Flake (tool)

“ The flake of flint on which I have operated has been placed against a stop on a flat piece of wood, and when necessary to raise the edge of the flake I have placed a small blocking piece, also of wood, underneath it, and then by pressure of the arrow-flaker upon the edge of the flake, have detached successive splinters until I have reduced it into form. If the tool consists of a rather square-ended flake, one corner may rest upon the table of wood, and the pressure be given by a rocking action, bringing the other corner down upon the flake. ”

“ Occasionally some projecting spur at the side of the flake has been utilized to form the borer, as is the case in Fig. 229, also from the Yorkshire Wolds. In this instance, the two curved sweeps, by which the boring part of the tool is formed, have been chipped from the opposite faces of the flake, so that the cutting edges are at opposite angles of the blade, which is of rhomboidal section. This is the case with some of the Scottish specimens, [11] which closely resemble Fig. 229. Such a tool seems best adapted for boring by being turned in the hole continuously in one direction. ”

“ Such as show no bulb of percussion may be termed splinters. The Scottish name for flakes is "skelbs."
The inner, or flat face of a flake, is that produced by the blow which dislodged it from the parent block, core, or nucleus. The outer, ridged or convex face comprises the other facets, or, in some instances, the natural surface of the flint. The base, or butt-end of a flake, is that at which the blows to form it were administered ; the other end is the point. ”

“ There are 15 small scrapers (Fig. 11, MM-PP) which are ovate or triangular in outline and made from flakes which vary from 3 to 8 mm. in thickness. They are of tan, brown and mottled gray chert, petrified wood, and gray quartzite. Most are flaked bifacially but some show a preponderance of flaking on the convex face. Sizes range from 2 to 4.5 cm. Five small broken flake objects show some flaking.
There are four drills, all made of tan chert. One flake drill (Fig. 11, KK) has an expanded base, a shaft which is triangular in cross section and a keen point which shows use polish. ”

“ The blade and hafting area were shaped by random flaking. Most examples show some secondary flaking along the blade edges. This flaking ranges from narrow to broad, but usually fairly deep flake scars are exhibited. Points that have secondary flaking may not be flaked on all blade edges. Basal thinning appears, accomplished by broad flaking along the basal edge which is often followed by some secondary flaking. Of the nine measured examples, seven are made of black to gray local flint, one is quartzite and one chalcedony. ”

“ In this case, a loop at the end of the cord would answer the same purpose as the hole in the handle, which with these flakes seem to have been needless. They are abundant at Pressigny.
A pointed flake in the museum at Berne [155] is hafted like a dagger, in a wooden handle, which is bound round with a cord made from rushes.
Some of the Swiss handles are not bored, and occasionally they are prolonged at one end to twice the length of the flint, so as to form a handle like that of a table-knife, the flint flake, though let in to a continuation of the handle, projecting and forming the blade. ”

“ To return, however, to the flakes of flint which were used in this country for scraping or cutting purposes, at an early period, when metal was either unknown or comparatively scarce. Each flake, when dexterously made, has on either side a cutting edge, so sharp that it almost might, like the obsidian flakes of Mexico, be used as a razor. Some flakes indeed seem to have served as surgical instruments, as the practice of trephining was known in the Stone Period. ”

“ Flaking was produced by direct percussion, with occasional secondary edge trimming by pressure. Initial flake scars on point faces are irregular; basal thinning was accomplished by multi-directional flaking. ”

“ For the other kind the whole surface of the original flake has, as Mr. Spurrell [166] has pointed out, been carefully ground, one face being made rather more convex that the other. The flatter face has been left almost untouched, but one side has been trimmed by flaking at the edge into almost a straight or slightly concave line; the other side is boldly curved, the general outline having been produced during the grinding process. ”

“ Most examples are made by broad, shallow, random flaking, but a considerable number show collateral flaking. Several have random flaking on one face and collateral on the other. The blade edges usually show rather broad retouching with some fine flaking along the retouched edges that gives a somewhat crushed effect, as does the baton method of percussion flaking. The notches appear to have been formed by indirect percussion flaking with some retouch. The basal edge is thinned by removal of broad, shallow flakes. The stem is usually finely retouched on all edges. ”

“ It appears that the flake from which the arrow-head is to be made is sometimes fixed by means of a cord in a split piece of wood so as to hold it firmly, and that all the large surface flaking is produced either by blows direct from the hammer, or through an intermediate punch or set formed of reindeer horn. ”

“ The steps are difficult to make, as it is difficult to check the fracture at the right point. They are difficult to use, because our weight may continue the work, and the whole flake surface below our feet may come away. Claws are of real service, as they grip without starting a line of downward fracture. If we are without them, a deep pick hold must be secured, driven through into a deeper stratum of ice, to protect the precarious foothold on the flake surface or edge. Large flakes that boom or sound hollow to the axe are best left alone. ”

“ In Ireland, flakes converted into saws are scarce; they occur occasionally, though but rarely, with neolithic interments in France. In the Museum at le Puy is a very good specimen of a flat flake, neatly serrated with small teeth, found with a skeleton near that town. ”

“ British flakes with ground edges are by no means common. One from Yorkshire, in my own collection, is a thin, flat, external flake, having both edges (which are parallel) ground from both faces to an angle of about 60°. It has, unfortunately, been broken square across, about 2 inches from the butt-end, and is 1 inch wide at the fracture. Another, from Bridlington, is an ovate flat external flake, produced, not by art, but by natural fracture, and having one side brought to a sharp edge by grinding on both faces. ”

“ The hackle stocks on each separate sheet are of one size and gauge, but each successive sheet in the length of the machine is furnished with stocks of increasing fineness, so that the hackling tool at the end where the flax is entered is the coarsest, say about four pins per inch, while that to which the fibre is last submitted has the smallest and most closely set teeth. ”

“ The varieties of tools which have been made out of flakes are too numerous to particularize. Simple flakes, flat or triangular in section, varying in length from nine or ten inches to one inch, are the most abundant of all stone implements, and are to be found in every quarter of the globe. Here they are generally made of flint and are rarely ground. ”

“ The blade may be shaped by broad random flaking, crude collateral flaking or, in some examples from the west, fine oblique transverse flaking. Random flaking is by far the predominant type. Most blades are finished by secondary flaking, which appears in some examples to have been done by the percussion method. As a final finishing step, fine retouch, carried out in order to remove irregularities from the blade edges, is present. ”

“ If ammonia or alcohol is put into the sprinkling-water, rinse the sprinkler well before putting it away.
A Tool Box: Fill cracks with putty to keep out dampness, hinge on a cover, and furnish with a padlock. Keep in it a sharp fine saw, a hatchet, tack hammer, brace and assorted bits, chisel, monkey wrench, screw-driver, and gimlets. Also assorted brads, tacks, wire nails, screw hooks, screw eyes, and picture wire. A putty knife is useful. A T-square and foot rule are indispensable. ”

“ The flints of what have been termed the "Plateau types" have their edges much more obtuse and rounded, and their chipping and wear seem to me due to natural causes and not to human workmanship. There are some implements which have been made from broad flakes, but which have both faces more or less trimmed, so as to come perhaps more properly under another category. Another form of trimmed flake is that in which the side-edges have received their outline by secondary chipping, as in Fig. 431. Occasionally they are worked to a sharp point, like the Le Moustier type of Mortillet ”

“ When, however, several of such flakes are found together, each bearing these marks of being the result of several successive blows, all conducing to form a symmetrical knife-like flake, [6] it becomes a certainty that they have been the work of intelligent beings. ”

“ The worn appearance of the pointed end of some flakes is not improbably due, as has already been observed, to their having been employed in "picking" into shape implements—such as hatchets or axes—formed of greenstone and other rocks of a somewhat softer nature than flint. The ends of the flaking tools, punches, or fabricators are, however, usually far too blunt for them to have been applied to such a purpose. ”

“ All the flakes in the Bureau collection are small, few of them being over three inches long. They are found elsewhere with a length of over a foot; but the nature of the flint occurring in the United States is seldom such as to allow flakes to be struck off equaling in size those found in Europe.
Evans says that blows with a pebble will form just such flakes as those produced by an iron hammer; the blows must, however, be delivered in exactly the right spot and with the proper force. Cores sometimes show markings of hammers when struck too near the edge. ”

“ The requirements in the way of tools being very simple and the supply of material in the way of natural flakes and fragments of flint being very plentiful, the inventive powers of the population remained dormant for ages. Hammer and knife were the original tools. Both were picked up ready-made. A sharp-edged, natural flake served for one, and a nodule or fragment served for the other. ”

“ In order to prevent any part of the flax from attaching itself to the branches of the movable frames, each frame is furnished with a shield or guard of polished iron or brass plate, which covers a part of the combs and the heads of the screws by which they are fixed to the branches. When the plate metal is bent into the form of a shield, it is slipped on to the branches of the heckle frames, and is sufficiently elastic to hold fast. ”

“ The tool must not be treated as a blacksmith does iron, nothing like so hot, but so as to be of a dull cherry color. Steel that will not harden at this heat is poor stock. When so heated, plunge it into cold water. This will make the tool hard and brittle, like glass, so that it is not fit to cut with; you must then rub it bright on a piece of emery paper or a grindstone, and hold it in the fire for a second or so at a time, until the temper is drawn to the right degree of toughness and tenacity. This will be, for turning-tools for hard wood, of a dull blue-brown, say violet, color. ”

“ The flax, as imported, is delivered to the hand-hecklers, who roughly separate the fibres by drawing the bunches through a quantity of iron spikes called heckles, fixed before them. This is a very dusty process. The hand-hecklers are mostly men, or strong lads. The flax is then carried to the heckling machine, in connection with which a greater number of young children are employed than in any other process in the business. ”

“ Many machines have been made upon this principle. It is proper in this case to set the heckle teeth obliquely in the direction in which the cylinder turns, whereby they penetrate the fibres in a more parallel line, effect their separation more easily, and cause less waste in torn filaments. To conduct the flax upon the cylinders, two horizontal fluted rollers of iron are employed, which can be so modified in a moment by a lever as to present the flax more or less to the heckling mechanism. ”

“ The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may be effected by different processes; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, and spinning machinery. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages of this volume with a description of the first two well known domestic employments. Spinning of flax by machinery has been much more recently brought to a practical state than the spinning of cotton and wool by machines, of which the cause must be sought for in the nature of flax as above described. ”

“ For cast iron the tool should be as keen as the hardness of the metal of the work will permit. If an insufficiently keen tool, or too deep a cut, or too coarse a feed be taken, the metal will break out instead of cutting clean, and numerous fine holes will be perceived over the whole surface, impairing that dead flatness which is necessary to an even and fine polish. ”

“ With this knife the flax is struck parallel to the board, with perpendicular blows, so as to scrape off its woody asperities. The breadth of the swing-knife is an important circumstance; when too narrow it easily causes the flax to twist round it, and thereby tears away a portion of the fibres. When 8 or 10 inches broad, it is found to act best. Knives made of iron will not answer, for they injure the filaments. ”