Latest Knife

This is the latest stone knife of two-toned novaculite with an elk antler handle. Slowly, but surely I am dusting off my primitive skills endeavors. Hit the woods last weekend to check it out and do some gathering of odds and ends.

No deep thoughts or quizzical ramblings lately...just flaking rocks and hafting them to handles. I was watching television Saturday and caught part of a show- a woman in search of "volcanic treasures." On the border between California and Oregon she was searching for rainbow obsidian. A local Native American proceeded to teach her about how it was used by their ancestors for thousands of years to make tools. She broke most of her attempts but managed to come up with a serviceable chipped flake, which her instructor then hafted to a hollowed out deer antler with a mixture of pitch and charcoal. Later in the show he caught a large trout which they prepared for cooking with the obsidian knife. Made this knife, hafted it, watched an interesting show...all in all, a good afternoon.

I feel a little crazed today. Just got off a 60 hour work week, now...grilling hamburgers for supper in the 100-degree heat of the day. I can't wait to get over our busy season. Working as a web press operator, for an educational publisher, summers are the time to get materials printed for the next school season starting late August into September. The past couple of weeks I have been able to make a few stone knives - mainly for therapy. Even doing that was an effort as the body has taken another beating from hours of constant go, go, go. But, I love doing it...being able to thin out a piece of stone and flake it into a blade or tool. The knife, second from the left, I used at work to open skids of paper last week. That always brings some curious glances. I kind of prefer a short stout blade that can take a beating. Well, gotta go...time to flip the burgers.

Grady Knife

Grady knife...why do I call it a Grady knife? Because it is for a gentleman named Grady...lol. When one of the guys from work found I did flintknapping, he had me make some stone knives using antler handles from deer he and his sons had hunted. You know, I haven't dropped and broke a stone blade, in literally years....until the last event started a spree. I was demonstrating flintknapping and had made a nice long obsidian blade. Well, I tossed my hammerstone down onto the canvas tarp directly onto the blade, snapping it in two ... AARRUUUGGHHHHH!!! Actually, I wasn't too upset, but sometimes I think this is how cussing was came about. The large knife pictured, started off with a nice large whitish blade...until I dropped it on the concrete...AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! A new blade had to be made to fit the large antler handle (11 inches), thus the top knife you see. The smaller knife was made knapping the salvagable Novaculite stone into a smaller blade.