1/4". Flint Ridge chert. Collection of Rod Chapman. Hixton quartzite from Wisconsin, more correctly known as silicified sandstone. Another nickname is "sugar quartz." This is one of the scarcest and most sought after materials in the US. I find it both challenging and rewarding to work. The point types are (from the top): two Scottsbluffs, Eared Eden, St Charles dovetail, and Scottsbluff. Greatest length: 8 3/4". Personal collection, except for the uppermost point, which is now in the Jerry Goth collection (my kids' dog chewed up his house. Jerry laughed it off, but I left him that point to make amends. I hope he comes to visit me and breaks something so maybe I can get the point back.) These are working points on cedar arrows. They aren't especially elegant, but they are very functional. The arrowpoint on the far left killed a 90 pound wild hog. It and the one next to it are made from computer monitors. It's wonderful irony to take material from high-tech gizmos and make stone-age weapons. The arrowhead on the far right is made of raw Knife River flint. This arrowhead is made of jasper from India. Length, about 2 1/2". Collection of Ray Hammond. Another arrowhead made of Knife River flint. This grasshopper is known as an "eastern lubber" (Romalea guttata). They are enormous and can't fly, but have evolved the chemical defense of tasting very bad to would-be predators. This material has not been positively identified. It may be a type of slag glass (a waste product from glass-making). The other, far more interesting possibility, is that it is fulgerite -- silica-rich quartz sand that was fused into glass by lightning that struck the ground. Fulgerites typically occur as squiggly, blackened tubes the diameter of pencils. A few large, glassy nodules have been documented, though. The black streaks are carbonized bits of organic matter. This particular piece of material was reportedly found as a large, 40 to 50 pound nodule in a sandy field in south-central Georgia. Regardless , it is simply beautiful. Greatest length, 7". The point types: Ross blade and western-style Clovis. Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. Photo courtesy of Derek McLean. This is definitely man-made material. This slice of the sky is art glass from a West Virginia foundry. Length, 14 1/4". Carolyn Cavender Alexander collection. Hopewell Ross blade made of Knife River flint from North Dakota. Although it's called "flint", it's a chalcedony formed when silica-rich volcanic ash settled in a wet, organic environment. The dark inclusions (especially pronounced in this piece) are thought to be remnants of marsh plants like cattails. Absolutely gorgeous stuff. Length, 8 1/4". Collection of Roger Warmuskerken. Thanks again for letting me work this great piece of rock, Roger. Hopewell Ross made of an enormous piece of Alibates from the Texas panhandle. Alibates doesn't come any bigger than this. Or more beautiful. Length, 12". Rod Chapman collection. . Ross blade made from a very unique piece of Imperial Jasper. Length, 5 7/8". Ray Hammond collection. Without a doubt, the three finest things I've ever made (my wife helped a little). Greatest length: 59 1/2". Personal collection. Here's an old photo of my kiddos and my wife. We used to march everywhere.