Local knappers association preserving obsidian craft and history
Mike Brown shows off a piece made of electric blue obsidian at the monthly meeting of the Utah Valley Knapping Association at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
Rich Tower works on a flint piece at the monthly meeting of the Utah Valley Knapping Association at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
Scott Olsen, of Sandy, works on a piece at the monthly meeting of the Utah Valley Knapping Association at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
DeeDee Evans, left, of Lehi, talks to Mark Sullivan, center, and Mindy McWaters, right, about how to get started flint knapping at the monthly meeting of the Utah Valley Knapping Association at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
LEHI — It’s not your ordinary Sunday napping. In fact, knapping takes a bit more exertion than sleeping, as members of the Utah Valley Knappers Association can testify.
They meet every first Saturday of the month from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi to knap together.
“It’s fun. It’s something we can pass onto others and you meet a lot of really nice people,” member Dee Dee Evans said. “It’s relaxing. It’s enjoyable.”
Knapping is the ancient craft of shaping flint, obsidian or other similar fracturing stone into tools or art. From the German word “knopp,” the term means to strike, shape or work, and usually involves using a hand tool to create pressure on the stone, causing flaking.
Evans got involved in the craft and eight months later her husband, Kerry Evans, said, “Why don’t you teach me that?” So she did.
“At that time I had a 6-inch rock saw and now we have an 18-inch, 24-inch, an 8-inch and a 6-inch combination grinding unit and a tumbler,” Dee Dee Evans said and laughed.
“What used to be his wood shop is now covered in rocks,” she said.
Kerry Evans said the art of knapping is different from woodworking in that you don’t worry so much about chopping your fingers off.
“You don’t find people gathering wood together but you will for rocks,” Dee Dee Evans said.
At first glance when visiting a knapping meeting, the men and women in a circle appear to be whittling dark wood with sawdust and flakes scattered all around their chairs on the floor.
As they patiently chip away at the obsidian that they have collected through trades or trips to their secret veins of the stone, they talk to one another or enjoy the quiet rhythm of the work.
When pressure is misapplied, hours of work may be ruined.
“Yeah, but it’s just a piece of rock,” Dee Dee Evans said. One member said his wife calls it destroying the world one rock at a time. He said he prefers saying they are redesigning the world one rock at a time.
The Utah Valley Knapping Association has grown to include members beyond Utah Valley.
“We have members from all over — Sandy, West Jordan, Salt Lake City. It’s not just Utah Valley. It’s all over,” association web master Kathy Tower said. “We even have some out of state like from Wyoming.”
“Utah Valley Knappers Association is what it was called when it was started,” Tower said. “That will be eight years in February.”
The hobby itself can be expensive if you let it. Knappers who trade or hunt for their own rock instead of buying tend to spend less money on it.
“You can be into it for tens of thousands of dollars but you can spend more than that on a boat,” Kerry Evans said. “I’ve always been interested,” Dee Dee Evans said. “When I was 5, I found an arrowhead.”
About eight years ago, she saw an obsidian knife up for bid at an auction and talked her husband into buying it for her. They keep that first purchase of Finn Murdock’s knife locked in a safe.
“I found out who made it and he taught me my first lessons,” she said. “Finn Murdock, he is really a generous guy. He has a heart of gold.”
Murdock’s work can be seen at the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum in the spears he made for its exhibits.
“My husband likes to make knives,” she said. “I can’t bear to part with the scraps so I use the scraps to make arrowheads.”
