DIY Knapping Tools!

[Mud Hawk]

Today's project was to start making the tools for my knapping adventure...

I am very proud of how they turned out:





The pressure flaker is white-tailed deer antler and I incorporated a set screw so I can switch out the copper tips. Just need to put a coat of lacquer on it to keep it sealed.





For the hand pad, I used two round leather blanks I found at the local craft store, cut out an area for the flake to travel and gorilla glued them together. A dremel sanding drum made for nice clean edges after cutting.





Next up is to make some copper boppers (probably 3/4" heads) but not today.

If anyone else have DIY knapping tools they made, please post them here, I would love to see them.

[NeoGeo]

GREAT lookin tools my friend!

Do ya need to coat the antler?As long as its out of the elements,taking into consideration the oils from your hands it should be fine....Now once its been retired thats another story...har

[NeoGeo]

Oh I ment to also say how much I liked your palm pad...I am a lap knapper myself,and a pad like that is much better then the old pot-holder stuffed with carpet scraps that I use...lol

[Mud Hawk]

Originally Posted by NeoGeo

GREAT lookin tools my friend!

Do ya need to coat the antler?As long as its out of the elements,taking into consideration the oils from your hands it should be fine....Now once its been retired thats another story...har

Well, I kind of figure when I get cut, the antler won't stain .

Thanks Neo!

[NeoGeo]

Character is what that is...har..I was just wonderin

[Tdog]

Pretty d@mn good lookin knapping tools there Mud. The oil from your skin can polish and seal the antler. I have a fixed blade custom knife with a raw whitetail antler handle that has been covered in blood many times and that has only helped give it patina. That set screw in your flaker is a great idea!

[drdave514]

Good looking stuff. You can make some boppers pretty easily with copper pipe caps pounded round on the end of a rounded dowel, some melted lead weight in the end and put on the end of most any kind of hard wood. You're pretty much in business from there.

[jbridered]

Awesome!!!

[willybee]

some killer tools you made there. the hand pad would work great for me, but it has to be 3/4 of an inch thick. if my pad isn't 3/4 of an inch thick i cannot grip the point very well with my fingertips and my hand gets worn out quickly.

i like my escelator belt pad the best, it has layers that get harder as the pad gets deeper.

these pictures are my home -made antler batons. made from whitetail deer antler i collected myself .

this first one has some arrowheads i carved in it-


below is the handle end of the above baton, plus another heavier one with a larger piece of the skull still attached (all made with a 4 inch grinding wheel)



the notching tool is a 4 inch long copper nail with its tip hammered flat and dressed with a file.

the white corner notch point is the arrowhead i didn't find yesterday when i went hunting. (it was a 2 by 3 inch flake of high quality tranlucent glossy heat treated burlington yesterday!) i knapped it out a couple hours ago.

i'm not great at percussion knapping yet-but have pressure flaking down pretty good.

willy

[Mud Hawk]

Thanks guys...

Nice looking tools and point Willy. The antler with half ground out -- that is a good idea, I haven't seen that yet. The hand pad I made may very well be too thin for me as well... if so I will just glue in another base layer. Nice corner notcher as well, but it leads me to a question...

I was reading that alot of people use horse shoe nails for the corner notcher. Does it make a difference whether it is copper or not? Is the shape more important than the hardness?