Some Native Americans make videos about dancing, some make videos about Flint knapping. All are welcome and valuable to those who want and need them. Bob's Flint knapping videos could be watched by dozens of students on and off the Rez, and they could get started making their own arrowheads and even killing their own food( rabbits and such) to please their mothers and sisters. And the culture need never fade. That will require someone to make a video depicting dressing a rabbit( which I think TH-cam policies currently forbid.)
Nobody is a master, we all are students of where our hobbies take us. Don't use human labels to describe and category us, it brings ego into everything and ruins true spirit
It seems to me that unless you're contemplating a complete social melt-down, it can hardly be "valuable" to anyone to propagate skills from the Stone Age...
Shane the native American people no matter what clan they belong to should be respected for how they lived from the land and only took what was needed for living. They were very well adapted for their surroundings..
@@shadowwolf9329 my great grandfather was a fullblood plains indian. He taught me how to be a ghost in the bush and also flintnapping. I'm also very in sync with the moon.
@@tiktokcancerous9974 I never had the pleasure of knowing my great grandfather nor great great grandmother on my mother's side. Which left me of learning the traditional art of bow making or flint knocking ☹
@@shadowwolf9329 I know I'm a very blessed soul for the skills passed down. I have all his old tools, spears, hand built longbows, and moose, elk hide blankets
I had the same thought. The cadence of his speech, and the patience of his teaching really reminds me of Bob Ross, but I enjoy this fellows subjects a lot more.
I was about to leave that comment when I looked down and saw that you had already left it. The exact first sentence is the phrase I had in my mind that I was going to write.
I like that he brings up copper. A lot of us ABO knappers shun any modern tools but what many don't realize is that copper was being mined and made into tools several thousand years ago here in North America.
I love the Cherokee notion that information is given in order to be shared and, if you have knowledge that someone else needs, you should be willing to share. I’ve learned that the more I know, the more I know that I don’t know squat. We should never stop learning!
I started knapping about 6 years ago I got started because while I was fishing at a lake an older gentleman was there with his family and he was going knapping. I knew one of the girls in the group who had married this gentlmans grandson. Turned out this guy lived about 1.5 hours from where I lived, but he invited me to come by and he would show me what he knew. Later I called him and we set up a time and when I got there he gave me a pressure flanker and larger pad and a hand pad which I still use the pads to this day. This gentleman mostly worked with slabs and pressure flaking, but it made a point and worked for him. He started me down a path of learning that has slowly evolved and I love learning new things, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This is what we need in our schools today every race a culcher needs the older craft man to teach a chraft to the hids how to service with out moredern day tools
This is such a great story.....I have such a deep respect for the old way....the new way seems feeble and shaky.... unpredictable like the stock market....if something happens how are we going to feed ourselves??? People in the city can laugh all the want about growing your own food or being able to create your own embers for fire but if things got really bad ( in my opinion, IT WILL HAPPEN, just ask the people in hurricane Katrina, ask the people in Texas when the power went out) these skills will save people's lives!!! Thanks to all the people who share these beautiful treasures with us!
Arguably one of the most enduring technological advancement in the history of man. To be able to find something made thousands of years ago in almost the exact condition as when it was made is amazing. It is conceivable that the some of the arrow heads that your father found were lost and found several times throughout their life by different people spanning hundreds of years between each lost and found episode.Thank you for sharing some of the knowledge of your culture with us. It is a blessing to be able to share and learn from others.
I remember visiting the cherokee heritage center in Tahlequah 35 years ago when I was a little boy and seeing someone flintknapping (it may have been Mr. Grayson). I told myself on that day that I'm going to do that one day. I'm finally starting to flintknap with traditional tools and really am enjoying it. I'm glad to carry on our traditions and it really gives me valuable insight into how our people lived their lives hundreds and thousands upon thousands of years ago. Thanks you sir for all that you do. You really are someone to be treasured.
Teaching my boys about their heritage (even though we only have a little Cherokee blood left in the family tree at this point) and they loved this! Thank you for keeping the traditions alive.
My grandmother was Cherokee, and I miss her stories sooooo much. She would rock back-n-forth in her rocking chair while combing her long black hair talking about how she grew up living under wagons, and soooo much more.
When I was about 6 or 7 years old my friends and I discovered that we could make sharp objects by smashing certain rocks together, originally I think we were trying to make sparks but accidentally made some crude stone tools as well. We weren’t allowed to own knives at that age so we felt pretty good about being able to make our own from nature!
Very well taught. I write occasionally about neolithic Ireland, where tools were often made in much the same way. I appreciate having someone who cares about their own history demonstrate the skill so proficiently. Thank you, sir.
I absolutely love this channel. I'm into flint knapping although I'm a total newbie because I'm into prehistory over here in England. What a lovely tutorial. I'd sit and listen to this guy all day. Seems like an absolute awesome man. ❤️
He's willing to teach what he knows, and eager to learn and develop his craft. Nothing but respect for this man. Looking forward to starting my path in flintknapping.
Over the years I have found a lot of tools and arrowheads around lakes here in Louisiana and have wondered how they were made. Thanks to you I understand the craft. I truly admire the craftsmanship of these long gone masters.
I have been flints napping for a few years I am now able to produce usable knives projectile points and other stone tools it does take complete concentration. Thank you for sharing knowledge, I too am learning every day
My father told me of this when I was a young boy and I was full of questions he answered as best as he could so it made sense. Fifty plus years later, i've tried it myself and must admit you are more than right, you make complete sense and use simple logic, your explanation of what you intend doing and how you will do it followed by showing the flake and then moving on to the next process it's not only understandable and logical but it's done with passion and not over stressed or rushed. You have a natural ability for teaching this skill and remain humble about your ability for working the stone. You have my respect for your skills and teaching skill and I wish you many more years of teaching this art. A huge kudos and a big thank you for this video, you lifted my mood and captivated me all the way through.
This guy is the right person to learn American heritage from , I could watch him for hours without losing interest . Thank you for sharing your history and heritage
I have great respect for this gentleman. He is doing what he can to preserve the all but lost art of this continent's natives. In showing those around him how to do this he echoes his parents knowledge.
This is just so awesome. When i find an artifact and hold it in my hand knowing it was held by a native just amazes me and i feel there spirit in me and connected. So amazing to me. Great job and thank you for passing culture on.
I am originally from France and my ancestors also used rocks tools . Realy like your presentation on flint napping . Thank you for this wonderful video , it's like traveling through time .
I too am Native American. My father was Lakota.and Cherokee. My mother Irish. Just found this And love your.channel. New subscriber Here. Keep them coming.
He is wonderfully skilled. I am SO happy that he has 523 positive thumbs up and zero (0) negatives. He is the ONLY person with this high of a rating, and I hope it stays that way!!
Every now and then I come back to this video just to experience the therapy of listening to this gentleman talk while watching him do one of the oldest skills known to humankind. Every time it makes me smile.
My Grandma was a quarter Cherokee. I not much but I have some in me and proud of it. On my Dad side of the family. My 10th Great Grandfather was William W. Bradford the first elected Governor of Plymouth Rock. He came over on the Mayflower. So we are early Americans. I grew up in Knoxville Tennessee. And I love being in the Smoky Mountains. Photography is my passion. And I can’t get enough of History. Roaring Forks is a place I record a lot. That carpet of green moss looks like an Emerald Forrest. There’s plenty of Black Bears certain times of year. How those big bears can walk those limbs amazes me. And fast they can come down amazed even more LOL. You make great videos and your a good teacher and relaxing to listen to. Thanks for your hard work.
Awesome. I am trying this. Blunt or sharp. Tools have purpouse. Each time I watch videos here, I learn something new to teach my kids and grandkids. Their heritage.
I'm so glad that this knowledge is being preserved. I hope that this knowledge, passed down from countless eons, will persist long after we are all passed away. Knowledge like this not only binds us to our past, it binds us to one another. God bless you, Mr. Grayson.
Love it. As a child I hunted arrowheads in Sandy Mush and other areas. Found some good ones near my home town of Candler. I always felt a connection with the ancient hunter that used it.
Last summer I had a 12 foot deep pond excavated in my yard, mostly for bass & bluegill. This summer I was raking the area to smooth out the bottom before filling it, when I found a stone arrowhead, about 2 inches long. As a deer hunter myself I love thinking about the hunter that was once here as well, trying to get food for his family. In this area of Southern Wisconsin I believe it was the either the Potawatomi, Chippewa or the Ottawa people.
It may be older than that. There’s a field guide to flint arrow heads if you’d like to narrow it down between paleo Indian and more recent types. Enjoy the discovery of prehistoric American
Our neighbors farm sit on the higher ground of the adjacent bottom land near the Green River in south cenral Kentucky. Various people waiting for Spring plowing to come walk the fields looking for arrowheads in the '60's; they found hundreds of them. It was supposed that the native Indians tread the higher ground just as we did, shooting game driven up by the 'back water'. My Dad found a tremendous spear head, which I stupidly took to show and tell at school, and a bully broke it out of spite!
That point is most likely WAY older than the tribes you mention. Tribe names are a relatively new concept when compared to Native American history as a whole, which dates back to the end of the last ice age, or 12-14 thousand years ago, maybe older.
@@jbilly24 Good God, I was afraid of that! Dad sent two primative axe heads of to a university professor when I was very young. They looked like stone axe/club heads from the '50's cave man movies. Dang the luck!
Boy this brings back memories. I used to work as a cultural resources technician for the US Forest Service archaeology department. One day, my supervisor sat me down outside with a large piece of hide much like what was shown in the video. Then she proceeds to teach me how to flintknap an obsidian core. What an art that is! My coworker was a native American from the Siletz Confederated Tribe, which we relied upon at every archaeological research site. I remember digging a half-meter test pit. It was a long, boring 10 hour day as a teenager, except when I ended up digging so deep that I was laying on the ground with my arm down several feet. I ended up finding this absolutely beautiful teardrop-shaped point with a transparent smoky blue color. We were all struck by its beauty and wondered about the person who crafted that hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Great video, thanks for sharing.
Much appreciated sir! Being a traditional archer I know a lot of flintknappers, but your patience and instruction is very gratifying to watch. Keep the videos coming.
Using a deer antler to sharpen a stone tool is amazing! Nature really does provide everything; and those with the biggest brains survived by overcoming her obstacles and utilizing her toolkit. Wado!
I really love this! My family has strong ties of Cherokke on both sides sides my great-grandmother being fully Cherokke and having a 4th great-grandfather being a Cheif of a small town. Since I don't have a lot of family left to learn about my family's culture I like to watch videos like these to learn. This is very interesting and thank you for this! ❤
My friend I loved your video and I love what your doing and the attitude you possess. I've been knapping for over 25 years and I learn something every time I work a stone. I love to pass the things I do know to others as well and I applaud you for doing the same. Be well brother!
Thank you, Mr. Noel Grayson, for sharing your knowledge! I am a beginner. You really know what you are doing. I love the ringing sound when the stone is struck.
Howdy Noel, I catch that show "A Craftsman's Legacy" every chance I get and your episode is my absolute favorite. You have great teaching skills my friend. Thank you.
I really enjoyed watching you flintnap. Very entertaining and skillful. My dad had an archery shop for fourty years. I have been shooting a recurve since I was three years old. I have always been facinated by the Native American ways. Thanks for showing how you do it. Happy Trials 👍
Why I started was to appreciate the knowledge and hard work it took. You make it look easy but I try to make an arrow head like the ones I found and I'm getting better but I'm not there yet. Glass flakes and makes a nice arrow head. Especially the brown glass kind. Thank you very much for sharing.
Thank you so much for exploring a small part of your world with us! Perhaps the best part of your presentation is making me want to learn more about your knowledge, insight, and experiences. I look forward to hearing more from and about you. 😋
This is absolutely amazing. I would do about anything to spend some time learning from this man. He has inspired me to look into flint knapping more and maybe even make my own stone tool! I could have watched a 3 hour version of this video and would love it! Get a full length start to finish video for us! I'm really excited I found these videos today, I am subbed for all future videos as well!
For anyone who may be interested, I HAVE looked more into flint knapping and have made several decent looking and highly usable stone tools since I posted this comment! It is a very relaxing and entertaining hobby I plan to pursue even more in the future. This is an almost lost art and it feels really special knowing I am working toward being proficient at this skill. I have even started teaching what I've learned to my daughter. If you liked this vid, I highly recommend trying your own hand at making a stone tool! Its very satisfying to say the least!
I appreciate Your humility, you are gifted the stone shows itself to you, the abilities you possess have been honed over many years. Thank You for the willingness to share your gifts...
As an indigenous tribal member I can hear life wisdom in his teachings about flint knipping. May beautiful flowers grow in all your life's path grandpa Grayson.
Excellent video Sir. As a knapper I share your enthusiasm. I'm still in the "Modern" stage with my boppers and copper flakers but I've compiled a "Primitive" kit of hammer stones, antler billets and tines. After knapping some good points it's addictive. So are the videos. Besides you there are many great ones. I'm grateful to you all.
What an awesome video! You sir are a craftsman. I started knapping about 2 years ago and have been a little discouraged lately with slow progression. You may have just given me information to turn the corner on taking blades off of a larger piece. Thank you sir.
I'm a machinist, welder, painter, gardener, and hunter. Flintknapping is going to be my next skill I develop. This seems like a great teacher. The kinda man sequoyah would be proud of.
Neol truely is a national treasure, both in the art of crafting, and how to share that art and life experience in the most marm freindly and personal way. Love this man
Mr Noel Grayson ✊🏾 thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, as a native from BC Canada and knowing about the tools we’ve used I’d definitely love to learn this art of our ancestors, I’m an avid outdoorsman with traditional knowledge on hunting trapping and the lands, one thing I’m missing is making my own tools ✊🏾
What a beautiful soul. Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate a lost art. My father use to knap all the time and made beautiful gifts. I wished he were here today to help me make my son a knife. Never say you are going to talk to your elder tomorrow...do it today. Thank you again.
It's long been a theory among my mom's side of the family that my great grandfather married a Cherokee woman. Could never prove it beyond that, but I have always had great respect for the Cherokee people and traditions. Pretty much the cornerstone of my respect for all the native and first nations peoples. Always wanted to learn a bit about the old ways. Thanks for the lesson! 😁
Thank you for sharing this skill. My great-great grandmother, Caroline Rainwater-Lebow was full Cherokee. It’s an honor to have her in my heritage. I have always felt a deep respect for Native People and their knowledge and wisdom. Let’s not lose these skills.
I've been walking fields and creeks for 40 years just to find these stone artifacts. Though for me they're not simply arrowheads, points and tools, but priceless works of art with no two exactly alike. I'm certain you understand when I say each one has a unique story to tell, and all by simply looking at it. For example, it's age, if it was lost, reworked, repurposed, no longer useful and much more. Like I said, priceless works of art. Thank you for keeping this art alive.
I've always been fascinated by the old stone tools. I'm in the Piedmont of North Carolina and there's no shortage of arrowheads around here. I used to camp out at a place called Morrow Mountain State Park. There were rock quarries left from the Native Americans when they had trade routes through there and I guess certain people we're better at making tools then others and they probably had these quarries where the Master toolmakers worked. I don't know for sure but that's just how I imagine it may have been. I know that the Native Americans or as someone would call First Nations people were much more advanced than you will find in in history book. I always wondered what it would be like to see this land before Columbus came across. It must have been a paradise.
It's an amazing thought that the arrowhead(s) you found were once actually held and used by someone from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Their hand was actually on that same exact stone you're holding. It's sad, romantic, thrilling, quieting all in one.
John, it's scary how much you and I think alike. I was in Morrow Mountain State Park years ago and was amazed at the quantities of flint flakes lying around on the ground. Actually, the "flint" is a stone called rhyolite. It's a type of flint for sure, but not as sought after by modern knappers as some of the other types. The quarries you spoke of are the only place rhyolite is found here in N.C. Yet the points and blades made from it are found all over the state. That should give you an idea of how far and wide it was traded. I picked up a broken blade made from it last weekend in Rutherford County. I live in Kings Mountain now, but I grew up in Cumberland and Harnett counties. As a kid, I picked up no end of points, blades, pottery shards and one big, black flint axe. I have no idea where the maker of it got the material, but again, it shows you how important the trade routes were to the early people of this state. Most of the points I used to find were made from white or rose colored quartz. Now and then I'd find a point made from clear or close to clear quartz. There's a guy down near Wilson who has a TH-cam channel called Indian Trace. Get on there and check it out, you'll enjoy that. Have a great time in the outdoors and stay alert! You never know what kind if treasures you might come across.
"I always wondered what it would be like to see this land before Columbus came across. It must have been a paradise." - Ohh, how many times I've dreamt of seeing the magnificent old growth forests of California in their unspoilt state.
That's very interesting and you did a great job presenting it. I enjoy learning about primitive weapons technology. I enjoy making and shooting slingshots but this skill is a lot more fascinating due to it's history of being a necessary tool of everyday living. My dad who has passed several years ago put together a nice looking arrowhead collection. He'd find them when Cherokee lake was down while fishing here in Grainger county east Tennessee. We still have it.
Wow! A Master Flint Napper! U had no idea how & I have inadvertently picked so many pretty rocks that turn out to be tools! Not many arrowhead points but-a yahoo. The Natives have always been kind, generous, humbly teaching & sharing so many things & the wisdom along w it. I Love U, Cherokee. Thank U from Hopi Navajo stolen land of Flagstaff, Az . Godspeed. This is fascinating!!!
I started shooting traditional archery with a recurve bow when I was 12 or 13 years old. I eventually regressed to longbows and then started making selfbows I made from Osage Orange, and my arrows from Ash and Dogwood. Growing up in Wyoming and later in Montana, I started to gain a nagging desire to understand who, and how the few arrowheads I had found at Buffalo Jumps out in the prairie hills, were made. About 45 years ago I was afflicted with an obsession I still have, to learn the art of flintknapping. At that time there was very nearly no publicized information on how arrowheads were actually made, the old story of how "cold water was dripped on a hot rock" was the most common answer to this question. I finally found an obscure magazine sized book with only about 30-40 pages (if I remember correctly) called "The Art oh Flintknapping" by DC Waldorf and it had great color pictures that covered very well, the basics of flintknapping. I was hooked right from the start and since, have gifted and sold my stone points (from Paleo to historically modern arrowheads) made form many different cherts, calcedonies, obsidians, porcelanites and other exotic lithic materials from overseas, all over the US and many countries around the world. The reason I am including this much information in my ramblings is, I want to stress the huge and greatly vast depth of knowledge necessary with the immensely different lithic materials and the quantum of techniques including the vast knowledge of techniques of percussion, flaking and channeling type knapping. A PhD course in flintknapping would be "just the tip of the iceberg" concerning all of the strategies and types of flintknapping technology used by the ancient peoples to modern times. Noel Grayson is a "Master flintknapper" weather he admits it or not, I have watched several videos portraying his knapping skills and, he has a great many! His views, especially his view of the "knowledge should be shared," dogma is of particular high value to me as, when back 45 years ago, when knapping was just coming back from "the dark ages" and being learned by a few other than archaeologists and paleontologists again, the common thought was to keep secret this very limited difficult to find and, hard learned information and techniques. Bravo Noel Grayson, Bravo!!
Any chance you’d give a rookie napper some tips and tricks ? I’ve been going at it for 8 months now and have drastically improved but there is so much to learn, best wishes and have a great day !
@@cysewskiscustomchippin9691 Not sure what stage you are at with your knapping but if there is anything I can do to help you advance, I would be willing to help. I don't do videos and am not really into social media, I'm getting a little old to learn new tricks. What part of the world are you from and what type of lithic materials do you have access to (besides the banded quartz)? Also, what type of tools are you using?
I would love to live on a real reservation for a year... I am fascinated with the full Indian culture.. I have Cherokee in me but not much.. it amazing how you live and how you know your ancestors ways
I'm not great at it but have made some decent tips. It's just amazing what you can get out of a rock. I really enjoyed your video and have always been interested in primitive weapons. Have you hunted with flint heads?
I love the comfort and ease with which you explain knapping. You express the pleasure of "doing" with the real warmth and familiarity that only comes with being personally successful in true 'life skills'...
"Even as a master flintnapper I don't consider my self a master because I still have alot to learn." True wisdom right there.
Some Native Americans make videos about dancing, some make videos about Flint knapping. All are welcome and valuable to those who want and need them. Bob's Flint knapping videos could be watched by dozens of students on and off the Rez, and they could get started making their own arrowheads and even killing their own food( rabbits and such) to please their mothers and sisters. And the culture need never fade. That will require someone to make a video depicting dressing a rabbit( which I think TH-cam policies currently forbid.)
TH-cam and all the other media outlets are doing a great job of destroying out first amendment rights. I'm about to be abolish all of them.
@@frankhausman1033 I wish they did. We may need it..
Nobody is a master, we all are students of where our hobbies take us. Don't use human labels to describe and category us, it brings ego into everything and ruins true spirit
The most important part of this is he doesn't let the old ways fade away and he's willing to teach them to others. Very valuable. Good for him.
It seems to me that unless you're contemplating a complete social melt-down, it can hardly be "valuable" to anyone to propagate skills from the Stone Age...
Shane the native American people no matter what clan they belong to should be respected for how they lived from the land and only took what was needed for living. They were very well adapted for their surroundings..
@@shadowwolf9329 my great grandfather was a fullblood plains indian. He taught me how to be a ghost in the bush and also flintnapping. I'm also very in sync with the moon.
@@tiktokcancerous9974 I never had the pleasure of knowing my great grandfather nor great great grandmother on my mother's side. Which left me of learning the traditional art of bow making or flint knocking ☹
@@shadowwolf9329 I know I'm a very blessed soul for the skills passed down. I have all his old tools, spears, hand built longbows, and moose, elk hide blankets
This man is the Bob Ross of knapping. The world needs more folks like yourself. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Good Man, No doubt. I could listen to him talk and explain for hours.
#bobstrong way of intercepting cabin
@@chrisw422 I have been searching all of Noel’s videos on youtube just to see what I can learn from him. :):)
I had the same thought. The cadence of his speech, and the patience of his teaching really reminds me of Bob Ross, but I enjoy this fellows subjects a lot more.
I was about to leave that comment when I looked down and saw that you had already left it. The exact first sentence is the phrase I had in my mind that I was going to write.
Not only does he have mad skills....he has the soul of a teacher.
I came to the comments to say that.
Yes. I agree. In just watching him. I came to the same conclusion. Such a nice and warm gentleman with a craft and skill to give to others.
And he also has the soul of a student who are in turn some of the best teachers!
I like that he brings up copper. A lot of us ABO knappers shun any modern tools but what many don't realize is that copper was being mined and made into tools several thousand years ago here in North America.
I love the Cherokee notion that information is given in order to be shared and, if you have knowledge that someone else needs, you should be willing to share. I’ve learned that the more I know, the more I know that I don’t know squat. We should never stop learning!
That's why I learn. I learn with the goal of teaching someone what I know one day.
You are very intelligent sir
This man is a National Treasure. I have so much respect for the Cherokee people. Thanks for this video and awesome channel content ! 🇺🇲👍
I agree 100%
I too am a Cherokee fint knapper and I can already tell you Noel Grayson is awesome just by looking at the piece he is holding . : )
I knew he was wise by the way he held the stone, halito!
I started knapping about 6 years ago I got started because while I was fishing at a lake an older gentleman was there with his family and he was going knapping. I knew one of the girls in the group who had married this gentlmans grandson. Turned out this guy lived about 1.5 hours from where I lived, but he invited me to come by and he would show me what he knew. Later I called him and we set up a time and when I got there he gave me a pressure flanker and larger pad and a hand pad which I still use the pads to this day. This gentleman mostly worked with slabs and pressure flaking, but it made a point and worked for him. He started me down a path of learning that has slowly evolved and I love learning new things, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
This is what we need in our schools today every race a culcher needs the older craft man to teach a chraft to the hids how to service with out moredern day tools
This is such a great story.....I have such a deep respect for the old way....the new way seems feeble and shaky.... unpredictable like the stock market....if something happens how are we going to feed ourselves???
People in the city can laugh all the want about growing your own food or being able to create your own embers for fire but if things got really bad ( in my opinion, IT WILL HAPPEN, just ask the people in hurricane Katrina, ask the people in Texas when the power went out) these skills will save people's lives!!!
Thanks to all the people who share these beautiful treasures with us!
Arguably one of the most enduring technological advancement in the history of man. To be able to find something made thousands of years ago in almost the exact condition as when it was made is amazing. It is conceivable that the some of the arrow heads that your father found were lost and found several times throughout their life by different people spanning hundreds of years between each lost and found episode.Thank you for sharing some of the knowledge of your culture with us. It is a blessing to be able to share and learn from others.
I remember visiting the cherokee heritage center in Tahlequah 35 years ago when I was a little boy and seeing someone flintknapping (it may have been Mr. Grayson). I told myself on that day that I'm going to do that one day. I'm finally starting to flintknap with traditional tools and really am enjoying it. I'm glad to carry on our traditions and it really gives me valuable insight into how our people lived their lives hundreds and thousands upon thousands of years ago.
Thanks you sir for all that you do. You really are someone to be treasured.
Thank you for sharing, for me it was a real pleasure being able to spend 12 minutes with you.
Teaching my boys about their heritage (even though we only have a little Cherokee blood left in the family tree at this point) and they loved this! Thank you for keeping the traditions alive.
My grandmother was Cherokee, and I miss her stories sooooo much. She would rock back-n-forth in her rocking chair while combing her long black hair talking about how she grew up living under wagons, and soooo much more.
My Grandmother was 1/4 cherokee her mother was 1/2 Cherokee & Last name was Morris .
I've been knapping for 30 years. Mr Grayson did an outstanding job of presenting and demonstrating the craft.
When I was about 6 or 7 years old my friends and I discovered that we could make sharp objects by smashing certain rocks together, originally I think we were trying to make sparks but accidentally made some crude stone tools as well. We weren’t allowed to own knives at that age so we felt pretty good about being able to make our own from nature!
Thank you Noel! I appreciate your time and sharing with us!
Very well taught. I write occasionally about neolithic Ireland, where tools were often made in much the same way. I appreciate having someone who cares about their own history demonstrate the skill so proficiently. Thank you, sir.
I absolutely love this channel. I'm into flint knapping although I'm a total newbie because I'm into prehistory over here in England. What a lovely tutorial. I'd sit and listen to this guy all day. Seems like an absolute awesome man. ❤️
He's willing to teach what he knows, and eager to learn and develop his craft. Nothing but respect for this man. Looking forward to starting my path in flintknapping.
Over the years I have found a lot of tools and arrowheads around lakes here in Louisiana and have wondered how they were made. Thanks to you I understand the craft. I truly admire the craftsmanship of these long gone masters.
I have been flints napping for a few years
I am now able to produce usable knives projectile points and other stone tools
it does take complete concentration.
Thank you for sharing knowledge, I too am learning every day
My father told me of this when I was a young boy and I was full of questions he answered as best as he could so it made sense.
Fifty plus years later, i've tried it myself and must admit you are more than right, you make complete sense and use simple logic, your explanation of what you intend doing and how you will do it followed by showing the flake and then moving on to the next process it's not only understandable and logical but it's done with passion and not over stressed or rushed.
You have a natural ability for teaching this skill and remain humble about your ability for working the stone.
You have my respect for your skills and teaching skill and I wish you many more years of teaching this art.
A huge kudos and a big thank you for this video, you lifted my mood and captivated me all the way through.
May GOD BLESS YOU for keeping old traditions alive and passing them on!!!
"An old ancient technology " and he's passing it on and keeping it alive! Bravo!! Too much ancient knowledge has gone to the wayside.
This guy is the right person to learn American heritage from , I could watch him for hours without losing interest . Thank you for sharing your history and heritage
Living history, right there. I truly hope traditional techniques such as this continue to be passed down to those that come after.
I have great respect for this gentleman. He is doing what he can to preserve the all but lost art of this continent's natives. In showing those around him how to do this he echoes his parents knowledge.
This is just so awesome. When i find an artifact and hold it in my hand knowing it was held by a native just amazes me and i feel there spirit in me and connected. So amazing to me. Great job and thank you for passing culture on.
I am originally from France and my ancestors also used rocks tools . Realy like your presentation on flint napping . Thank you for this wonderful video , it's like traveling through time .
Thanks, I deeply respect and admire the Cherokee people. Thanks for illustrating a sample of the flint knapping craft.
Your skills are phenomenal and inspirational unalii.
True art based on ancient knowledge and necessity.
Blessings to you Brother.
I too am Native American. My father was Lakota.and Cherokee. My mother Irish.
Just found this And love your.channel. New subscriber
Here. Keep them coming.
Thanks so much for keeping these skills and histories alive. My family and their friends are grateful to you by blood and by relationships.
Thank you brother. Always wanted an outlet to learn the old ways and keep the knowledge going without going there in person. Keep it up
He is wonderfully skilled. I am SO happy that he has 523 positive thumbs up and zero (0) negatives. He is the ONLY person with this high of a rating, and I hope it stays that way!!
Wow brother I just looked and it's up to 3.1k likes without a single dislike! I'm with ya you don't see that anywhere👍
@@BM205 TH-cam has discontinued displaying dislikes
@@stevehilliard1495 well that certainly sounds like something they'd do. Thanks for the knowledge
Every now and then I come back to this video just to experience the therapy of listening to this gentleman talk while watching him do one of the oldest skills known to humankind. Every time it makes me smile.
The wisdom of experience is priceless!! Good teacher!!!!!
My Grandma was a quarter Cherokee. I not much but I have some in me and proud of it. On my Dad side of the family. My 10th Great Grandfather was William W. Bradford the first elected Governor of Plymouth Rock. He came over on the Mayflower. So we are early Americans. I grew up in Knoxville Tennessee. And I love being in the Smoky Mountains. Photography is my passion. And I can’t get enough of History. Roaring Forks is a place I record a lot. That carpet of green moss looks like an Emerald Forrest. There’s plenty of Black Bears certain times of year. How those big bears can walk those limbs amazes me. And fast they can come down amazed even more LOL. You make great videos and your a good teacher and relaxing to listen to. Thanks for your hard work.
Awesome. I am trying this. Blunt or sharp. Tools have purpouse. Each time I watch videos here, I learn something new to teach my kids and grandkids. Their heritage.
Wonderful video! Thanks so much for sharing. Seeing a stone point has always fired my imagination with wonder. You are certainly a National Treasure.
I'm so glad that this knowledge is being preserved. I hope that this knowledge, passed down from countless eons, will persist long after we are all passed away. Knowledge like this not only binds us to our past, it binds us to one another. God bless you, Mr. Grayson.
Totally agree with you. And people as a whole need a bit less division amongst each other.
I absolutely love this! Thank you so much for sharing. Noel Grayson certainly is a treasure! I'm looking forward to more videos like this. Cheers!
Such a great guy! Good peoples! Thank you for the wonderful lesson!
I love learning the old ways.
I’m so glad that this knowledge is being preserved and passed down.
Awesome video, very informative, long live the Cherokee nation !
I like this guy. He has knowledge, humility, and the desire and generosity to teach others what he knows. That's as good as it gets. A good man!
Love it. As a child I hunted arrowheads in Sandy Mush and other areas. Found some good ones near my home town of Candler. I always felt a connection with the ancient hunter that used it.
Last summer I had a 12 foot deep pond excavated in my yard, mostly for bass & bluegill. This summer I was raking the area to smooth out the bottom before filling it, when I found a stone arrowhead, about 2 inches long. As a deer hunter myself I love thinking about the hunter that was once here as well, trying to get food for his family. In this area of Southern Wisconsin I believe it was the either the Potawatomi, Chippewa or the Ottawa people.
It may be older than that. There’s a field guide to flint arrow heads if you’d like to narrow it down between paleo Indian and more recent types. Enjoy the discovery of prehistoric American
Our neighbors farm sit on the higher ground of the adjacent bottom land near the Green River in south cenral Kentucky. Various people waiting for Spring plowing to come walk the fields looking for arrowheads in the '60's; they found hundreds of them. It was supposed that the native Indians tread the higher ground just as we did, shooting game driven up by the 'back water'. My Dad found a tremendous spear head, which I stupidly took to show and tell at school, and a bully broke it out of spite!
That point is most likely WAY older than the tribes you mention. Tribe names are a relatively new concept when compared to Native American history as a whole, which dates back to the end of the last ice age, or 12-14 thousand years ago, maybe older.
@@jbilly24 Good God, I was afraid of that! Dad sent two primative axe heads of to a university professor when I was very young. They looked like stone axe/club heads from the '50's cave man movies. Dang the luck!
@@jbilly24 Yes, I was told 500 BC.
Boy this brings back memories. I used to work as a cultural resources technician for the US Forest Service archaeology department. One day, my supervisor sat me down outside with a large piece of hide much like what was shown in the video. Then she proceeds to teach me how to flintknap an obsidian core. What an art that is! My coworker was a native American from the Siletz Confederated Tribe, which we relied upon at every archaeological research site. I remember digging a half-meter test pit. It was a long, boring 10 hour day as a teenager, except when I ended up digging so deep that I was laying on the ground with my arm down several feet. I ended up finding this absolutely beautiful teardrop-shaped point with a transparent smoky blue color. We were all struck by its beauty and wondered about the person who crafted that hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Great video, thanks for sharing.
Much appreciated sir! Being a traditional archer I know a lot of flintknappers, but your patience and instruction is very gratifying to watch. Keep the videos coming.
Using a deer antler to sharpen a stone tool is amazing! Nature really does provide everything; and those with the biggest brains survived by overcoming her obstacles and utilizing her toolkit. Wado!
I really love this! My family has strong ties of Cherokke on both sides sides my great-grandmother being fully Cherokke and having a 4th great-grandfather being a Cheif of a small town. Since I don't have a lot of family left to learn about my family's culture I like to watch videos like these to learn. This is very interesting and thank you for this! ❤
My friend I loved your video and I love what your doing and the attitude you possess. I've been knapping for over 25 years and I learn something every time I work a stone. I love to pass the things I do know to others as well and I applaud you for doing the same. Be well brother!
As an archer, this man is more than I could ever hope to be, thank you for your knowledge
Thank you for keeping the ancient art alive
Thank you, Mr. Noel Grayson, for sharing your knowledge! I am a beginner. You really know what you are doing. I love the ringing sound when the stone is struck.
Noel is the guy I learned from (watching his videos)
I wish TH-cam would have been around 40 years ago, would have saved me tons of good rock. Excellent work Sir.
Thank you for the lesson. I will pass this down to my own children when I become a parent.
Howdy Noel, I catch that show "A Craftsman's Legacy" every chance I get and your episode is my absolute favorite. You have great teaching skills my friend. Thank you.
I really enjoyed watching you flintnap. Very entertaining and skillful. My dad had an archery shop for fourty years. I have been shooting a recurve since I was three years old. I have always been facinated by the Native American ways. Thanks for showing how you do it. Happy Trials 👍
Being a skilled and articulate craftsman makes makes one a great teacher. You do our people proud Sir. What we pass on gets passed on.
Why I started was to appreciate the knowledge and hard work it took. You make it look easy but I try to make an arrow head like the ones I found and I'm getting better but I'm not there yet. Glass flakes and makes a nice arrow head. Especially the brown glass kind. Thank you very much for sharing.
"You don't have to solve all your problems, just sit and think about them for a while."
Best advice I've ever heard!
Thank you so much for exploring a small part of your world with us! Perhaps the best part of your presentation is making me want to learn more about your knowledge, insight, and experiences. I look forward to hearing more from and about you. 😋
Thank you Sir!! Very good voice, pleasure to listen, good positive explanation!!! Cherokee People, so glad to see…!))
This is absolutely amazing. I would do about anything to spend some time learning from this man. He has inspired me to look into flint knapping more and maybe even make my own stone tool! I could have watched a 3 hour version of this video and would love it! Get a full length start to finish video for us! I'm really excited I found these videos today, I am subbed for all future videos as well!
For anyone who may be interested, I HAVE looked more into flint knapping and have made several decent looking and highly usable stone tools since I posted this comment! It is a very relaxing and entertaining hobby I plan to pursue even more in the future. This is an almost lost art and it feels really special knowing I am working toward being proficient at this skill. I have even started teaching what I've learned to my daughter. If you liked this vid, I highly recommend trying your own hand at making a stone tool! Its very satisfying to say the least!
Excellent video Sir! Well demonstrated and excellently explained!!!
I appreciate Your humility, you are gifted the stone shows itself to you, the abilities you possess have been honed over many years. Thank You for the willingness to share your gifts...
Keep your heritage alive Noel because it will leave one hell of a legacy
As an indigenous tribal member I can hear life wisdom in his teachings about flint knipping. May beautiful flowers grow in all your life's path grandpa Grayson.
Excellent video Sir. As a knapper I share your enthusiasm. I'm still in the "Modern" stage with my boppers and copper flakers but I've compiled a "Primitive" kit of hammer stones, antler billets and tines.
After knapping some good points it's addictive. So are the videos. Besides you there are many great ones. I'm grateful to you all.
What an awesome video! You sir are a craftsman. I started knapping about 2 years ago and have been a little discouraged lately with slow progression. You may have just given me information to turn the corner on taking blades off of a larger piece. Thank you sir.
I gained not only knowledge in flint napping, but also wisdom in life. Thank you for this video.
💯 Fascinating! When a traditional craft has a science behind the art, an art behind the science and is a metaphor for life, all at the same time 😯😀
I'm a machinist, welder, painter, gardener, and hunter. Flintknapping is going to be my next skill I develop. This seems like a great teacher. The kinda man sequoyah would be proud of.
The pride in this man is measured in miles.
Would love to spend time with him and learn some of his fine skills.
Neol truely is a national treasure, both in the art of crafting, and how to share that art and life experience in the most marm freindly and personal way. Love this man
Mr Noel Grayson ✊🏾 thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, as a native from BC Canada and knowing about the tools we’ve used I’d definitely love to learn this art of our ancestors, I’m an avid outdoorsman with traditional knowledge on hunting trapping and the lands, one thing I’m missing is making my own tools ✊🏾
What a beautiful soul. Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate a lost art. My father use to knap all the time and made beautiful gifts. I wished he were here today to help me make my son a knife. Never say you are going to talk to your elder tomorrow...do it today.
Thank you again.
It's long been a theory among my mom's side of the family that my great grandfather married a Cherokee woman. Could never prove it beyond that, but I have always had great respect for the Cherokee people and traditions. Pretty much the cornerstone of my respect for all the native and first nations peoples.
Always wanted to learn a bit about the old ways. Thanks for the lesson! 😁
Love this guy, thank you Noel💖 Im very PROUD TO BE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN✊
Loves these videos and our heritage!
Holy cow my new favorite channel. Wisdom and humility and sharing. All non virtual. Real life is incredible.
Thank you for sharing this skill. My great-great grandmother, Caroline Rainwater-Lebow was full Cherokee. It’s an honor to have her in my heritage. I have always felt a deep respect for Native People and their knowledge and wisdom. Let’s not lose these skills.
I've been walking fields and creeks for 40 years just to find these stone artifacts. Though for me they're not simply arrowheads, points and tools, but priceless works of art with no two exactly alike. I'm certain you understand when I say each one has a unique story to tell, and all by simply looking at it. For example, it's age, if it was lost, reworked, repurposed, no longer useful and much more. Like I said, priceless works of art. Thank you for keeping this art alive.
I've always been fascinated by the old stone tools. I'm in the Piedmont of North Carolina and there's no shortage of arrowheads around here. I used to camp out at a place called Morrow Mountain State Park. There were rock quarries left from the Native Americans when they had trade routes through there and I guess certain people we're better at making tools then others and they probably had these quarries where the Master toolmakers worked. I don't know for sure but that's just how I imagine it may have been. I know that the Native Americans or as someone would call First Nations people were much more advanced than you will find in in history book. I always wondered what it would be like to see this land before Columbus came across. It must have been a paradise.
Im in the area also. There is some nice stuff to be found in nc.
It's an amazing thought that the arrowhead(s) you found were once actually held and used by someone from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Their hand was actually on that same exact stone you're holding. It's sad, romantic, thrilling, quieting all in one.
John, it's scary how much you and I think alike. I was in Morrow Mountain State Park years ago and was amazed at the quantities of flint flakes lying around on the ground. Actually, the "flint" is a stone called rhyolite. It's a type of flint for sure, but not as sought after by modern knappers as some of the other types. The quarries you spoke of are the only place rhyolite is found here in N.C. Yet the points and blades made from it are found all over the state. That should give you an idea of how far and wide it was traded. I picked up a broken blade made from it last weekend in Rutherford County. I live in Kings Mountain now, but I grew up in Cumberland and Harnett counties. As a kid, I picked up no end of points, blades, pottery shards and one big, black flint axe. I have no idea where the maker of it got the material, but again, it shows you how important the trade routes were to the early people of this state. Most of the points I used to find were made from white or rose colored quartz. Now and then I'd find a point made from clear or close to clear quartz. There's a guy down near Wilson who has a TH-cam channel called Indian Trace. Get on there and check it out, you'll enjoy that. Have a great time in the outdoors and stay alert! You never know what kind if treasures you might come across.
"I always wondered what it would be like to see this land before Columbus came across. It must have been a paradise." - Ohh, how many times I've dreamt of seeing the magnificent old growth forests of California in their unspoilt state.
Such a deep well of knowledge. It's an honor and a privilege to hear this man impart wisdom.
Thank you for sharing,It is so important to keep that knowledge alive.✌️❤️
I have to say your's is the first vid I've come across of a Native American chipper. Thanks.
That's very interesting and you did a great job presenting it. I enjoy learning about primitive weapons technology. I enjoy making and shooting slingshots but this skill is a lot more fascinating due to it's history of being a necessary tool of everyday living. My dad who has passed several years ago put together a nice looking arrowhead collection. He'd find them when Cherokee lake was down while fishing here in Grainger county east Tennessee. We still have it.
Wow! A Master Flint Napper! U had no idea how & I have inadvertently picked so many pretty rocks that turn out to be tools! Not many arrowhead points but-a yahoo.
The Natives have always been kind, generous, humbly teaching & sharing so many things & the wisdom along w it. I Love U, Cherokee. Thank U from Hopi Navajo stolen land of Flagstaff, Az . Godspeed. This is fascinating!!!
I do love this! Could you please do something about "baking" the stones?
You become a master of your craft by teaching which I consider you a master of your art many levels but passing it on is a legacy you earned
I started shooting traditional archery with a recurve bow when I was 12 or 13 years old. I eventually regressed to longbows and then started making selfbows I made from Osage Orange, and my arrows from Ash and Dogwood. Growing up in Wyoming and later in Montana, I started to gain a nagging desire to understand who, and how the few arrowheads I had found at Buffalo Jumps out in the prairie hills, were made. About 45 years ago I was afflicted with an obsession I still have, to learn the art of flintknapping. At that time there was very nearly no publicized information on how arrowheads were actually made, the old story of how "cold water was dripped on a hot rock" was the most common answer to this question. I finally found an obscure magazine sized book with only about 30-40 pages (if I remember correctly) called "The Art oh Flintknapping" by DC Waldorf and it had great color pictures that covered very well, the basics of flintknapping. I was hooked right from the start and since, have gifted and sold my stone points (from Paleo to historically modern arrowheads) made form many different cherts, calcedonies, obsidians, porcelanites and other exotic lithic materials from overseas, all over the US and many countries around the world.
The reason I am including this much information in my ramblings is, I want to stress the huge and greatly vast depth of knowledge necessary with the immensely different lithic materials and the quantum of techniques including the vast knowledge of techniques of percussion, flaking and channeling type knapping. A PhD course in flintknapping would be "just the tip of the iceberg" concerning all of the strategies and types of flintknapping technology used by the ancient peoples to modern times. Noel Grayson is a "Master flintknapper" weather he admits it or not, I have watched several videos portraying his knapping skills and, he has a great many! His views, especially his view of the "knowledge should be shared," dogma is of particular high value to me as, when back 45 years ago, when knapping was just coming back from "the dark ages" and being learned by a few other than archaeologists and paleontologists again, the common thought was to keep secret this very limited difficult to find and, hard learned information and techniques. Bravo Noel Grayson, Bravo!!
They are only made good with a prayer
Any chance you’d give a rookie napper some tips and tricks ? I’ve been going at it for 8 months now and have drastically improved but there is so much to learn, best wishes and have a great day !
@@cysewskiscustomchippin9691 Not sure what stage you are at with your knapping but if there is anything I can do to help you advance, I would be willing to help. I don't do videos and am not really into social media, I'm getting a little old to learn new tricks. What part of the world are you from and what type of lithic materials do you have access to (besides the banded quartz)? Also, what type of tools are you using?
The ultimate survivalist / bushcraft humans of America, We have much to learn from your heritage. Thank you for sharing.
I would love to live on a real reservation for a year... I am fascinated with the full Indian culture.. I have Cherokee in me but not much.. it amazing how you live and how you know your ancestors ways
Very informative video. This man is a great teacher, not to mention a master knapper. Thank you very much Brother.
I'm not great at it but have made some decent tips.
It's just amazing what you can get out of a rock.
I really enjoyed your video and have always been interested in primitive weapons. Have you hunted with flint heads?
I love the comfort and ease with which you explain knapping. You express the pleasure of "doing" with the real warmth and familiarity that only comes with being personally successful in true 'life skills'...