For all of the time that I knew Jim he lived in the Glide area of Douglas County, Oregon. He loved the North Umpqua River and spent a lot of time fishing those waters.

When I first met Jim, he said that he had not flintknapped for several years. I poked and prodded him until he started using my saws and grinders and started passing along some knapping tips to me. That led to my suggesting that we sponsor a knap-in on the west side of the Oregon Cascades. That is when the North Umpqua/Illahee Flats knap-in was born and continued for 13 years.

Jim spent countless hours teaching new knappers. His favorite method was F.O.G. (flake over grind), his favorite material, Montana Dendritic Agate. There are several large collections of his points that are in private hands and are highly prized. Jim’s daughter, Chenoa, is the proud owner of one of the best collections of her father’s art.

In Jim’s later years he produced a video about his method of knapping that he called “Lost in the Fog”. Jim was however a universally recognized Master at both percussion knapping and pressure flaking from scratch.

There was an unauthorized video about Jim that he refused to acknowledge. He said that he had tried to get the author to correct all of the inaccuracies without success. He refused to have anything to do with that video.

For the last few years Jim fought problems with breathing, finally getting to the point that he could no longer knap or even get out of his house to pursue another of his favorite past times, restoring old cars.

Jim will be greatly missed by family and those of us that were proud to call him friend.

Brad Baughman

Jim Hopper - Memories