Heat treatment in itself is an art. How it was discovered by the old teachers is unknown but it was a significant invention, just as water treatment was.
There are many discussions on why it works, but I will only add my theory and say no more, "because it does". Treating stone allows difficult stone to become workable. Agates like Brazilian or Montana turn from blood vessel poppers into glass. This obviously has an effect on the final tool or weapon. So if you are planning on making a good sturdy axe, don't treat it. But it does not have a significant enough effect that it deteriorates the effectiveness in scrapers, knives, arrowheads or the like. It simply makes the flint knappers job more easy.
Some types of stone are also affected by water treatment. While I do not have enough stone to experiment with this process, one should try leaving some pieces in a bucket of water for a couple of weeks and test the results.
It should be noted that in regards to heat treatment, different types of stone require different temperatures. Others, such as Obsidian, require none.
The old teachers use to build a pit under there fire, or in the side of a hill next to it. This was there Kiln. You should dig a fire pit large enough for the material that you would consistently be treating. Now bury the spalls (etc.) under a bed sand. A fire is now built over it. It doesn't have to be large enough to alert the fire department, just so that it heats the coals up good enough to allow them to burn throughout the night. While some people scrape all the coals off, re-layer the spalls, performs, etc., add more sand and re-light the fire, I usually skip this step and keep the fire going nicely throughout the day. After a day or more the stone is dug up and checked to see if it has been sufficiently heat treated.
Where you place them in the bed of sand will depend on what temperature they require. It has been said that 1" under the sand produces about 600 degrees of heat and will decrease about 50 degrees for every half inch deeper. Of course this assumes that all the sand is equal and that the fire is spread evenly. The edges of the sand pit would experience less heat if the fire were not over it enough.
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My first experiment at heat treatment involved a fire pit. First I dug a hole into the ground, filled it with about half a foot of sand and then layered the rocks so that they wouldn't be touching each other. Finally more sand and then we built a fire on top of it and roasted marshmallows. The next day I dug it up and noticed that there didn't appear to be much color change. Further examination of the rocks proved this as there was no change in the ease of pressure flaking the stones. Perhaps the fire wasn't hot enough?
I have a small bar-b-q that I filled with sand and layered the stones accordingly. Then I lit a sufficient amount of charcoals (covered in lighter fluid) and let them burn over night. However, while I have heard that this works too, I was unsuccessful. I just can not seem to get the fire hot enough. This time I used less sand but had the same results.
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A friend told me that he cooks novaculite (requires 700-950 degrees F.) on the bar-b-que. Haven't tried it yet.
3) Oven/Roaster
The
same goes for the oven, but after the wife banned me, I got a turkey
roaster and love it and would not go back. It is larger so I can put more
in, spread them out differently, leave the sand in it and not worry about
burning out the internal mechanisms. The 18 quart ones have temperature
gauges that goes up to 450, or 550 on the more difficult ones to find. You
can get the temperature up an additional 100 - 150 degrees more by
removing the middle pan. They can go anywhere from $40 to $300. The one
pictured above was purchased brand-new for about $45; A significant
savings from a kiln!
It is simple to use. Spread the slabs (preforms) out, slabs on their side, and pour sand over then making sure they do not touch one another. Note that hotter temperatures will be generated at the very bottom of the sand (reverse from the fire method) and the sides.
I found that the best method was to:
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Heat roaster (with sand and rocks) for two hours at 100 degrees
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Bring it up 50 degrees every hour
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Once it reaches the desired temperature leave for an hour and reverses the process; Or,
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Once it reaches the desired temperature leave it there for a couple of hours and turn it off.
The above last two points really depends on the stone. Sometimes when it reaches the desired temp, it is heated perfectly. Other times, it needs to be maintained at that heat for a certain period of time. If you surpass it on some stones, they turn to dust.
Since I do not get a lot of material, I usually try and throw pieces that require 450-550 degrees together and hope for the best. I have only lost one piece of jasper and a couple small slabs of wood using this approach.
Note: Some people do not even use the sand with mixed results. They just throw the stone in and get to it. Basically the sand does two things. One it maintains the heat evenly, allowing the temperature to slowly raise and cool. And two it keeps the stone from touching one another. Both achieve the same goal by preventing surprises to the stone that might cause it to explode or crack. Since I buy rock, I will not take any chances of breakage and will stick to the sand.
When I first tried heat treatment I wanted quick and dirty rules, "how much-how long". But I quickly learnt that different rocks need different temps and hold times. To make it worse, the same stone is NEVER the same and batches of the same rock, i.e. Brazilian Agate, may lead to different results for each slab. If you are trying this out for the first time, feel free to email me and I will try to help out anyway that I can.
3) Kiln
If you are fortunate enough to have the funds and enough material to justify purchasing a kiln, you are one of the lucky ones, otherwise you will struggle using the traditional approach or a oven. Using a kiln is very predictable and easy to measure the results. With computerized controls and an even temperature spread, you should be able to achieve the results with much greater success and ease. For a kiln be prepared to be shelling out around $1,000. I, unfortunately, am not one of the lucky ones so I cannot offer and more information on kilns.
Stone Cooking Temperatures
Here are some temperatures that I picked up and saved over the years - don't know why as I can't get most of this stuff, just hopeful I guess.
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Agate Brazilian - 450-500
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Agate India - 500
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Agate Mexican - 500
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Agate Montana - 550
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Agate Moss - 450
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Alibates - 425-500
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Bloodstone - 500
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Burlington - 600-650
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Coral - 450-600
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Dacite - NONE
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Flint Ridge - 500-600 (set the roaster at 200 degrees for two hrs then increase until the max temp. is reached and leave it for 12 to 24 hours)
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Flint River - 375 -450
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Ft. Hood - 400-550
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Georgetown - 450
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Jasper Red - 500 (very hard stuff to work)
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Jasper Sunset 450-475
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Jasper Fancy 450-500
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Jasper Picture 525
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Kay County - 500-600
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Knife River Flint - 350 (Do NOT overheat or it will pot lid)
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Limestone - 550- plus (not good material)
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Novaculate - 700-900
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Obsidian - NONE
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Pedernales - 450
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Petrified Wood - 300-450
Special Notes on Heat Treatment
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All rocks are different! There is no fool proof temperature or procedure as rocks form with different minerals, flaws, cracks, moisture, etc. in them and all are different. Therefore, what might work for the majority, may not work for some. This is especially the case for petrified wood and some jaspers.
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Be careful as rocks can explode. The best ways to prevent/prepare for this are to make sure that they are thinned down first and dry (moist rocks will have a higher chance of breaking). Also, if you can, use a metal roaster with a lid. That way if it does explode, it won't go through the glass. Just joking, explosions usually means that the rocks crack and pop and do not react like a grenade.
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Make sure that your significant other doesn't know, or at-least doesn't plan on using the oven for a day or so. It may stink, especially the sand!
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Keep windows open as the oven generates a lot of heat. In addition, this cooking process soon filled up the apartment (and hallway I am sure) with the smell of cooking rocks!
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Turn off your fire alarm. From midnight until 1 a.m., when the oven was at its hottest, my alarm kept going off waking up the neighbors. I would have been caught dead in my tracks if the fire department was called out. However, make sure that you put the battery back in afterwards the next day or when the place cools down a bit. If your windows are open, then you may be able to skip this process.
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NEVER leave it unattended!
Additional Resources
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Forest/8386
This Page Was Last Updated October 04, 2007
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