Safety and Health
Naturally everyone is concerned about the health issues surrounding flintknapping.
Deep cuts, eye injury, muscle strain, and tendon damage are very real things that need to be addressed. As for as cutting yourself, I just don't see how there's any way around that. I have found that taping my fingers with gauze or athletic tape before knapping seems to help a little. Also, don't forget to clean yourself off real good before coming in the house. A flint chip in the foot is not a happy experience, especially when it's your wife who catches it. I find that actually wearing sandals (flip flops) is better than regular shoes or boots. When I get through, or if a flake lands on my foot, I just kind of stand on on foot and shake the other on. Sounds crazy, but it works for me. Losing an eye, on the other hand, is very serious. You MUST train yourself to wear safety glasses EVERY time you knap. If not, you run the risk of damaging or losing an eye. I know one guy who nearly lost an eye from an errant chip. He wears glasses now. Muscle and tendon damage are also something to worry about. Common sense should tell you when to take a break. I have bursitis myself in my elbows, aggravated by all the knapping I do. Sometimes I have to just quit for a few days so things will get better. It's hard to stop when you're staring at some nice Flint Ridge pre-forms, but you just have to force yourself to do it. Stop knapping and do something else like make some new tools, or trim some slabs.
Silicosis
A lot has been said about Silicosis, the Flintknapping disease. Naturally, grinding a rock with another stone powered by an electric motor is going to cause a lot more silica dust than traditional percussion chipping or pressure flaking. There are ways to save yourself a lot of problems down the road, however. Especially, there is no substitute for good old fashioned common sense.
1. Make sure your lap knapping area is VERY well ventilated. Like "Outdoors" is the best.
2. Have a system to keep ANY silica dust away from where you are breathing. I knap outdoors on a table with just a tarp for a roof over my head. I have a high speed fan blowing the dust away from me, AND I orient the table to take advantage of the wind direction.
3. If you must grind indoors, make sure you have a large, high speed fan to PULL the dust outside. Test it with regular dirt dust or smoke to make sure that it's pulling all the stuff outside. It also helps if you have some type of tub or container to catch the grinding residue that will accumulate inside your knapping area.
4. Consider a water drip to hold down production of dust. If you use a diamond wheel you have to use a water drip system anyway. I am planning to go to this type of system in the near future. It's not very hard to set up and any local hardware store will have the valve you need, except for some type of stand and catch pan
( not needed if you work outdoors). All you need for your actual water supply is a garden hose, turned on at the rate you want the water to flow.
5. Don't smoke. Your shouldn't smoke anyway, but make sure you don't smoke while you are grinding. You are just inhaling silica dust along with all those yummy tobacco poisons.
6. If you can smell it when you're grinding, you're probably inhaling some of the dust. Remember, some of this stuff is extremely fine, more like a vapor than a dust. Dust masks do you no good here.