How to Make a Copper Flint Knapping Billet
Flint knapping is the art of making edged tools, arrowheads and knives predominantly out of stone. This technique is a Stone Age skill adapted to modern materials and tools. A copper billet makes use of wood handles and copper caps to form a billet, a stone shaping tool no Stone Age knapper could have envisioned. Billets are rounded tools of various sizes used to flake stone during the knapping process.
Instructions
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Cut the handle for the billet of wood or ivory. Cut the handle to a length comfortable to the knapper. The diameter of the handle determines the working size of the billet. Many flint knappers make several sizes ranging from a 1/4 inch in diameter to two or three inches in diameter.
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Round one end of the handle using a wood carving knife or rasp. Work the wood until the rounded end provides a contour similar to the work surface intended for the copper flint knapping billet.
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Form a copper cap to fit over the end of the wood handle. Copper caps are available at home improvement and plumbing supply stores and are used to seal the ends of copper pipes. Use a hammer to form the cap over the rounded end of the wood handle.
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Glue the lead-lined copper cap to the wood handle. Use epoxy glue or the heaviest strength glue available to bond the copper and lead portion of the billet to the handle.
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Tips & Warnings
Another option is to use a copper rod, one inch or larger in diameter depending on the size of the billet, attached to a handle. A one- to two-inch segment of rod can be glued to a wood or antler handle or fitted to copper pipe to create the copper flint knapping billet.
