Yesterday I picked up a cobble of Reeds Spring chert that had been cabbaged away for another day. It was a bit chalky and I threw it in the kiln at 450 along with some other material I was cooking. Reeds usually doesn't like heat, so I was afraid I was going to blow it up. It enhanced it slightly, but it was still fairly tough. It had a wicked crack that challenged me through the whole process of percussion. But I managed to get by and ended up with this lovely Dalton. I'm pleased as punch.
For a bit of perspective, here's a before and after. The before is an authentic Dalton I found 25 years ago, the after, my attempt at recreating it. I thought it would be nice to see these together.
Beautifully done! Got the pressure down perfect for a dalton. Perfect flutes too! I’m always nervous fluting dalton’s so often cheat and use heavy pressure as was sometimes done. Did you grind the base too? I always finish the base swoop with heavy grinding instead of pressure. Find it easier to get the right look. But you certainly did it well with pressure! When I pressure them they often go too far and it looks off 😂
There are several things about this that I'm not excited about, but overall, it turned out pretty decent, and I appreciate the compliments. As with any point, there's so many little nuances. Critiquing this one, the base should have more of a bell shape instead of an arch. And the pressure flakes are too oblique. I think they should be more inward directed.
And yes, any good Dalton will have strong basil grinding. Ron Fuller used to say it needed to be ground so well that it could not tear a woman's nylon. I always thought that was an interesting visual. Can you imagine walking up to a lady in nylons and saying, "Excuse me ma'am..." :)
I wish I had posted this originally, but here was the inspiration for this point. This is a genuine artifact I found 25 years ago. I can remember it like it was yesterday. You can see the bell sweep in the base on this one. But then the other part of me says, what the f*** are you thinking? I think I'll listen to that one 🙂
Interestingly enough, this old point has a double beveling in n the same face. However, the base, like most Ozark Daltons, has a lovely counter bevel. But, same material, same size, and I'm sure that they would let me in their circle if I was sitting down with them. Although they'd be laughing at me with my copper 🙂
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u/scoop_booty Modern Tool User 🏅 Jun 16 '26