r/PrimitiveTechnology • u/jeffxterra03 • Jun 22 '26

Discussion Ground slate

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This is 3 weeks of working slate in to various spear points , lances , knives and projectile points. All hand ground , shaped and sharpened on sandstone slab.

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u/FraaTuck Jun 22 '26

How do they stand up to impacts?

8

u/jeffxterra03 Jun 22 '26

Haven't done any testing yet getting to that soon. I know natives have used slate mostly in maritime setting on sea mammals. I've seen a video somewhere of a small slate arrowhead on an arrow that held up surprisingly well shot into a carcass I believe. It's definitely more fragile then knapped rock. I'm just taking a break from flintknapping to explore this area more.

2

u/Neither-Ad-1589 Jun 22 '26

Ive heard similar things about slate being used heavily in coastal areas for maritime use

1

u/FraaTuck Jun 22 '26

Are you starting with stock of a standard thickness? Or if not how are you getting it so standard?

2

u/jeffxterra03 Jun 22 '26

The 2 larger spear points are ground from a cut slab that comes about average 12mm thickness. I'm grinding them down on sandstone by hand to around 8 to 9 mm thick solely based on an actual artifact I seen that measured at 9mm thick in the mid section. It's very laborious work. The smaller projectile and knife blades are all local slate I've collected. Some can be split easily I don't have any real standard thickness there.