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SPALLS

July 2000


Joan Urata, Richard Urata and Dave Rauschenberg are producing this issue of SPALLS to help Joe Greenwell with his busy schedule.


Cle Elum Knap-In, July 28, 29 & 30

Come and enjoy Stu and Roses’ hospitality at their 5-acre ranchette.  Flintknapping and possibly bow making will be on the agenda.  Bring your points and other stuff for trading and selling.  There is lots of room for camping.  Bring the “better half”.  Last year the women stayed in the air-conditioned house when the temperature got a tad high.  Maybe we will have another point auction.  Last year Joe Higgins got the best deal !!!


To get to Stu’s place take I-90:

Eastbound:  I-90 take exit 74, “Nelson Siding Road” and go east (parallels the south side of the freeway) for 4 miles to Secret Valley Road. Turn left (going towards the freeway) and keep to the left whenever the road forks.  Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place.

Westbound: I-90 take exit 78, “Golf Course Road”, pass the railroad tracks and turn right on “Nelson Siding Road”.  Go west for ½ miles to “Secret Valley Road”. Turn right and keep to the left whenever the road forks.   Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place.

For info call Stuart Murdock at (509) 674-1975 or E-Mail at:   HYPERLINK mailto:murdock@inlandnet.com murdock@inlandnet.com 



Flint Tipped Archers’ Challenge, Saturday / Sunday August 12 & 13

Come to the Flint Tipped Archers' range in Enumclaw. The Flint Tipped Archers are eager to challenge us on a shoot this year. They have a wonderful range that we are invited to use and enjoy.  Saturday evening the Flint Tipped Archers club is roasting a half pig.  Was it shot by Dave Rauschenberg?  Guess the other half has already been tasted and judged to be gourmet quality.  We may be asked by Dave to pitch in $ for lots of charcoal to roast the pig.  One such roast took 20 bags!  It will be a "Pot Luck", bring anything to add to the table.  There is plenty of room, camping space for trailers and tents, and a kitchen.  There are restroom facilities but there are no showers.  Oh well, guess we can put up with a little natural aroma, we survived Glass Buttes and Davis Creek okay. 


To get to the range, go through Enumclaw, Washington on highway 410 toward the mountains.  Just out of town, maybe a half mile you'll see their sign on the left side of the road.  I think Dave intends to add some knapping signs to the existing sign.

Expect:  Archery shooting, bow making, knapping, arrow making, information sharing, story swapping, eating, etc.  

Call Dave for more information: (360) 825-3117or E-Mail at:    HYPERLINK mailto:DavRaus1@aol.com DavRaus1@aol.com 


Medicine Creek Knap-In, September 2, 3 and  4

The next event will be Eagle Beak Ken Calvert's Medicine Creek Knap-In in the forest north of Cle Elum, WA.  It will be over the three-day weekend at the beginning of September (2nd, 3rd, & 4th).   The camp has good shaded areas and two toilets.  Bring your own water.  There is a restaurant less than a mile away.


To get there take Hwy 97 to Mineral Springs restaurant and resort; that's north of Cle Elum 10 or 20 miles.  A short distance north of Mineral Springs (less than ¼ mile) turn left onto a forest service road. Go 25 to 50 yards and turn left again and go ½ mile to the campgrounds.  Call Eagle Beak 2 Chicken for more information, (509) 762-2454.


Miller Sylvania Knap-In, November 4

Get ready for Thanksgiving by attending the November 4, Miller Sylvania Knap-In south of Olympia, WA.  Last year Holly Hill arranged a pre-Thanksgiving pot-luck feast; I think Holly provided most of the feast.  Miller Sylvania is a Washington State Park and we can knap in a picnic shelter complete with fireplace and a kitchen.  Call Mick and Holly for directions. (360) 357-9506 or (360) 493-8439 or E-Mail at:  HYPERLINK mailto:mickhill@home.com mickhill@home.com or  HYPERLINK mailto:hollyhill@home.com hollyhill@home.com .  Please let them know if you are going.


Quartzsite, Arizona Knap-In, January 1 through February 28

This is the longest Knap-In in the United States, maybe the world.  Hosted by Nine Fingers and Mary Webster.  


To get there take I-10 to Quartzsite.  There are two off ramps, one on the west side and one on the east side of town.  From either direction, take the first exit, and drive through town.  The town is on one main street.  Look for the bakery on the south side of the main street.  It is approx. .5 miles from the east off ramp and approx. 1.5 miles from the west off ramp.  There will be the general store on the north side of the street, across the bakery.  Look for the white tipi on the west side, adjoining property of the bakery. NOTE:  THE KNAPPING SITE MAY CHANGE CHECK WITH RICH URATA BEFORE JAN. 1 AT  HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com 


There are RV parks, in-town camp sites, out-of-town, BLM runs camp sites for long term camping – like months – with dump stations, out-of-town free camp sites if you stay less than 14 days.

For more information, call John Prutch at (520) 927-5937. Also see the Quartzsite website for information.   HYPERLINK http://www.quartzsite.com http://www.quartzsite.com 



Need Inputs from the PSK Members

Send inputs to:   HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com 


Event Schedules:

People are starting to talk about next year's events!  Hey how is that for being eager?  How are we going to schedule everything? What about Davis Creek Knap-In, and Glass Buttes Get Together?  Are they too close together? The Glass Buttes Get Together has had poor attendance the last two years.  Should we have it next year?  Then there's the Richardsons' Ranch Independence day Knap-In and the Calverts' glass buttes get together over the 4th of July. 


Hmmmn.  Things get complicated to schedule.  Got any ideas?  Need your feedback!!!!  Feedback will be greatly appreciated from people that actually attend these events.  Please keep in mind that when someone volunteers to be the host, that person has committed to be there, whether people show up or not so have some consideration for the host.


PSK Philosophy:

Should we have events independent to rock gathering?  Is the PSK group coming too commercialized?  Do we want to increase our presence in the knapping community?  Do we want to pursue closer relationships with knappers across the country?  Do we want to be a segregated knapping group?  Some people have voiced concerns on these types of subjects.


Maybe of Interest:

There is a flint forum where knappers can participate by posting and reading messages and/or going into the chatroom.  It may be of interest as knapping information is passed back and forth via messages.  It is called TARP – you know, the thing you put on the ground to collect the debitage.       HYPERLINK http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp


For Your Information – And Possible Action By You

From time to time there will be a write-up to inform us of what’s going on in the world that could greatly affect us.  This leans toward the political side, and I hate politics mixed with our fun-type stuff.  Again, this is only to inform us.  If we want to, we, as individuals, can pursue it.


Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project

There is a ‘conservation’ program in the process of being created to control the Columbia Basin.  It is called the ‘Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project’ (ICBEM).  This program will control all of the Columbia River Basin and all of its tributaries.  This is a large area which consists of parts of the Federal lands (Forestry, BLM, Dept of Agriculture, etc) in most of the Northwest states – Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.


The bottom line is that their agenda is to close as much of the land from public access.  They want to take the lands back to where they were in early times – before man.  The powers-to-be proposed a seven option plan.  Option 1 being the present existing management plan and option 6 being the most restrictive.  They proposed to implement option 4 which is the middle-of-the-road option.  This option proposes to close more than 50% of the present dirt-road system in the forest.  They sent out a revised proposal and are asking for comments again.  Send in your comments.  This is the only way we can slow these people down!


Our interests of hunting, gathering rocks, just enjoying the forests will be greatly affected by this management policy.  Get Informed, call their office and request the information on this project.  The number is (509) 522-4030.  Ask them for the whole set of books.  There will be one summary book in the set.  Also ask them to put your name on the list for future updates.  All it costs you is the phone call.  The books are free. 


Web Page for PSK??

Several people have suggested a ‘web site’ for PSK and Spalls.  I haven’t taken the time to learn how to do that.  What about anyone else?  Could one or more of you create and maintain a web site for us?


Wenatchee Knap-In, April, 2000

As always Cole Hurst managed to make us all feel like we had never left home.  I for one really look forward to attending his knap-in each year. Cole and his family gave us a warm welcome and their hospitality is second to none.  For you folks that have not been so lucky, put it on your calendar for next year.  You won’t regret it!

As for all the details relating to who all was there, I’m afraid the time that has passed since the event leaves me without a list.  But there were many, as much as 35 people or more.  There were the diehards that I see at almost all the gatherings and some that I met for the first time.  It’s always good to see new faces when we get have these events.


I’m trying to remember the highlights, as I write this, of some of the activities that went on.  I do remember that Harvey Hughett showed up with a whole truckload of slabbed rock that he just gave away in memory of Richard Jackson, former member of the PSK group.  Richard knew the Glass Buttes area like the back of his hand.


ArrowMan (Bronco Billy, Ron Correll) made it back to the Northwest after a tour and short stay in Colorado and Nevada.  He kept all the hungry knappers fed during the weekend and did a great job!  As always, ArrowMan was acting like ArrowMan, and it’s fun to have him back in our midst.


Dr. Tom Hurst worked some overtime on about 5 or 6 of us and got us to where we could walk upright again.   I always wondered what that table outside the shop was for.  Webb Hammond sandblasted a design circling a clovis point on the big rock atop Knappers Mound.  Numerous other paw prints appeared around the property that weekend….  A large fire was lit every night and game meat and lots of oysters were cooked on the grill.  Tours of the trout ponds, gardens, stables and Columbia River frontage were enjoyed.


There was much rock breaking and “The Machine” Miller (Jim Miller) turned out about ten points and two tons of preforms.  Mike Pickett tried a huge slab with in-direct percussion and almost got the best of it until Mr. Rock said “end of this game”.  Ron had an archery range set up with about 10 or 12 targets so there were some shooting of arrows that didn’t do much damage to his targets.  Ken Kurfurst gave us a demonstration of old black powder long range shooting.  He had a 45-90 “Quigley down under” rifle – Great Shooting!!!


All in all I think there were just good times and good friends.


By Dave Rauschenberg



Electric Blue Davis Creek Knap-In, June, 2000

The excitement of a pending knap-in was dulled while driving through the San Joaquin Valley from Sacramento, California to Alturus, Ca because of the 103 through 112 degree F temperatures.  However, after three hours of driving east on highway 299 to Alturus, the temperature dropped to about 85 degrees.  Another 20 miles of driving to Davis Creek lowered the temperature to about 80 degrees.  The Plum Valley campground is three miles from Davis Creek and a few hundred feet higher in altitude.  Because of the pine trees (about 70% shade all day) and the altitude, the daytime temperatures were about 75 degrees at the camp throughout the weekend.


Because of the notices by the TARP group and advertisement in CHIPS, lots of new knappers came to this knap-in.  There were approximately 60 people with 50 of them knappers.  People came from as far as Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada and California.


Leroy Jines and his wife Anne, from Texas brought some knapping tools and hundreds of inches of stage 4 and 5 bifaces for sale or trade.  I bought 150 inches myself.  All for just one dollar an inch.  What a deal!!  He also brought some spalled heated and raw flint. 


Dicky Ready and his wife Sally, from Alabama also brought knapping tools and leather, and some turtle shells.


Thanks to Leroy and Dicky, we have access to products that would otherwise be scarce to us. They provided knapping tools to all of the new knappers that TARP brought to this knap-in.


Knappers went out digging in the mornings and about 50% were back by early afternoon to do some knapping the rest of the day.  There were die-hards that dug up to dinnertime.


Joan and I put on a BBQ pork dinner for approximately 50 people.  The pork dish, steamed rice, tossed salad and brownies were provided by us.  I think everyone walked away full.  The meal was fantastic!!  Of course, I’m biased.


Temperatures were cooler at the mines because of the higher altitudes.  There were plenty of Needles obsidian rocks laying around. This site is easy digging (?), or should we call it picking.  Lots of bifacing and reduction were done.  I noticed Barney De Simone, Scott Blackman and Bruce Goulette with several buckets of bifaces each.  That’s about 180 pounds of bifaces each.  WOW.


Every body was hitting pay dirt/rock at the middle fork rainbow site.  Most of the boulders 20 to 80 pounds were found under the 4-feet overburden.  A lot of material to move but it was easy digging.  Almost every piece dug had color in it. These materials were not bifaced and reduced because spalling would not obtain the correct direction for the color to show.  

One of the knappers, Clay Graves (no pun intended) was buried to his hips when the thick overburden collapsed.  He said he had a feeling of helplessness when he couldn’t move with the dirt on top of him.  Fellow knappers dug him out and luckily he was not hurt too badly.  Remember…..do not dig alone and knock down the overburden as you go – not doing so could come back to haunt you!!!


One 150 pound boulder dug by Bob and Diane Wimberly, Scott Blackman and Bruce Goulette was spalled because the boulder was naturally set up for the spalls to form in the right color layer direction.  After dinner, BSing stopped when we all noticed Scott “rolling stone” Blackman rolling the boulder across the campground. (about 80 yards).  It took several minutes for the rolling process and we all just quietly watched while he proceeded.  Leroy Jines took the honor of spalling this boulder with all eyes watching the spalling technique.


Although it was hard digging, there was about 80% success for the people digging for “Electric Blue” obsidian.  Several large pieces were dug up by different knappers.  Among them were Clay Graves, Ralph Groom and his digging partner Larry, Dicky Ready and Leroy Jines, Tom and Linda Hill, David Harry with Ron and Judy, Harvey Hughett and his wife.  Several large 100 to 200 pound boulders were found by the different parties.  David Harry and Harvey both tied with approximately 250 pound boulders.


Two women are recognized as “top diggers” for this knap-in, Linda Hill and Diane Wimberly.  They both dug all day long and outlasted their husbands!


Everyone got their limit – because of either the load limit of their vehicle, or the permit limit.  The holes were pretty crowded at times but I think everyone who participated was happy with the results.


Remember, third weekend of June, 2001!


By Richard and Joan Urata


Glass Buttes Gathering, 2000

A caravan of seven vehicles left Davis Creek Tuesday morning heading north on 395 to go to the Dacite Site.  Only three miles from Davis Creek, Richard Urata’s driving tire shredded, ripping out his wheel well and mud flats, and crumbled the rear panel of his fender.  We all met and had breakfast at the “Indian Restaurant” in Lakeview while the tire was being replaced at the local tire dealer.  Jim Smith left us and went to find a shower in Lakeview.  He then went to Stu Murdock's to drop his obsidian load.


We then headed north until Clay Graves driving tire blew out and also shredded a few miles south of Alkali.  The tire damaged his fender and scared the side panel of his pickup bed.  Both Rich and Clay’s vehicles were loaded to their limit with Davis Creek obsidian.  After the two incidences we all slowed down and drove the rest of the way going 50 – 55 mph.


We finally arrived at the Dacite pit planning to stay here for two nights but a few things were waiting for us – like the “no-see-ums” and ticks.  We all sprayed ourselves and kept the ticks away but the no-see-ums just ate us up.  There were some brave souls like Barney De Simone, Clay Graves, Dicky Ready, Leroy Jines and Howard Ruhland that went out to collect dacite.  Sally Ready, Anne Jines, Beverlee Ruhland, Joan Urata and I sat in the shade to watch them on the hillside.  After about 45 minutes everyone came back and were ready to “get the hell out” of the area.  They all collected several buckets of surface find each and were happy due to the circumstances.  Instead of two days of potential digging, we lasted less than an hour.


We finally arrived at Glass Buttes about an hour before sunset.  Most of the rigs were too large to squeeze into the traditional PSK dry wash area so everyone set up camp at the lone tree area east of the pond.  This way we could all be together to plan our digging trips and generally not miss anything that would be going on.


We had knappers from Texas, Alabama, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Southern California (Aren’t Southern and Northern California separate states yet?).


We all went to different pits, Pumpkin Pit, Midnight Lace Pits, Mahogany Hill Pits, Silver Sheen Pits, to dig for four days. Emory and Cecil Coons met us on silver sheen hill.  With the winch help from Bill and Judy Thomas we removed about eight silver sheen boulders, all over 150 pounds.  Judy told me that this was the first time she dragged the boulders with the winch.  She sure looked like an expert to me.  We made several trips carry 2 to 3 boulders per trip to camp. We left a large 300 pound boulder in the pit so Emory spalled a piece off it and later at camp, made a Danish dagger that was about 16 inches long.


We generally collected materials until early afternoon when the temperature got up into the mid to high 80’s.  We then knapped the rest of the afternoon and in the evenings after dinner.  We hooked my generator and Clay’s halogen 500 watt lamp up every night.  My generator couldn’t handle Clay’s second halogen lamp.  One thousand watts is too much for the generator.


Jim showed up Thursday after unloading his Davis Creek obsidian.  This guy’s got  the  RIGHT ATITUDE!   Take home as much as you can, when you can!


Al and Noreen Martinac, new to this type of activity, joined us from Montana and collected his vehicle’s limit of obsidian.


Joe and Jimmy Higgins, Gerry Swiney and Joe Greenwell said they arrived at midnight Thursday.  They decided to set their camp at the original PSK location, now known as Camp 1.  The lone tree area is called Camp 2.  The camp 1 folks came to visit us every night to BS and have fun.


“Spokane” Dan Stevenson showed up Saturday and was ready to dig at any pit.  Dan came late but he was the hero of the group.  Dan had a cigarette lighter air compressor that pumped up many an overloaded vehicles tire.  First he pumped up Leroy’s trailer tires, then he pumped Rich’s pickup tire, and finally he pumped up Dicky’s trailer tires.  I guess everyone will be buying a compressor when they get home.


We all had a fun time gathering obsidian and knapping.  After the weekend, we said our good bye’s and left Glass Buttes with new friends and a better understanding of flintknapping.


By Rich and Joan Urata


SPALLS

                November 2000


Joan Urata, Richard Urata and Dave Rauschenberg are producing this issue of SPALLS.  Please contact Richard Urata for questions, comments, and future additions to SPALLS.


SPALLS Distribution

Many of the PSK members with only snail-mail address are not receiving SPALLS.  For you members that are receiving SPALLS via e-mail, please notify these snail-mail members to send a payment of $10.00 for 2001.  


THE POLICY IS:  If you send to Richard Urata, your e-mail address, there is no charge for SPALLS.   If you do not have an email address and want SPALLS by snail-mail, you must send $10.00 to cover the cost of printing and postage.


If you have an e-mail address and did not receive SPALLS in July, e-mail me your address.  I have 5 to 10 “not deliverable” messages at this time.  I need some updates on e-mail addresses.


Quartzsite, Arizona, Knap-In, January 1 through February 28

This is the longest Knap-In in the United States, maybe the world.  Hosted by Nine Fingers and Mary Webster.


To get there take I-10 to Quartzsite.  There are two off ramps, one on the west side and one on the east side of town.  From either direction, take the first exit, and drive through town.  The town is on the north side of the freeway and there is only one main street.  Look for the bakery on the south side of the main street.  It is approximately 0.5 miles from the east off ramp and approximately 1.5 miles from the west off ramp.  There will be the general store on the north side of the street, across the bakery.  Look for the white tipi on the west side, adjoining property of the bakery.  NOTE:  THE KNAPPING SITE WILL BE AT THE SAME LOCATION AS LAST YEAR.


There are RV parks, in-town camp sites, out-of-town, BLM runs camp sites for long term camping – like months – with dump stations, out-of-town free camp sites if you stay less than 14 days.  For more information, see the Quartzsite website :.   HYPERLINK http://www.quartzsite.com http://www.quartzsite.com.  If you prefer a hotel, they are available at Blythe, California, 20 miles away, and at Parker, Arizona, 30 miles away.


Winter Break, Knap-In, February



East Wenatchee, Washington,  Knap-In, April 7 & 8

This knap-in is at Hurst’s Landing, a park-like setting, along the Columbia River. Cole Hurst hosts this knap-in.  Last year’s knap-in was fantastic!  It will be better this year!  There are lots of room for camping.  Water and a out-house is available.  To get to Hurt’s Landing go to East Wenatchee and head east on Highway 28.  The turn to Hurst’s Landing is on the right near mile post 6.  If you make it to Rock Island, turn around and go back a few miles.  Hotels and food are only a couple of miles away.  For more information call Cole Hurst at (509) 421-7705.  


Davis Creek, California, Electric Blue Knap-In, June 16 &17

Davis Creek has a beautiful campground with 100 feet pines that produce about 70% shade throughout the campground.  A creek runs along the campground.  Collect Rainbows, Electric Blues, Needles, and Pink Lady obsidian. Davis Creek is located in Northeastern California on the east side of highway 395 approximately 20 miles north of the town of Alturus, California, and approximately 20 miles south of the Oregon border.  All permits and maps will be provided by Richard Urata when you get there.  Camping is free.

 

Knappers from the Northern states should plan you go through Lakeview, Oregon, and stop at the at the "Indian Resturant". The food is good and plentiful for the price. They
have the resturant walls all decorated with arrowheads (thousands) and indian outfits. It is worth going there if a person is interested in artifact arrowheads. I think the restaurant is on 1st or 2nd street. When going north, turn right on one of the streets. The restaurant is on a corner just a couple of streets off 395. If you cannot find it, ask any local. It is a wellknown restaurant there.  Also stop at the Safeway store and get your supplies. That is the largest store before Davis Creek. Also gas up at Lakeview.


Go south on 395 approximately 20 miles from the Oregon border.  Davis Creek is on the east side of the highway.  Stop by at the “Davis Creek Merchantile” and get familiar with the suppliesand services that the store provides. The owners cater to the “rock hounds”
and “knappers”. You can obtain maps of the obsidian locations and permits – free. There are gasoline, diesel, ice, food, and even a small restaurant.  Many of the “single-type” knappers go to the store for breakfast. The store is a few miles from the camp ground, a 10 to 15 minutes drive. Last year they had a Friday BBQ for about $8.00. The BBQ included beef ribs, pork ribs, and/or chicken.  The access road to the Plum Valley Campground is approximately 100 yards north of the store. Turn east towards the mountain and follow the signs. The campground is hidden from view by the pine trees. These trees produce about 70 percent shade throughout the day. There is a creek that runs along the border of the campground. There are two outhouses that are well taken
cared of by the forestry department.  The admission is free, and camping is free. 


Knappers from Southern and Central California should go north on either highway 5 or 101 to highway 299. Then go east on 299 to 395 in the town of Alturus. Allturus is the last “big town” you will go through. Then go north to Davis Creek.  Davis Creek is a one building town store with some gas pumps in front of it on the east side of 395.  For more information, call Richard Urata at (406) 363-7256, or e-mail:  HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com after February.


Glass Buttes, Oregon, PSK Gathering, June 23 & 24

Collect Midnight Lace, Mahogany, Rainbows, Pumpkin, Gold Sheen and Silver Sheen.   From highway 97, go east on highway 20 out of Bend, Oregon.  

Westbound: From highway 395, go west out of Riley, Oregon on highway 20 to mile post 77. The mile posts are on the left side (south side) of the highway. About 50 yards west of the mile post, turn south onto a gravel road. 

Eastbound: From Bend, Oregon, go east on highway 20 to milepost 77 and turn south onto gravel road.  The road is 50 yards before the mile post sign.

Once on the gravel road, go about 1.5 to 2 miles and you will make a gentle right turn and start going down a hill. Look to the left at the bottom of the hill and the PSK group, camp 1, will be along the dry creek bed. If you have a anything larger than a tent, go to PSK group, camp 2.  To get to camp 2, continue on the main gravel road until you reach a pond.  At the ‘Y’ stay on the left road and go another 400 yards until you see a lone juniper tree.  Camp 2 is in this wide area.  For more information, call Joe Greenwell at (206) 932-6137 or (206) 237-1134.


Cle Elum, Washington, Knap-In, July 28 & 29

Knap-in is at Stuart & Rose Murdock’s 3-acre residence.  Lots of room for camping.  Stu found a secret dig close by his residence, ask him about it, maybe he will tell you about it.  Stu and Rose always have a fantastic meal on Saturday night.  To get to Stu’s place take I-90:

Eastbound:  I-90 take exit 74, “Nelson Siding Road” and go east (parallels the south side of the freeway) for 4 miles to Secret Valley Road. Turn left (going towards the freeway) and keep to the left whenever the road forks.  Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place.

Westbound: I-90 take exit 78, “Golf Course Road”, pass the railroad tracks and turn right on “Nelson Siding Road”.  Go west for ½ miles to “Secret Valley Road”. Turn right and keep to the left whenever the road forks.   Secret Valley road will dead end at Stu’s place.  For more information call Stuart Murdock at (509) 674-1975 or E-Mail at:   HYPERLINK mailto:murdock@inlandnet.com murdock@inlandnet.com 


Enum Claw, Washington, Flint Tipped Archers/PSK Pig Roast & Knap-In, August 10- thru 12

Having fun, pigging out, knapping, and friendly archery competition is what this get together of two groups is all about.  Stores and resturants are close by, within five minutes. 


Will there be a Pig Roast "Pot Luck"?  We don’t know yet but bring anything to add to the pot luck table.  The hunt is still in the future.  There is plenty of room, camping space for trailers and tents, and a kitchen.  There are restroom facilities but there are no showers.  Oh well, guess we can put up with a little natural aroma, we survived Glass Buttes and Davis Creek okay. 


To get to the range, go through Enumclaw, Washington on highway 410 toward the mountains.  Just out of town, maybe a half mile you'll see their sign on the left side of the road.  I think Dave intends to add some knapping signs to the existing sign. Expect:  Archery shooting, bow making, knapping, arrow making, information sharing, story swapping, eating, etc.  For more information, call Dave Rauschenberg at (360) 825-3117 or email:  HYPERLINK mailto:davraus1@aol.com davraus1@aol.com .


Medicine Creek, Washington, Knap-In, September 1 thru 3

The location has changed due to a couple of years of bad weather.  The knap-in will be held at Ken and Adelle Calvert’s place, at Moses Lake, Washington.  Plenty of room for camping.  Ken’s property is a lake front property.  They say that the lake has all kinds of fish.  Dave Rauschenberg could tell you a fish story or two.  For more information, call Ken at (509) 762-2454.


Turkey Feast Knap-In, Millersylvania, Washington, November 3 & 4

Holly and Mike Hill, the hosts, always has on a fantastic turkey dinner at this knap-in.


Get ready for Thanksgiving by attending the November 7, Miller Sylvania Knap-In south of Olympia, WA.  Last year Holly Hill arranged a pre Thanksgiving pot-luck feast; I think Holly provided most of the feast.  Miller Sylvania is a Washington State Park and we can knap in a picnic shelter complete with fireplace and a kitchen.  Call Mick and Holly for more directions. (360) 357-9506 or (360) 493-8439 or e-mail at:  HYPERLINK mailto:mickhill@home.com mickhill@home.com or  HYPERLINK mailto:hollyhill@home.com hollyhill@home.com .  Please let them know if you are going.


 Need Inputs from the PSK Members

This is your newsletter.  We need some feedback and information to add to this newsletter.  Send inputs to:  HYPERLINK mailto:richurata@cybernet1.com richurata@cybernet1.com , or snail-mail to Rich Urata, P.O. Box 1089, Hamilton, Montana 59840.


Maybe of Interest:

There is a flint forum where knappers can participate by posting and reading messages and/or going into the chatroom.  It may be of interest as knapping information is passed back and forth via messages.  It is called TARP – you know, the thing you put on the ground to collect the debitage.       HYPERLINK http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp http://www.egroups.com/group/thetarp .  Dave Rauschenberg also knows of another Egroup called flintknappersdigest, HYPERLINK "http://www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest"www.egroups.com/messages/flintknappingdigest /1.


Cle Elum Knap-In,  July 28 thru 30, 2000, by Richard Urata

I thought Stu put on an unbeatable knap-in last year but I was wrong.  It was even better this year.  The food was great, the knapping was great and the BSing was great!  What else can we ask for!!!  More wives attend this knap-in than any other PSK events.  This is due to Rose’s hospitality and the “air conditioned” house.  Every morning (early) the women leave to go “garage sales” shopping and return by noon with goodies.


It was a little nippy in the mornings, got warmer by noon, and hot in the afternoons.  There were about 40 knappers representing both Western and Eastern Washington.  Knappers also came from Washington, Montana, Nevada and Arizona.  Knappers showed up bright and early Saturday and quickly started making points.  I think the person who knapped the most was our host, Stu.  He started before people arrived and did not quit until early afternoon.  He then started the BBQ to cook the pork ribs.  After a few hours of cooking dinner was served – pork BBQ ribs, pasta salad, fruit salad, vegetable salad, apple cobblers, black berry pies to name a few.  Nobody walked away hungary.  In preparation of all this food, the Murdocks provided a clean, rented out house from, get this, “Ridaturd”.


Knappers started early on Sunday and many fine points were produced.  People were so busy that we could not start an auction of points like we did last year.   We still remember and talked about Joe Higgins high bid of last year.  Next years “remembrance” talk would be the problem Dave Rauschenberg had in indentifying one of his points.  Seems like someone switched a badly made point with Dave’s display cased points.  Dave looked at his point that was left on Stu’s table.  He looked three times than commented that the point sure looks like his.  He went to check his cases and came back and looked at the point again, asking who made the point.  Everyone acted like they didn’t hear him so he looked at it for the forth time and went back to his case for another look.  He finally came out with the badly made point, grumbling that someone switched points on him.  I wonder who did that Dave!   


Pictures of points made by different knappers were taken to include them in the (hopefully) future PSK Website.


It was a great knap-in and I hope that next year’s will be even better.  Thanks to Rose and Stuart for all of the food preparation and hospitality.  I’ll be back next year!


Enumclaw Knapp-In, August 12 & 13, 2000, By Dave Rauschenberg

I was extremely pleased with the turnout this year considering that we are having so many gatherings so close together, fifteen members of PSK were on hand to enjoy all the festivities along with almost all of the Flint Tip Archers.


There was plenty of food to be eaten Saturday evening though the pig seemed to get a little over cooked, just a little, must not have been to bad, there wasn’t a speck left over.

For once the weather actually seemed to cooperate and we had sunshine that didn’t cook the hide off as I thought it might two weeks earlier at Stu’s over in Cle Elum.


Some of the knappers brought there bows and joined in on the shoots that FlintTip sponsored. I think Cole got real lucky and took home one of the sausages that were hanging. I got beat like a basalt preform for the club longbow trophy, but I made up for it on the blanket shoot.   This time, I actually finished high enough to get something other than the usual old dirty sock that would normally be left by the time I got to the blanket.  


Ken and Stu donated some nice points for prizes that were given to the winners of the kids shoot and the running bear, Thanks a lot you two, it was really appreciated by the members of Flint Tip, and especially the host.


As most of you may know because of the massive fires in Montana this year Rich and Joan Urata were not able to attend this year and were missed by all, Not you so much Rich, Just Joan and her cheescake.


Don’t know where Arrow Man is, Last time anyone had any contact with him he was still on a fast horse heading south, but I'm sure we will hear from him again he knows where his heart is.



Holly’s Turkey Feast Knap-In, Millersylvania, Washington, November 4 & 5, by Rich Urata


Another fantastic knap-in was held at Millersylvania.  The knap-in was a two-day affair this year.  As the title indicates – it was a turkey feast!!!  I heard that a 22-pound turkey was roasted by a friend of Holly and Mick.  The friends belong to a rock club in the area.  Sorry, I didn’t  get their names.  I’m sure everybody appreciated their hard work in preparing the turkey.  The main courses were roast turkey, a bean dish, and a spaghetti dish with a pot-luck of other dishes, salads, and deserts.  Another friend of Holly came to the knap-in to make ‘fry bread’.  Mmmm, I sure missed that.  Two birthdays were celebrated at this knap-in, Mick Hills’ 50th and Dan Street’s 86th.   Happy birthday guys! And, thanks Holly for the feast!


There was a good turnout of about 20 to 25 knappers on Saturday with the usual die-hards and a few new knappers.  Some teaching was going on by Jim Miller, Web Hammond and Stu Murdock.  Webb brought his fabulous knife set for everyone to see – WOW!  The  weather wasn’t too friendly and the knapping was done under the roof where the warmth from the wood-burning fireplace kept everyone going. 


There were also other attractions like the four raccoons that raided the area.  Another attraction was Mick and Holly’s trailer tent bouncing away on Saturday night – what a birthday present!!!  Of course, the Hills blamed the raccoons for staying under their trailer and banging on the trailer all night.


There were lots of good knapping with great points produced, good food, and lots of fun at this knap-in.  I sure missed out!!  Mick and Holly, make it another two-day knap-in next year and I’ll be there!



Letter Received by Dave Rauschenberg

Letter I received from one of my buyers that I thought maybe PSK members would be interested in.  I believe that it pertains to all of us that knapp.


A projectile point is a work of art. Whether it was made 10,000 tears ago or in the year 2000 AD, a well made point is a beautiful thing to behold.  And whenever I find a point in the field and add it to my collection, I honor the individual that made it. The man who 

Art by Dave Rauschenberg



made the point is long gone, but his craftsmanship is on display for whomever views my collection


Individuals such as yourself, and others are keeping alive a tradition tens of thousands of years old. You use the techniques of the ancient ones to make beautiful points. I buy your points and points of other knappers because of the beauty of your work, and because I can honor all those knappers of long ago by making sure that individuals such as yourself are rewarded for keeping the flint knapping tradition alive…


Name withheld.


Agates for Sale

Stu Murdock has 600 pounds of Brazilian Agates for sale at HIS COST.  He bought a 55-gallon drum full of this great stuff.  The nodules are 5 to 7 inches in diameter.  They are uncut and these have to be heat treated.  Before heat treating, ask someone that has experienced in heat treating this material.  The agates are $2.75 per pound – good price!


SPALLS

Rich Urata



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