Heated Novaculite Spalls 3-5.5 inch

Medium to large #1 graded and cleaned Heated Arkansas Novaculite stone spalls. Sold by the pound (1-2 pieces per lb). The 3 - 5.5" inch Heated Novaculite spalls are ideal in size for producing medium to large points and blades.

A great knapping stone for both beginners and advanced knappers, heat treated Novaculite is famous for its predictable flaking and easy workability. Our current stock is mostly porcelain white to off white with the occasional band of translucent quartz, grey or pink; some spalls may be the fully translucent variety.

Our Novaculite stone is mined and heated in-house to control quality and consistency from out of the quarry to your doorstep. Hundreds of tons of overburden and weathered 'rotten' novaculite must be removed before we see the first spall of nice clean stone. We use digital temperature controlled kilns to ensure that the stone is heated properly to the optimal temperature for the right amount of time.

Our heated, cleaned, and graded #1 Novaculite ranges in size from 3 - 5.5 inch pieces. Ordering 1 pound of this material will not ensure that you will get a single 6 inch spall. Most often a one pound order will contain two pieces of stone in the approx 4 inch range. To make certain you receive the full range of sizes of this material you will need to order multiple pounds or purchase a flat rate box of material.

We strive to provide the cleanest, blemish free knapping material within our means. On some spalls however, blemishes do get past us because not all defects are evident at first or even second inspection.  In efforts to avoid defects as much as possible, we perform a few thinning blows to ensure that you do not pay for large amounts of waste, over thick spalls, or fragile/thin sizes that will shatter with the first strike.

Medium to large knapping material requires large billets. Attempting to knap large stone with too small of a billet will damage the billet and not produce sizable thinning flakes early on in the process as needed. If you are graduating to this size material from one of our kits, we recommend adding a large copper percussion billet to your order. If you are unsure about what you need, please visit our Flintknapping Buyer's Guide, or feel free to contact us and we will be glad to help.

General Information on Novaculite

         Novaculite is a form of chert found in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma and in the Marathon Uplift of Texas. Novaculite is considered to be highly siliceous sediments and may be a product of the low-grade metamorphism of chert beds. The strata were deposited in the Devonian Period and subjected to uplift and folding during the Ouachita orogeny of the Pennsylvanian/Permian Periods. Novaculite is very resistant to erosion and the layers of novaculite stand out as ridges in the Ouachita Mountains.

         Novaculite is a form of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz. The color varies from white to grey-black and the specific gravity shows an increase from 2.2 to 2.5. The very hard dense rock is commonly used as a whetstone. It has been mined since prehistoric times both as material for use as arrow and spear points and as sharpening stones. Moreover, the upper strata of Arkansas Novaculite, known as tripoli, has found a niche within the coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomer industry as a performance additive or filler. Tripoli is mined in the Hot Springs area of Arkansas.

The word novaculite is derived from the Latin word novacula, for razor stone.