Flintknapper: Lost Art of the Arrow Maker

Some people collect Indian arrowheads. And that is how Chuck Stern began when he was a kid. He still collects, but the Nashville, Illinois man also makes them. He is a flintknapper, making arrowheads ("points"), as well as the arrows and bows that go with them.

Not that there's a lot of call for that sort of thing. But it's an appealing skill with roots deep in the past taught to him about 10 years ago by a Cherokee named Michael Walking Stick who, in return, asked only that he pass it on.

He's done that, demonstrating his flintknapping skills for Boy Scouts and even teaching his brother Steve while inviting others to learn.

"It's the creativity," said Stern, whose grandfather was a Cherokee. "No two points come out exactly the same."

Stern added, "So many art forms have been lost...and this is the oldest.." Once at a public event where Stern was giving a demonstration. an Apache man was watching him as he chipped away at a piece of flint, lamenting that his own people had completely forgotten the skill.

Making arrowheads is a labor-intensive skill modern archers with machine-made, wind-tunnel-tested arrows tipped by metal points can not appreciate. Each arrow produced by a pre-Columbian Indian was a prized addition to the hunter's quiver, representing hours of work.

"My average time in one arrow, it usually takes anywhere from 12 to 14 hours. That's from the time I start knapping the point until I put the last fletching on it," said Stern. "People don't realize that. They see one and they go "oh, that's pretty nice, I'll go get a dowel rod from Walmart and make my own."

Arrowheads

To get started, Stern needed to learn the basics. He had to get an understanding of the proper stone to use, how to hold it on your knee, and how to strike one stone with another stone to produce a sharpened edge. After that, he said, it's a matter of patience. Stern was later able to pick up additional instruction on striking and flaking technique from John Mondino of Mulkeytown, Illinois.

With tools of antler and metal, Stern makes arrowheads and fits them to arrows also of his own making, often presented as gifts. They make nice decorations and he's even been asked to make arrows for the occasional deer hunter who can appreciate the link to his prehistoric bow-armed predecessors. Stern also makes spear points and stone knives.

The local material he prefers to work with is White Burlington flint from southern Illinois, southern Missouri, and northern Arkansas. Sometimes it can worked as is, but sometimes he has to use a heat treatment. "Mostly around here you get chert," said Stern. "Some of the chert around here you have to temper it with heat to 800-900 degrees, otherwise it's so hard if you try to strike it, it'll just crumble."

In a process referred to as percussion, he strikes the flint with a metal tool to produce a workable piece. "You have to see the arrowhead in the rock," Stern said.

He then abrades and pressure flakes to chip away at the item and to produce a sharp, serrated edge.

"Sometimes when it's not going right, you just have to get up and walk away for awhile."

Bows and Arrows

To produce a proper bow, he relies on strong red oak and hedge, second choice is hickory and ash. For arrows, he uses willow, wild rose, dogwood saplings or cane.

He assures the wood for the arrow has been seasoned...as much as two years for dogwood...then shapes it with animal fat and heat to produce a straight shaft to which the flint is attached with animal sinew sealed with pitch or tree sap.

He fletches the arrows with long, narrow feathers which act to guide the arrow's flight more silently than close-cropped fletching..

Collection

Native Americans were able to used flint cutting tools for tasks it wouldn't seem reasonable to use stone on, such as skinning deer and other game. Their points brought down deer and, in fact, were tough enough to penetrate the armor worn by the earliest Europeans to land in the New World, said Stern.

People often want to know what it would take to kill a buffalo or mastodon. "A lot of people, they see a smaller point,. they think it's a bird point. Actually, the smaller points were made for deeper penetration. The smaller points would bring down a bigger animal faster than a broadhead one. A wide blade won't go in quite as deep as one that's narrow, long and slim."

A self-taught archaeologist and geologist, Stern's collection of Native American arrowheads and spear heads includes a stone knife blade several centuries old, a needle made from a bird's beak with a tiny hole drilled in the tip, and shards of pottery with ridging on the sides that helped in securely holding the pottery.

Of course, he's one person never short of arrowheads, because he can always make his own.