About Arrowhead Making

Definition

• The traditional method for making arrowheads is with flint knapping, in which the worker chips pieces off a piece of brittle material with a blunt tool to shape it into the desired form.

Materials

• The materials required to knap an arrowhead are a large piece of suitable stone (chert, flint and jasper work well) and two pieces of hard wood, soft metal, antler, or other similarly hard material to use as tools.

Tools

• Flint knapping utilizes two simple tools: a thick, round hammering tool for percussion flaking, and a thinner, bluntly pointed tool for pressure flaking.

Percussion Flaking

• Percussion flaking is used for the rough shaping of an arrowhead. The worker strikes the hammering tool against the raw material, which causes the material to break in a roughly 100-degree wide cone with its point at the striking spot.

Pressure Flaking

• Once the arrowhead is roughly shaped, the worker sharpens it and adds the back notches by pressing the end of the pointed tool against the edge of the arrowhead, causing small flakes to pop off the sides. This is called pressure flaking.