| Other Cherts And Flints |
| Take a look at some of the more popular cherts and flints that modern flintknappers enjoy to knap. Most of these lithic materials were also utilized by the ancient inhabitants of the areas they came from. The purpose of this page is to give new knappers a look at these different raw materials, as often they hear about them but may not know what they actually look like. This page is obviously not an all inclusive guide to all the lithic materials. |
| Mookaite (Mook, Mook Jasper) |
| Mookaite is a silicified porcelanite that comes from the Windalia Radiolarite formation in the Carnarvon Basin in Western Australia. It's truly a high demand and beautiful lithic material. It comands a high price and is mostly priced by the piece at knap-ins. It's very glossy and easy to knap when heat treated correctly, however, most pieces have crusty seams in them. I don't have a lot of Mook because I'm very selective at knap-ins and only pick the pieces that I know are solid. This material can come in any color of the rainbow, but the colors to the left are the most abundant and common ones. I do not recommend this material for new knappers because of the seams and because of the expense. If you are new and want to try Mook, buy some flakes or small spalls from a rock vendor or just buy some pieces to store away for a day when your skills improve. |
| Current Price Per Pound: |
| Last updated 1/19/09 |
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| $3.00 per pound raw, $3.50 - $5.00 per pound heat treated - higher prices for more color |
| Knife River |
| Knife River is a chalcedony that comes from North Dakota. It has translucent properties and little white inclusions that were portions of fossilized cattail leaves that got into the material when it was an ancient bog buried by ash from a nearby volcano. It's found in tabular chunks and cobbles with a whitish, yellow brown cortex. This material was a favorite of the Paleo Woodland peoples of the of the high plains and midwest. It's a tough material lithically that a knapper must really put some power into to get flakes to travel. The reward comes when the piece is finished. This is the perfect material to make fluted points from as well as Scott's Bluff points. I do not recommend this material for new knappers due to how hard it is to knap. |
| Current Price Per Pound: |
| $4.00 per pound and up - can be heat treated |
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| Rainy Buttes |
| Rainy Buttes is a silicified wood from ancient forests. It's more commonly called "Petrified Wood". This is a heavy lithic material that also comes from the North Dakota region I believe. Due to it's high iron content, it weighs nearly twice as much as regular flints and cherts. When flaked it can have wood grain patterns in it like a piece of lumber and it leave an iron like dust stain on your knapping lap pad. I found this material to be a pleasure to knap. I do not recommend this for the knew knapper either because of it's price and relative scarcity compared to materials such as Burlington Chert. Plus, it will cost you more money because of the weight. |
| Current Price Per Pound: |
| $4.00 per pound and up |
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| Coshocton-Upper Mercer Chert |
| Coshocton is an Ohio blue/black and grey chert that runs in a vein from Stark county through to south central Jackson county. It comes in odd shaped black chert nodules and cobbles that sometimes contain blue/white "lightning bolt" streaks throughout the piece. These streaks are quartz inclusions and really make a beautiful point. It's a pleasure to work and is fairly abundant if you know the right people to buy it from. It was a favorite material for the Paleo and Archaic peoples of Ohio and the surrounding areas. It can also be referred to as Nellie and Warsaw cherts. I recommend the plain colors to beginners to try. |
| Current Price Per Pound: |
| $3.00 - $4.00 per pound - more for the highest quality pieces with the most lightning streaks through it |
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| Illinois Dongola Chert |
| Dongola is sourced in Union County, Illinois. It comes in nodular form that is many times sawed by rock vendors into 1/4 inch or thicker slabs. It's a blue, dark grey to lightish brown in color and was a popular material used by the Early Woodland peoples to make remarkable turkeytail points. This is a scarce material I've heard, but knaps beautifully. It can be a little tougher than Kentucky Horstone to knap. I do not recommend this material for beginners due to it's rareness and the fact that I see it in slabs mostly. Slabs can be a difficult thing to tackle for the novice knapper. |
| Current Price Per Pound: |
| Priced by the individual piece at knap-ins. They range from $3.00 - $10.00 per piece. Also found in slabs |
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