FINEGOLD KNAP IN, MAY 2011

THE REPLICAS



For more information go to www.lettherockroll.com.









THE FLINTKNAPPING









ON THE WATER





















THE MUSIC








FUN AND FOOD























LAST YEARS' FINEGOLD
FRESNO/FINEGOLD KNAP-IN 2009.




The Road to Finegoldknap-in at Merkle's Ranch is about 11 miles from the Verlo Gas station on Highway 41, in the foot hills just above Fresno, California(to the East.)
Just fallow the signs shown above. The road is paved for a while than a good dirt, country road through majestic ridges and and rolling hills dotted with beef cattle, wild turky and so on. Oak trees and and old brown barns and fences along the root.
One small creek bed before the main river crossing and your there.







I got to the main knapping camp friday afternoon and visited everyone and setup my camp next the the river. I had my archery equipment, my dobro guitar, mountain bike and flintknapping kit. I set up my bed in the back of my Ford Explorer. Then I walked over to the fire and did some more visiting. The noext morning (Saturday), Patrick Aims and his large family had gallons of coffee bewing and the delectable aroma filled the camp. The they cooked up some amazing breakfast vidals.






Flintknapping, the art of chipping knives and arrowheads out of flint and obsidan started about 8:30 AM on Friday(Saterday for me) and went on from there to Sunday afternoon.






JOKING AROUND: Giant potato gun firing, John Piri befriending a Llama, Gary with Ray point in head, and friends head in hole.







Top Patrick Aims with Fox skin quiver he made. 2, Gary archery. 3, Matt Archery.
4, Ray Harwood archery.





Finegold knap-in all night jam session. Started about 4:30 PM and went allmost all night long.



Carol Peri and her buffalo chilli and Patric Aims and family made tri-tip and fixins, Gary brought his famous pies. I ate so much I passed out at the bon fire and my hat caught on fire. FOOD WAS GREAT!!!!

Easter

Easter
Easter

The Flintknappers’ Parable :

The Flintknappers’ Parable :


The Flintknappers’ Parable :I once sat and observed the trade of a flintknapper.
The artist was at a later stage of reducing a large white stone into a long, thin well flaked blade. With each carefully planned flake detachment, a new opportunity for yet another flake removal arose, a new fork in the road.
Life is like a flintknapper taking flakes off a biface, each new flake that is removed, good or bad, long or short, yields a new opportunity and a new fork in the road, he must decide which path to take.
After quite some time, the thin well shaped blade was nearly complete; a load snap broke the repetitive metronome like blows, some choice vernaculars from the flintknapper’s tongue. Yet the flintknapper did not discard the stone. The flintknapper reached into his kit and pulled out an abrasive stone, removed the jagged spots from the end shock and began thinning down the area. After a bit of time and “clank, click, clank” of the flintknapper’s tools, I heard a bystander comment;"those are the two most beautiful matching white spear points I have ever scene”. It appeared as if the knapper had set down with the purpose of creating this beautiful matching set of white spear points and this flintkanpper was the star of the knap in. Life is like that, sometimes we have our biface of life snapped in half, and when all seems lost, and after some flakes of time, and against all odds, something great comes out of it.

DAD AT A BASEBALL GAME 1945