THE COLLECTOR:Another of the earlier flintknappers, a southerner, was
that of Charley Shewey. Charley is perhaps the leading collector of
modern flint artifacts in the world. Back in the late 1970s and early
1980s I can remember hearing stories of the legendary collector of
flint art. Born July 18th, 1911, in a wild cowboy town in Oklahoma,
Charlie was no stranger to Indian lore. Back in 1917 Charlie Shewey
found an arrowhead out on the farm. He wondered how it was made and
did some experimenting with his grandfather. Then in 1923, when
Charley was 12 years of age he witnessed a Boy Scout Master making a
flint arrowhead with deer antler tines. Charlie learned to knap with
the pressure method and got quite good. Then, after many decades of
knapping and collecting Charlie found a copy of D.C. Waldorf's 1975
1st edition The Art Of Flintknapping. After reading Waldorf's book
and eventually meeting him, Charlie got heavier into flintknapping
and produced master quality large flint bifaces and fluted points.
Charlie was the man responsible for bringing Waldorf together with
George Ekland. Waldorf was apt at percussion and Ekland was apt at
pressure. One day in Waldorf's old travel trailer the three met met
and it was like a stand off, Ekland jealus of Waldorf and Waldorf
Jealous of Ekland. Charlie told me once that Waldorf's books was all
wrong at first, Charlie went over it with him and after that Waldorf
produced the Second edition. Still considered an expert on stone
tools and flintknapping, but retired from actual knapping, now at
nearly 90 years old Charlie Shewey is considered an intricate part of
modern flintknapping history and a living flintknapping legend.
Archaeologists, collectors and most certainly flintknappers owe a
great deal to Charlie Shewey. I t was he, in the 1960s, that obtained
the authentic Ishi points that were cast by Peter Bostrom's Lithic
Casting Lab, and therefore made available to all. Charle was a pilot,
Army trained, and he had the job in the 1960s, of flying people
around the country. On one trip to California's bay area charlie made
the trade of his life. In one trip he ended up with 4 Ishi points and
and one Ishi knife. (Ray Harwood, History of Modern Flintknapping, 1999)

The Gray Ghosts of Gustine by Joyce Ann Harwood. It was a warm day in
Gustine, Texas, a small town in Comanche County. It was 1949 but in
Gustine it could have been 1849, a town know for rodeo and cowboys, a
town of only 584 acres and less than a person per acre. It was a
quit, sunny, summer day . A slight breeze had come up as Bryan
Reinhardt, a large, burly German, clean shaven, World War Two Vet
with tattoos on his forearms, was polished up for the day and heading
to town. Taking the trash out of the back porch on the way out, he
tells his wife he'll be back in an hour or so. He checks his receipt
and his wallet as he pulls his keys out of his pocket and climes into
his truck. He pulled up in front of the hardware store in a nearby
town, excited at what he knew would change his life. As he passed
through the front door a tiny bell on the upper frame alerted the
proprietor of his entrance. "I know what yer here fer Bryan, It's out
back" They two men made small town small talk as they shuffled into
to the poorly light musty back room. The proprietor pulled on a tied
together string with frayed ends, a hanging light bulb with no shade
brightened up the room. Recently swept wooded floor, slatted wooden
shelves on either side. There, half cover in the shadow of the
shelving resting on an old oak pallet, was a large cardboard box with
the image of a lapidary saw. Bryan suppressed the excitement, he was
not the kind to express emotion. "Yup, that's the One," said Bryan.
The Clerk asked Bryan what he plans on doing with the saw and Bryan
replies, `cuttin' some stone". The two men load the saw in the back
of the pick up and off he went into the history of modern
flintknapping lore.
Bryan Reinhardt had developed a method of mass producing large flint
spear points, none under nine inches long, (known by collectors as
Gray Ghosts, for the color of the flint he used) with the use of a
rock saw and complex lever flaker (fulcrum and lever). Reinhardt
quarried and processed 100s of tons of gray Edward's Plateau chert.
Armed with a crowbar, shovel and wooden creates Bryan would quarry
material, drive it back to his home in Gustine, slab it and trim it
on his lapidary saw. In the yard of his nicely kept middle class
ranch house Reinhardt had an old fashioned trailer, with a wooden
addition. In this trailer was his lapidary shop, the place where gray
ghost blanks were cut and trimmed. Out behind the house, on the back
1/4 acre were several huge flint piles, a chest high pile of rejected
slab cutoffs, a couple truck loads worth, a supply of raw flint, and
a giant debitage pile of waste flakes, this testified to by Callahan.
Several years later Charlie Shewey flew over that part of Texas in a
plane he was piloting and confirmed the flint piles, they were plenty
large enough to see from the air.
Once he had the slabs cut and trimmed he would heat treat the
material to the point that the flakes would remove with less effort
but not enough to make them too brittle for the next stage of
reduction. For the actual "flintknapping" stages, Bryan removed the
first stage of conchoidal flakes, this was done with an elaborate jig
set up. The jig was an elaborate set of holes and pins that allowed
Bryan to apply fulcrum and lever pressure at any angle and from any
direction to any size or shape piece of flint. The edging was done
with micro-lever and shearing techniques. This gave the early Gray
Ghosts their characteristic steep margin double bevels.
Eventually Bryan had several saws buzzing and once, and piles of
waste flakes accumulated daily, hence the massive debitage dumps. .
His production was so successful he sold his flint work by the gross.
Bryan began making good money, in the 1960s he was getting paid 25
cents an inch. According to Dr. John Whittaker (1999) , archaeologist
and flintknapping historian, " the lore among Texas knappers is that
Reinhardt only sold in orders of 10,000 inches, (to dealers) at a
dollar per inch, and demanded payment in gold coins." Ads could be
seen in the classified sections of lapidary journals, and The
Farmer's Almanac for "ceremonial spear points" and most gift shops
along Route 66 were fat with them. It is estimated that Bryan
Reinhardt produced nearly one hundred thousand Gray Ghosts from 1950
to 1982. There is a Gray Ghost in nearly every collection of lithic
art in the World. Charlie Shewey, world renowned arrowhead collector,
collected dozens of Gray Ghosts, and even befriended Bryan Reinhardt
and purchased his best work. In the Shewey collection is one Gray
Ghost point over 23 inches long.
Bryan Reinhardt had been a loner up through the 1960s, until he met
three other knappers that had sought him out. It was the late 1960s
when Errett Callahan, (a young graduate student from Virginia at the
time) J.B. Sollberger (the father of Texas flintknapping), and Norman
Jefferson (then a student of Callahan) ventured into Gustine to meet
Reinhardt. At first Reinhardt denied being a flintknapper, and told
the three men that he was simple a rock collector. The three wise men
went into Reinhardt's living room and he was quit pleasant. On the
walls in his home Reinhardt had dozens of magazine photos, each with
images of artifacts, the articles claimed the items were authentic,
but Reinhardt's, after finely admitting he was a knapper, insisted he
had made them all. Even though he admitted that he was a knapper he
never divulged his methodologies. Reinhardt had moved, and his old
house was down street and around the block, Callahan and Sollberger,
went and explored Reinhardt's previous dwelling and found massive
amounts of debitage there. Sollberger, having experimented with
fulcrum and lever methods, new immediately upon inspecting the
debitage how the Gray Ghosts had been made, fulcrum and lever. Slab
cut-offs were a dead giveaway as to lap-knapping (Callahan 2000).
Callahan and Sollberger were very interested in Reinhardt's knapping
as they could relate it to possible applications into prehistoric
knapping technologies. Also, Reinhardt took an interest in the
knapping styles of Sollberger and Callahan and after there
acquaintance Reinhardt's knapping products had a more traditional
look. True Gray Ghost collectors can see 3 distinct phases of
Reinhardt's work:
1. His early years are very angular.
2. After meeting Sollberger and Callahan, a more traditional look.
3. After meeting two later knappers, Nelson and Warren, a more
patterned and eccentric
phase.
Callahan and Sollberger met with Reinhardt off and on for several
years and kept in touch by mail. Then Reinhardt, perhaps in fear of
being arrested, became reclusive to the point of chasing Sollberger
and Callahan off with a shot gun. The two men waited around and on
Sunday morning Reinhardt went off to church, while he was gone the
two men got a good look around the Reinhardt place, this when the
first site of the "new home" debitage and cut off plies. Callahan was
even able to secure some photos of this (Callahan 2000). On an
earlier visit Callahan was out in the front yard with Reinhardt and
the sheriff pulled up in his jeep, Callahan was sure that this was
the end for the Gray Ghost, when the officer opened the tail gate and
dumped a load of flint in Reinhardt's front yard. "Those German's
stuck together" said Callahan of the occurrence. Callahan and
Sollberger had traveled 142.7 miles from Dallas to Gustine several
times, but this was the last trip. A few years later Callahan
received a Christmas card from Reinhardt stating he had been reborn,
and he was sorry for his behavior, Callahan phoned Reinhardt and told
him he never understood why he did that, Callahan had been
Reinhardt's only advocate. In the mid to late 1970s Bryan befriended
two other "lapidary- flintknappers", Larry Nelson of Ironton,
Missouri and Richard Warren of Llano, Texas. Warren, was inspired by
Reinhardt, and later would produce a great many Gray Ghost type
points himself. Warren's Ghosts were of black novaculite. According
to Charlie Shewey, Warren's father-in-law was a wet stone miner and
was able to provide him with perfect slabs for knapping. Warren
learned the basics of knapping years earlier by Larry Nelson, a world
class traditional knapper whom had a graduate degree in engineering
from the University of Denver. 0rginally Warren would make the blanks
and Nelson would finish them, much like a micro-factory or cottage
industry, similar to what is speculated to have transpired by
prehistoric Danish Dagger knappers. Warren was latter known as the
founder of "teliolithics" or art knapping. Art knapping involves not
only slabbing the flint and heating, as Reinhardt did, but taking the
next step of power diamond grinding the shape and contour of the
point. The only thing left to do is a final series of pattern flakes.
Warren, an ex -Navy man, was going to be a doctor like his brother
but dropped out in his final year to pursue knapping (Shewey 1999).
According to Dr. John Whittaker (1999) Jim Hopper, who was largely
responsible for spreading "lap-knapping" (short for lapidary
knapping) among the early Fort Osage knappers, Hopper was inspired by
Richard Warren. Warren also inspired two traditional Virginian
knappers; Errett Callahan (considered the father of modern stone
knife making) and Scott Silsby whom were responsible for the
popularity of early pattern flaked knifes, they were the first to
perfect the Warren style on hafted blades. Jack Cresson a traditional
knapper from Moorestown, New Jersey credits Silsby for spreading art-
knapping through the eastern United States, and notes that Silsby
refereed to lap-knapping as "cheat and chip". But Callahan's Piltdown
Productions catalog gave pattern flaked knives a world wide exposure.
Callahan went on to show that pattern flaked knives could be
accomplished without modern tools and later began a traditional
knapping movement.
While Silsby and Callahan turned Warren style points into knives, a
southern knapper was fluting the Warren style points. Steve Behrnes,
an acquaintance of J.B. Sollberger, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana had
created a steel jig that could flute the wafer thin Warrens without
breaking them. Steve eaked out a fair living knapping at his old
style Cajun home. Jim Hopper, Steve Behrnes and Richard Warren met at
Warren's place in 1992, within two weeks of the meeting Warren
reportedly shot himself to death, however there were rumors that he
moved to a ranch his wife inherited in Calgary, Canada. A few rumors
of Warren and his wife sightings in Winnipeg have also been noted
(Did they see Elvis there too?).
According to John Whittaker, he met a man named Charles McGee, McGee
had an "arrowhead making jig", McGee told John that before W.W.II
McGee had been friends with another lever jig knapper, it turned out
to be Bryan Rhinehardt. The Jig is quite elaborate and has a hinged
lever and movable holding pins. It is obvious a lot of thinking went
into these machines.
Robert Blue of Studio City, California was inspired by a collection
of Reinhardt's points , Reinhardt had been long dead but Blue did
find fellow Gray Ghost collector, Charlie Shewey in Missouri. Robert
offered to buy all of Shewey's Gray Ghosts and Richard Warren points
and that money was no object. Charlie refused Blue's offer, but
directed Robert to Richard Warren. After Robert bought a fair number
of points, Warren shared some of his secrets with Robert Blue and
introduced him to Jim Hopper, whom Warren had taught. Jim Hopper and
Robert Blue became good friends and Robert became very good at art
knapping. Barney DeSimone, couched Robert through his early years of
knapping. Later Robert inspired Barney to return somewhat to lapidary
knapping. It was Robert Blue that taught Ray Harwood to knap in the
lever style of Reinhardt, Ray produced dozens of "Raynish Daggers"
with the lever flaker. The Raynish Daggers were simply slab points in
the form of 10 inch Danish Daggers ("2-D daggers" -not 3
dimensional). These were what Callahan called the ugliest Danish
Daggers he had ever seen. After Robert's death and some prompting
from DeSimone and Callahan, Harwood returned to traditional
flintknapping. One interesting bit of knapping lore I overheard at a
knap in goes like this:" Steve Behenes had invented this steel
fluting jig that could flute supper this preforms. Steve was close to
Robert Blue at the time and he sent Robert a thin Folsom and the
detatched flutes, Robery returned the detached flute -and he had
fluted them ! Knapper, Billy Joe Sheldon a slab knapper from Folsom,
New Mexico has produced a video on the lapidary method of
flintknapping and he is really good. Many California knappers that I
know have adapted his methods. Sheldon's methods intail using the
Ishi stick as a lever on one's leg and slab knapping on a bench.
Back in the 1970s Reinhardt, Warren and Nelson shared ideas and
Bryan's work showed some change, some fancy pieces and a bit more of
a traditional looking work product. But even then when a man
commented to Bryan that his work did not look like "Indian points" ,
Bryan Replied; " I'm note trying to make Indian points, I make
Reinhardt points!" It was true, Bryan, in inventing and producing the
Edward's Plateau Gray Ghosts had not only invented a new point type
and a new craft style, he would change the face of flintknapping
forever. Bryan Reinhardt passed away in 1982 from either emphysema or
cancer, but the legendary flintworker of Gustine and his Gray Ghosts
will live on forever.

CRABTREE, the Dean; Modern flintknapping was actually popularized by
Don Crabtree, often referred to as "the Dean of American
flintknapping". He was born June 8, 1912, in Heyburn, Idaho.
According to Harvey L. Hughett of the University of Idaho: Don spent
his early youth in Salmon, Idaho where he first became interested in
Indians and their tools. His mother would have him run errands for
the next-door neighbor and as a reward this woman would give Don an
arrowhead which her husband had gathered. Young Don became fascinated
with these tools and even at this early age began to wonder why and
how they were made. There were, at this time, many Indians in Salmon.
Thanks to Harvey Hughett, at the University of Idaho, whom is now
curator of the Don Crabtree Lithic Collection, we now know much more
about Don Crabtree's childhood. I spoke to Mr. Hughett a few in
October of 1999 (Val Waldorf had no problem either) he gave me
permission to quote his copyright article on Don Crabtree in Chips
Vol. 11, No.3, 1999.: "Young Don became fascinated with these tools
and even at this early age began to wonder why and how they were
made. There were, at this time, many Indians in Salmon. Their custom
was to sit flat on the sidewalk with their legs stretched in front of
them. Don found it great fun to jump over their legs and to talk with
them, for which he was severely reprimanded by his mother.
When Don was six, his Family moved to Twin Falls. This was desert
country and Don spent most of his time hunting for artifacts, Indian
campsites and building his collection of Indian tools. The family's
home was just a stone's through from the Snake River Canyon and Don
spent every possible moment hunting in the canyon, collecting from
campsites and caves and adding to his collection. He also collected
obsidian flakes and began to try to reproduce the artifacts. This
meant more trips to the canyon for knapping material. Soon, young
Crabtree had gathered a fairly large collection of artifacts and his
interest in experimenting with different stones and methods of
manufacture to achieve replication increased. He tried many
approaches to holding and applying force but with little success and
much failure. After interviewing many local Indians, he was
disappointed that he was unable to learn anything of how these
fascinating artifacts were made. Flintknapping was essentially a lost
art even at the time.
Don was constantly in trouble with his father for being away from
home so much, for the many cuts on his hands and the permanent
bloodstains on his clothing. He received many reprimands for coming
home after dark. Even this did not cure him of his quest for
knowledge of the Native Americans and their tools. At one point, his
father became so disgusted with Don spending so much time knapping he
offered to pay him $100.00 if he would promise never to make another
arrowhead. Don wanted a bicycle and a gun so badly that he considered
this offer for some time. However, the love of Indian lore won and he
told his father that he could not give up his attempts to make tools
as the Indians had.
In the late 1930's he was supervisor of the Vertebrate and
Invertebrate Laboratory at the University of California at Berkley,
this is also where Ishi's artifacts are curated. Also, Ted Orcutt
still lived not far to the North. Crabtree also worked in the
Anthropology lab with the well known Anthropologist Alfred Krueber,
whom was Ishi's friend and caretaker at the museum a few short years
before. According to Dr. Errett Callahan (1979), following a
flintworking demonstration at a meeting of the American Association
of Museums in Ohio, in 1941, Crabtree was employed at the Ohio State
Lithic Laboratory with H. Holmes Ellis and Henry Shertrone. He was
also advisor in Lithic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and
the Smithsonian Institution's museum.
During world war II, Crabtree was coordinating Engineer with
Bethlehem Steel in California. Between 1952 and 1962, he was County
Supervisor with the U.S.D.A in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 1962 and 1975,
Crabtree was research associate in lithic technology at the Idaho
State Museum in Pocatello."
Not only was Crabtree a master flintknapper and an inspirational
flintknapper , he was also an expert on the theoretical aspect of
stone tool studies. Crabtree published papers on replicative
flintworking and other aspects of lithic studies in such publications
as:
"American Antiquity" (1939,1968), "Current Anthropology"
(1969), "Science" (1968,1970), "Curator" (1970), "Tebiwa" (1964,
1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973,1974), and "Lithic Technology" (1975).
Crabtree's textbook, "An Introduction to Flintworking", was the main
publication readily available from 1972 on. The Crabtree book,
although 26 years old, is still a classic and is one of the most
referenced books in lithic studies today. The book is easy to read
and is full of excellent drawings and text. The book is available
through the Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State University,
Pocatello, Idaho. They also have republished Crabtree's articles,
papers, and videos, his articles are better than ours decades later.
Crabtree was featured in many archaeological films in his day, many
were shown around the world in class rooms from elementary school to
doctoral classes. These films influence many up and coming
flintknappers. The film "Blades and Pressure Flaking" (1969) won best
anthropology film at the 1970 American Film Festival.
In 1972, the Idaho Museum of Natural History received a grant from
the National Science Foundation for the production of several 16mm
films featuring the legendary flintknapper. Just a few years ago
these films were dubbed onto VHS video tape and made available to the
public through Idaho Museum Publications. Though faded somewhat, this
footage still maintains its detail and shows Don Crabtree at his
best. In the Shadow of Man , Don is shown quarrying obsidian at Glass
Buttes in Oregon. The Flintworker discusses the basics of
flintknapping, stone tools are made using simple percussion
techniques, and the Hertzian cone theory is introduced. Ancient
Projectile Points covers the making of bifacial points. The hunter's
Edge covers prismatic blade making. The Alchemy of Time concerns heat
treating, and the manufacture of Clovis, Folsom and Cumberland
points. In 1978, Crabtree had open heart surgery with stone tools.
The blades Crabtree made were so sharp that Crabtree's doctor agreed
to use them on him after seeing how sharp they were. The first
surgery one of Crabtrees's Ribs and a lung section were removed, an
18 inch cut. Crabtree's stone tools were so sharp that there was
hardly a scar.
Don Crabtree flintknapped all types of artifacts including fluted
Folsom , parallel flaking, chevron flaking, notching, blade making
and even Ted Orcutt style large obsidian biface points. His large
points were very similar to Orcutts , some were so thin that they
looked like dinner plates, his obsidian arrow points were very
similar to those he helped to curate in Berkley made by Ishi.
While working agate Crabtree noticed that his had a satiny texture
and the Indian arrowheads out of the same material were like opal.
After much experimentation he rediscovered heat treating of flint
materials to improve knapping quality.
In the later part of his life Crabtree traveled the world meeting and
flintknapping with each nations leaders in lithic fields of endeavor
and really opened the door for all of us. During this time
flintknapping saw its heyday, "knap-ins", lithic conferences and
publications. Sort of what what is happening now but with the
academics.
Don Crabtree, Dean of American flintknappers, died on November 16,
1980 from complications of heart disease, within six months of
Francois Bordes . When Bordes and Crabtree passed away the 1970's
academic flintknapping heyday passed away with Them. THE PALEO
KNAPPERS : The Late Don Crabtree, of southern Idaho, is considered to
be the "Dean of American Flintknapping" not only for his fine
publications, but also for the vast amount of important information
he uncovered in a life devoted to the study of stone tools. Don was
most probably the first flintknapper in thousands of years to flute a
Folsom point, as early as 1941 Crabtree was employed at the Lithic
Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and the prestigious
Smithsonian Institution. He had experimented with fluting in the
1930s but became quite famous for his studies into the Lindenmier
Folsom in 1966 . Don Crabtree passed away on November 16, 1980.
Jeffery Flenniken and Gene Titmus, students of Crabtree carried on
the studies and are still considered to be among the best
flintknappers in the world. (RAY HARWOOD, HISTORY OF MODERN FLINTKNAPPING, 1999)

LEAKY-
AFRICA: For many of my generation, it was the fabulous National
Geographic specials that forged out interest in archaeology and
flintknapping. It was a large gray haired man with a South African
acfcent and a Britsh Leland Land Rover. It was Dr. Luis Leaky. Dr
Leaky was born near Nairobi, Kenya. His parents were missionaries
there in Kenya and young Louis grew up along side children of the
Kkuyu tribe. He learned early the knowledge of primative skills,
including flint working. Dr. Leakey went to cambridge University,
majoring in Anthropology. Leaky landed a job on an international
archaeological mission to Tanzia as soon as he graduated. Luis
Married Mary in 1936. During WWII Leaky was a spy. It was 1949 when
Leaky discovered the first Proconsul skull, a missing link. Dr. Leaky
did many television specials for National Geographic and often
incruded flintknapping and use of the stine tools. Dr. Luis Leaky
died at age 69 of a heart attack. (See also Ray Harwood)

http://images.blogstream.com/i/userImages/61/61856_33681.gif,300x300]]

(See also Ray Harwood)The Man of the Lake. Like Frank Cushing, Halvor L. Skavlem, was also
one of the first known white flintknappers in America, he belonged to
a pioneer Norwegian family of Southern Wisconsin. At the turn of the
last century Indians and artifacts were not uncommon in Halvor's
neighborhood, in fact artifacts were numerous. Young Halvor had a
very inquisitive mind. He began asking himself how the Indians made
these stone tools and utensils.
It was in the month of September, 1912, When Mr. Halvor L Skavlem was
hunting stone arrow heads and artifacts in the cornfield behind his
summer home at Lake Koshkonong. He had done this many times over the
years, but on this particular occasion he began asking himself that
old question: how were these flint implements made and resharpened.
He located a chert cobble and struck it upon a piece of flint , hence
discovering to himself the percussion method of flake removal.
Halvor L. Skavlem's flint working experiments were published by the
Logan Museum in Beloit, Wisconsin. The ideas were put into a text
format by Halvor's pupil and portage, Alonzo W. Pond. Mr. Skavlem was
still making arrowheads during this period and he was eighty-four
years old.
In June of 1923, an article called "The Arrow Maker" by Charles D.
Stewart was published in the Atlantic Monthly. A flood of protest
letters came in on the article. People who collected artifacts at the
time did not want "the lost art" revived by Skavlem, for obvious
reasons they did not want neofacts mixed in with the ancient
collectibles. Mr. Skavlem visited some of the Chippewa Indians in
Northern Wisconsin. The Chippewa had no flintknapping tradition left,
so he got his gear together and gave a demo and showed them how it
was done.
At first Halvor picked up flint chips left over from Indian flint
reduction sites and tried to chip them with bones. Later he found old
cow bones and sharpened them down to a blunt point, he then got an
old chopping -block from the wood pile and customized a lap top work
bench. He put the bone on the edge of the flint and pressed down and
the flint chipped off nicely. He turned the arrowhead over and did
the same on the other side, giving it a toothed effect. Halvor made
thousands of flint items in his lifetime; turtles, fish hooks, arrow
heads, animals, ax heads, celts, and so on. He also was very much in
deep thought while doing his flaking. Halvor understood the theories
of the conchoidal fracture, Hertzian cone, lithic geology.