Flintknapping: Beautiful, deadly

Phil Houseal
9/30/2009

Woody Blackwell flakes gossamer-edged, wafer-thin spear points and arrowheads from flint. Beautiful enough to hang on the wall as art; deadly enough to stop a black bear.

"I've brought down wild hogs, and other guys around the country have taken I don't know how many bear, elk, whitetail, and mountain lions," said Blackwell, who will be in Kerrville October 3 and 4 to teach Club Ed courses in Beginning and Intermediate Flintknapping.

"I sent some to a guy in Australia who is going to test them on Asian water buffalo," Blackwell said. "Before he goes hunting, he takes a fresh-killed buffalo and sees how the point penetrates their wide, thick ribs."

Blackwell is a nationally recognized leader in the craft - and art - of fashioning points from flint, obsidian, and glass. His work has been featured in the New Yorker magazine for its beauty and color. That may be the main difference between flintknapping today and flintknapping 100,000 years ago.

"We are currently making things for art," he said. "We have the luxury of just making points thinner, prettier, and less durable than the old guys did. They needed tools to go out and make meat or slice and dice a bear or buffalo. We make pretty stuff to put in a frame."

Blackwell noted that it is rare for modern knappers to reach the level of the ancients in quality, but a few have reached and even surpassed their skill. The fact that people still try might be wired into our genes.

"It's something our species has been doing for 2.5 million years. For a lot of guys - me included - when we find our first arrowhead lying in the dirt, it's like a switch that gets flipped. After that, it's a passion. We have to find more, then we have to figure out how they are made."

That's what Blackwell will be teaching in the weekend classes. Beginners will learn what kind of material works best, how to get flakes removed, and how to do it safely ("if you flintknap, you are going to bleed").

More experienced students will get a good grounding in advanced techniques.

Another top national knapper, John Kiernan, will also teach. Blackwell specializes in knapping very thin points, while Kiernan is known for making delicate, intricately edged points that are considered art.

At the end of the day, everyone will go home with a finished point. Blackwell cautions that yours probably won't bring down a buffalo.

"It may not look pretty, but you will know the basics of knapping."

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The Flintknapping workshops will be held Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.