Flint knapping with the Youth

Sitting down in the knapping pit with an excited group of 7-10 year olds, I had a moment of wondering if I was crazy. I have taught flint knapping to children before, but usually one on one. After years of teaching adults and knowing how hard the concepts can be to get across, I wondered if I was up to the challenge. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by both the aptitude of the students and with what I was to learn.

At both of the Roots Clovis Camps and at Jumping Mouse camp I was able to get time in the pit flint knapping with quite a few children ages 7-13. I learned to scale back my descriptions of the concepts, and focus on how to strike, hold to support, and how to not get cut. In this reworking of the basic skills and techniques I found new ways to communicate tricky aspects of the skill. The experience found me learning as much, if not more, than them.

Everyone learned percussion techniques on small flakes using hammer stones. When each student was ready, meaning consistently moving flakes, we would sit together and talk through taking bigger flakes, on a bigger core, looking for good useful tools. Each student got their turn. We used some Normanskill Chert collected a few hours from here, and the results were awesome.

We took the flakes and taught them a basic survival hafting technique involving scoring and snapping out a void for the flake, and then pitched them with survival glue or lashed them with spruce roots, or both. It was not long upon seeing the children with their primitive knives in hand that we realized sheaths were in order and set to work creating birch bark ones to protect the children and their knives.

The next day they tried out their new tools using them to free the bark from a white pine, which they made into water baskets. They also applied them to various carving jobs, plant harvesting, and cordage cutting. Seeing ten year olds using stone tools they made with their own two hands certainly left me excited and looking forward to my next opportunity to pass on flint knapping to the youth.