I returned recently from hunting in Arizona and Texas.  Hunting what?  Rocks and opal, of course, and I did pretty well.  I brought home some stunning opal and can't wait to knap it into arrowhead necklaces and earrings.  I also scored some screamer agate, flint, jasper and flint.  I am already visualizing some of it transformed into stone knives and arrowheads.  Oh yeah, Clovis points, Dovetails, Cahokias, maybe a Folsom or two, and I can't forget Dalton points, Agate Basins, and Lost Lakes.  If you think of others I need to knap, just let me know.

I suspect that some will begin showing up on www.artofishi.com pretty soon.  Remember, if there is a type of flintknapping rock that you ...

Valentine's Day is coming and you have 3 choices.  Pretend you don't know and get your sweetie nothing.  (Bad choice)  Get your sweetie the same old box of candy, card or flowers, all of which will be gone in a week. (Better choice)  Or you can get your sweetie something that is totally unique, will last forever because it's made of stone, and will serve as a permanent reminder of how nice you really are.  (Best choice)   Make it a memorable Valentine's Day with a heart necklace, arrowhead necklace, opal arrowhead necklace or even a collectible flintknapped knife.  O.K., maybe throw in a card or box of chocolates, too.  Remember, nothing says I love you like a heart of stone!

No I'm not a magician, but some new knives, arrowheads, necklaces and other collectibles are going to appear soon on my website.  What am I talking about?  I went to an estate sale of a guy who was big into lapidary.  I didn't think it possible but he had more rocks than me, even opal.  It was kind of humbling.  But I got out of control and brought home all kinds of exotic rocks to flint knap.  At one point me and another  flintknapper got in a wrestling match when we both reached for a chunk of flint.  I had the advantage.  Just pulled a moose antler billet from my pocket and gave him a thump on the forehead.  He apologized and let go.  Yup, I know what you are wondering. &...

When I attend shows & knap-ins, one of the most frequently ask questions is, "What is your favorite type of rock to knap?"  That's a vexing question.  There are so many, but I will name a few that are on the top shelf.  First I"ll say that knapping opal is in a class by itself.  I love opal. I love opal arrowheads.  I love opal earrings, necklaces, you name it, even though I don't wear them.  Opal is a fantastic gemstone!

O.K., other than opal, I get real geeked up about Ocean Wave Jasper from Madagascar.  (Ask me about the rarest form - Markasite Ocean Wave.)  It's all beautiful and no longer available. It's cousin, Black Lagoon Jasper, is similar.  It&#...

I get lots of questions about my fiber optic knives.  What is fiber optic?  Well, originally fiber optic was created as a high tech material for the communications industry.  Without going into alot of technical explanations, it is simply glass that is capable of transmitting light with no distortion.  That translates into images and sounds being transmitted with no distortion - no small feat.

But for wild eyed flintknappers it means knapping shimmering knife blades and arrowheads that are totally unique.  I guess you could say that it's the ultimate merger of primitive tech and high tech.  Fiber optic is now made in a variety of colors on a limited scale.  Green and blue are my personal ...

Recently I posted a gorgeous knapped opal necklace on my Opal Page with a statement that knapped opal jewelry can't be found in jewelry stores.  I also said that even the Hollywood elite need to come to a flintknapper like me to obtain such unique opal jewelry.  Well, it seems to have evoked some incredulity among certain folks out there.  They can't believe that this type of solid opal jewelry can't be obtained through normal retail sources.  I assure you that it's true.  Why?  Well, I can only speak for myself.  I don't care for the impersonal, anonymous nature of wholesaling my work to retail outlets.  I would just rather deal with folks directly.  Besides that,  ...

They're coming! They're coming!  What?  Arrowheads and knives knapped from petrified palm wood.   I have become totally infatuated with this material.  I think you will, too.  It's hard to get good stuff, but when you do, it's screamer.  Palm wood has the unique characteristic of having a polkadot or speckled pattern in it.  It's actually the wood fibers you are seeing that have been replaced with minerals and silica.  It will make you giggle.

I have been working on some points and a knife blade or two.  Very soon, some pretty cool polkadot arrowheads, arrowhead necklaces and knives will start showing up on my site.  I can't wiat to show them off.  Hope ...

I was just looking at my knife collection and was wondering if I have more stone knives or steel knives.  Doesn't matter.  I'm like most knife collectors - I just like looking at them.  I have observed, though, that more serious knife collectors are adding flintknappped knives to their collections.  That's great!  They realize that no collection is complete without the flint knives that started it all.  Collectors are also realizing that flintknapped knives broaden their collections in another way.  Stone knives represent another whole set of skills and art within the world of knives, not to mention unique history, to boot.

But flint knives are not just for collectors.  Nope.  ...

So what's the deal with flint knapping opal?  I get asked that quite a bit.  Knapping opal is a way of turning rough opal into fine opal jewelry and it's totally different from the methods used in the opal jewelry industry.  Conventional opal necklaces or earrings begin with an opal cutter, cutting and grinding a piece of rough opal into a certain shape.  It may be for earrings, a pendant, etc, .  Most pieces of opal jewelry are referred to as doublets or triplets.  What?  Put simply, the opal is sawed into very thin slices.  Then a thicker layer of clear quartz is glued on top of the opal wafer containing the color or "fire".  Now it's ground into a domed shape,  ...