Smoothing out the rough spots
Thomas Mills brings the past into the present through the art of flint-knapping
By Christopher Nyerges 06/26/2008
Thomas Mills has been interested in archery and flint-knapping — the flaking of stone for the purpose of manufacturing tools regardless of whether the stone is in fact flint, according to encycl.com — since childhood.
Each month, Mills organizes a gathering where people meet in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco at the archery range. “The folks who come to this gathering are mostly interested in primitive bow-making, with a minor emphasis on flint-knapping. I’d like to increase that interest,” he says with a smile.
The monthly event is nearly always on Sundays, and the exact details can be found on the PaleoPlanet Web site, http://16.ezboard.com/bpaleoplanet69529.
Mills supplemented his self-taught flint-knapping skills by attending various archery and primitive skills events.
On a recent Sunday morning, I found Tom and 20 or so primitive bow-makers at work on bows, arrows, flint-knapping, as well as trading materials. Tom was busy assisting a beginner with some of the nuances of carving a bow from a stave of ash. I was able to pull him away from his teaching duties to get a short lesson on how to make an arrowhead. He demonstrated with “johnstone,” from an actual porcelain toilet.
“I used to feel bad that I reduced so much good flint and chert to nothing but gravel when I was learning,” Tom explained. “But I discovered that old toilet tanks were plentiful and easy to come by, so I began practicing with them. They are actually a little harder to work — it’s porcelain, after all. But the points [arrowheads] that I have made are all beautiful and highly functional.”
He sat comfortably under an oak on a log with his tools. He had a heavy glove, a leather pad to protect his hand from cuts, a percussion flaker (he calls his a “copper bopper,” or what would have been the crown of an antler in the old days), a pressure flaker, and a sanding block.
Tom began with a flat piece of the johnstone porcelain and began to rough-shape it by making sharp hits on both sides of the roughly triangular piece. Each hit would take flakes off its bottom. He would then turn the piece over and make hits on the other side. His goal here was to remove the square edge on the johnstone and create a wavy edge, as proper flakes can not be taken from a square edge.
Tom paused after working this piece, listening to my questions. I was asking him to define the steps involved, as if the work of flint-knapping could be defined as a neat sequence of one, two, three, etc. Tom knew what I was trying to get at: What are the exact steps involved in making the finished point? He had already demonstrated the first step of reducing a larger flat piece so that it had a neat edge all around.
“Knapping is all about creating special platforms on the stone, which you then hit or press to remove those thick sections, or those sections that are not symmetrical. In other words, you just keep working the stone until it is done. You use whatever steps are necessary to achieve the desired result.”
Holding the johnstone in the palm of his gloved left hand, Tom carefully worked the sharp raw material. It is a meticulous, artful act, one that can produce a deep cut to an unprotected hand if either hand slips.
Before our short time was over, Tom had made another point from johnstone, and one from flint. Eventually he went back to the friends and students who had gathered that day to learn about bow-making.
Chris Nyerges is the author of “How to Survive Anywhere” and other books. He has led wilderness field trips since 1974. He can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, Calif., 90041, or www.ChristopherNyerges.com.
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