Old Meets New: Flintknapping on YouTube and the Internet

[Broomstick]

Flintknapping is a technology older than our species - pretty damn impressive. It's a multimillion year old technology. Curious about it? Learn how on YouTube. Buy stuff at FlintKnappers.com from how to guide to materials to safety gear to finished products.

I almost considered putting this in the Maximizing your personal resources thread in preparation for a possible apocalypse thrusting us all back into the stone age but... nah, that would be silly, wouldn't it?

Although this lady's take on turning discarded bottles into arrowheads would be extremely useful knowledge in a post-civilization world.

It just blows my mind that modern technology is making the dissemination of million-year-old technology easier.

Also, watching the vids, flintknapping is a way more than just bashing rocks together, it's quite a craft.

[LaCroix]

It's a nice craft, but only if you live in an area where flint can be found...
This video using bottle bottoms for it gets me right back into the art - never thought about it.

Thank you very much...

[Ziggy Stardust]

I've never done flintknapping, but I am a big fan of other primitive tool construction. One of my favorite hobbies is what is now popularly referred to as "bushcraft"- basically primitive camping. You bring as little with you as possible and make the tools you need out of what is available.

[Broomstick]

The bottle bottom thing hadn't occurred to me, either, although I'm wondering if that would be a fairly inexpensive way of getting into the hobby. I'm familiar with working/shaping glass from when my dad and I used to make stained glass and some of the old ways of cutting curves aren't too different from what the lady was using on the bottle bottom.

Except I really don't need yet another hobby at this point.

[Isolder74]

I've done it. It's rather fun to start with a simple piece of Obsidian and turn it into something useful. Once you start working it's amazing how sharp you can get one of those things.