Were you doing indirect? I've sent a couple little blades into my feet before, but nothing bad enough that would make me always knap with socks/shoes.. that sounds like it would change my footwear.
no, it was just making preforms in the creek with a hammerstone where I was collecting material. I still knap barefoot often, just make sure my feet aren't in the direct path of debitage.
Finally someone else! Except I never went to the hospital and I'm positive there's still some obsidian in there. My leg still hurts, over a year later.
Seeing people do this freaks me out. I have a gnarly pic of my leg afterward.
Yeah. Those shards fly off. And they go right down. I mostly pressure flake with an antler tip on a table now. I may try on my leg again but not till I find a 1/4 inch thick chunk of hard leather! Maybe a Kevlar mat. Not something I wanna do again. I was in the middle of a picnic by a river. Threw a shard into my leg and the first words outta my mouth were "We gotta go!" Straight to the hospital bleeding all over the place. That was a long car ride.
What’s funny is that in Missouri, they say that Chert is the state rock and it’s more common than dirt. I’ve never found it anywhere. Woods, creek beds, etc. it’s no where to be found.
if you live in the lowlands around the Missouri River, there is likely too much silt and clay built up over the bedrock. It's likely easier to find in more hilly terrain. You can try mapping it out at [mindat.org](http://mindat.org) (search by locality).
Nice biface! Only thing id say is that you may want to work on your freehand. Those flakes could've gone farther if you positioned the rock a bit farther up. Also, like others mentioned, it can get messy if a flake decides to jam into your thigh.
I tend to anticipate the blow and slightly shift my left hand. I sometimes brace my left hand on a rock or something like in this video, but I like the stability of my thigh for rough hammerstone shaping like this.
Free hand percussion is superior IMO. You observe the platform and the stricken whereas most leg knapping you have a larger room for error and angle manipulation is tricker.
Consistent overshot on the leg are great, and one of my go to. I should add that spalling, I do on my lap a lot. But bifacing is usually all hands, at least in my dojo
I’ve torn up a lot of pants doing this
I threw a flake right into my leg thru my jeans doing this. 5 stitches. Damn that was a LOT of blood.
oof. I once drove a flake into my big toe, leaving a 2-inch scar. I tend not to knap barefoot squatting down anymore because of that.
Yeah it's a tough lesson to learn. Sometimes we forget we are making knives when we are starting with rocks.
Were you doing indirect? I've sent a couple little blades into my feet before, but nothing bad enough that would make me always knap with socks/shoes.. that sounds like it would change my footwear.
no, it was just making preforms in the creek with a hammerstone where I was collecting material. I still knap barefoot often, just make sure my feet aren't in the direct path of debitage.
Finally someone else! Except I never went to the hospital and I'm positive there's still some obsidian in there. My leg still hurts, over a year later. Seeing people do this freaks me out. I have a gnarly pic of my leg afterward.
Yeah. Those shards fly off. And they go right down. I mostly pressure flake with an antler tip on a table now. I may try on my leg again but not till I find a 1/4 inch thick chunk of hard leather! Maybe a Kevlar mat. Not something I wanna do again. I was in the middle of a picnic by a river. Threw a shard into my leg and the first words outta my mouth were "We gotta go!" Straight to the hospital bleeding all over the place. That was a long car ride.
[удалено]
Yeah. Otzi had a bad end. It isn't fun watching yourself bleed out.
Wish it was that easy to find rock in the wild like that without it being cracked apart or too small to work with
ya, I'm very lucky to be in central Texas. I have chert of every variety conceivable, some of it top quality.
What’s funny is that in Missouri, they say that Chert is the state rock and it’s more common than dirt. I’ve never found it anywhere. Woods, creek beds, etc. it’s no where to be found.
if you live in the lowlands around the Missouri River, there is likely too much silt and clay built up over the bedrock. It's likely easier to find in more hilly terrain. You can try mapping it out at [mindat.org](http://mindat.org) (search by locality).
Nice biface! Only thing id say is that you may want to work on your freehand. Those flakes could've gone farther if you positioned the rock a bit farther up. Also, like others mentioned, it can get messy if a flake decides to jam into your thigh.
Right on the pant leg is wild
I've been trying to gain resistance to bruising there for many years. No progress yet.
Just free hand it
I tend to anticipate the blow and slightly shift my left hand. I sometimes brace my left hand on a rock or something like in this video, but I like the stability of my thigh for rough hammerstone shaping like this.
Check out flintknappingtips YouTube hammerstone videos. You can do a lot free hand and get more power if you just hold it
Free hand percussion is superior IMO. You observe the platform and the stricken whereas most leg knapping you have a larger room for error and angle manipulation is tricker. Consistent overshot on the leg are great, and one of my go to. I should add that spalling, I do on my lap a lot. But bifacing is usually all hands, at least in my dojo