One more thing: I am no expert. I put this list together as much for my own use as anyone else's. It is based on the demos I have watched and found interesting and on information posted to Knapper or e-mailed to me by Mark Condron, Jim Pfaltzgraff, Bruce Conner, David Weinstock, Art McEldowney, Ralph Conrad, Mark L. Anderson, 'Farmer' Tim Lindenbaum, D. C. Waldorf, A. F. Bourbeau, Don Pulitzer, Larry Allen and myself.

Things to have on display:

A display showing the various stages of knapping; including an initial hard hammer flake, blanks, preforms and finished products

A variety of knapping tools and finished pieces, raw materials and safety equipment (leather pads, goggles, etc).

Hafted pieces.

Reference Books

photographs of stone tools in use

information sheets on flintknapping or stone tools which people could take home with them.

Pecked or Ground Stone Tools.

Preperation

Have your display "kits" made up before hand.

Have some blanks and preforms made beforehand - this saves time, and reduces the risk of embarrassment from a stubborn blank or nervous hands

Take a drop cloth, if the demo is outdoors. Take a drop cloth, broom and dustpan if its inside.

Things to keep in mind

Talk about what you are doing. Explain what is going to happen and what you are doing to make it happen. But don't get too technical, most people aren't interested in the nuances of your knapping abilities. What makes an impression is taking a large flake and turning it into a point.

Use a number of different tools and techniques; the variety keeps people interested. Explain the different stages you go through and what each of the different tools do.

Some people will, quite understandably, want authenticity, be prepared to put your copper flaker and billet away for awhile and pick up antler tools.

Use local material, if possible.

Demonstrate the sharpness of a fresh flake:

• Cut up a piece of leather. Some people get someone from the audience to help hold the leather scrap to see how little effort needs to be applied.
• Another fellow I know shaves the hair off his arm. (of course, his arm gets bald and chafed by the end of the day, but it makes an impression)
• Take a variety of vegetables, celery, carrots, tomatoes, etc. to cut up
• Dismember a (dead) chicken

While demonstrating the sharpness of the flake, drive home the message of SAFETY, and the importance of things like leather palm pads and safety goggles. Explain that it is never a good idea to test the sharpness of a flake on yourself. (it sounds silly, but I've seen people do it)

People are impressed by noise and big flakes. Most audiences won't have the patience to sit through a lot of tedious pressure flaking. Most knappers don't go for picture perfect points during a demo, they have those on display.

Watch other knapping demos, or videos by the pros to get ideas. But bear in mind that the subtleties that strike your imagination will probably not make the same impression on someone with no knowledge of flintknapping.

After a brief introduction about tools and materials, immediately proceed to finish an "almost finished" point. Before you start the demonstration, take a preform that is thin enough to finish and rough it up - make the edges irregular and make the preform "square" rather than oval. When the demo begins, take the piece, shape it quickly with percussion, run a few quick rows of pressure flakes, and notch it. The goal is to make something that will easily pass for an arrowhead in 10 minutes or less. (Make sure to put a sharp point on it - I have found that inexperienced people find this to be the most impressive aspect of a point. ("Wow, this could really do some damage!") Kids are really interested in arrowheads and find it fascinating to see one made. On the other hand, if you start with a spall and work it all the way to completion, you will lose most of them. Once you have completed a point in the first 15 minutes of a demonstration, you can go back and give those who are still interested (the adults) the whole show! (contributed by Don Pulitzer)

Themes

The best demos I've seen were by Bruce Bradley, and the way he made the whole process interesting was by telling a story as he went along. He would put himself in the position of a prehistoric hunter and start by fashioning a point to hunt with. Then he takes that point and turns it into a knife to use to butcher the hypothetical bison he killed with it. When the knife is made, he dulls it and shows how a knife is resharpened. Finally he turns the same piece into a scraper to clean the bison's hide. It is a unique demonstration because he manages to explain flintknapping and prehistoric hunting, butchering, and processing methods all at the same time.

Other knappers adopt a different strategy and carefully and quietly produce picture perfect points, which can be an equally entrancing and effective approach.

Teaching

When trying to teach someone a technique, especially beginners, I find it useful to (1) demonstrate the technique, (2) explain it using the demonstration peice, (3) demonstrate it again, and (4) let them try. I find it easier to explain something to someone after they have seen it done. Using the demonstration peice to explain the technique helps illustrate angles and cause and effect. The second demonstration allows them to watch you with a better understanding of what they are seeing, which they can then try to replicate themselves.

Begin with the Basics! Take things slowly. For example, before you try to show someone how to drive long pressure flakes off a piece, make sure they know how to hold the piece in their hand and understand how to make a flake come off, period. Remember, a beginner might not know whether a flake comes of the bottom or top side of a piece.

The Most Common Questions Asked At a Flintknapping Demonstration

Tim Lindenbaum sent this list to Knapper!

1. Where do you get your rock?
   This is by far the most common question!
2. What are you doing?
   Unless people are somewhat interested in archaeology, don't expect to impress them too much with what you're doing . A friend and I were demonstrating at a country festival and a man kept looking back and forth between what we were doing and our display cases full of arrowheads and asked, "Have you ever tried to make one of those arrowheads?" Another time a woman watched us for awhile and then said incredulously, "You mean those things were manmade!?"
3. I thought the Indians made these by dropping water on hot rocks, my grandmother/father told me this and he/she wouldn't ever lie!
   You'd be surprised by the frequency of this question, and the amount of people who swear they have seen it done!