primitive arrows and knapped heads

[artifaker1]

Jim, thanks and the secret to that is to get the point thin in the first place. I have some full size replicas of the Mayan Eccentrics, which are a kind of notching run a muck on a large biface.
Sticks,thanks, the 30 grains represents how thin the piece is. The thinner you go, the wider and flatter the point becomes, giving you more cutting edge for the weight of the point.
This is a new way to quantifie the workmanship on a point to me.
When I do a "series", I make a few points and then cull them so to speak. The "culls" to are just points that I don't favor that much. The culls get traded or gave away or what ever. So if I haven't been doing any then I might not have any to get rid of. The points that are kept for show mainly have to have clean flaking surfaces (no steps or hinges)with decent pattern in the flaking. The ones that don't could be shot or what ever. I made a decent Spanish Diggings corner notch earlier this year but screwed up and left a big hinge on one face and I couldn't get it off. I would have broke the point too get it off but another knapper talked me out of it to use for a bolo tie where the hing side would be glued to the plate anyway. So that is one way to get points to shoot. I've been belly-aching a lot but I can definitely do this.

[Jon Stewart]

Artifake, outstanding looking heads.  Those are real works of art.  I can second your thoughts on this hobby can be hard on the body.  Just had my shoulder injected two weeks ago for tendonitis.  Have to take some time off.  My hardest job is to get the base thin enough so I don't lose so much wood when I try and attach the head to the arrow.

[artifaker1]

Jon Stewart; thanks and, percussion, percussion, percussion, with just a little pressure at the end to trim up and even the edges.
All the points in the lower pic and most of the ones in the frame are made on percussion bifaces. pressure was only used lightly on platforms and to trim at the end.
As to the effects on health, I've seen it in most of the people that stay in it and I've experienced it. With pressure you want to stay "with in" your strength, don't strain for all your worth on every flake or you will probably have problems at some point. I think it has to do with the crack of vibration when the flake releases.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

How long and how wide should a good hunting point be for deer and turkey?

[artifaker1]

Sticks, That is a good question. I think it would depend on how fast the bow is. The more cutting edge you have the more drag on the point. When I hunted this year I carried a No-Mercy for longer shots, quartering away and angle shots and the new Woodsmen elite for really close straight in shots (they don't allow stone points here on big game,period). The arrows were 23% EFOC and the bow was a 60lb PLII BW drawn to 29. But if I was shooting a lighter bow I would forgo the three blade because it has too much drag. It also causes a devistating wound channel, kind of like a hollow point bullet.
With a lighter bow a narrow but long head would be good, like the Cahokia three notch point. If you were packing some real punch with the bow then one of the the real wide thin corner notches like I make would give you a wider wound channel. There is another point design that I thought about resurrecting. It is called the tri-hedial and it has 3 faces and 3 edges. It was used by the very early people in the Danish area and in the Guatemala area too, well before the Mayans. It was a spear point I believe, but could be made to about two hundred grains of weight. It might be pretty cool. It attaches by a smaller round stem from the base, socket style. It has to be made with a copper pressure tool, like Danish Daggers.

[Bill Skinner]

Have the points arrived?  Bill