Bones & Stones

New Year

A new year is upon us and a time that people set goals.  I have not been as active on this blog in the past couple of years.  It kind of goes in spurts of ambition. There are things I want to learn, to improve upon, and practice.  Some of these are:  Learning to recognize and utilize more wild plants.  I know a base amount, but I would like to start a pressbook, or collection in some form for demonstrations and instruction.  I know willow bark contains the components of asprin, but it would be more useful to actually process it.  Water is one of the most important  necessities of life, but I recognize I need more practice gathering, filtering, and purifying it.  I've made buckskin moccasins, but I recognize that footwear is very important for my tender tootsies and need to try coiling sandals out of cattails or inner bark. As far as containers I need to make various sizes of burden baskets. This is just a few things.  There is so much more interest in survival, bushcrafting, primitive skills, prepping, and a multitude of new books and television reality shows highlighting associated skills.  I am aiming at keeping this blog as primitive as possible but may have to start a new blog for bushcrafting projects.
 

Flint Blades

Neck Knives

I started making these neck knives years ago, hafting small blades into deer leg phalanges.  There are four of these bones in one deer leg, and have been used for a number of purposes - fishhooks, whistles, rattles. These have been popular at rendezvous because of their unique blend of bone and stone.

Small Jasper Dagger

A couple of small 6 1/2 inch jasper bladed knives.  It is interesting that in the past half dozen years there has been a lot of imported jasper arrowheads from India showing up at the rendezvous.  They are a little blocky in the cross section, but knapped out of some nice material.  So, I decided to rework some into blades and haft them into deer  leg bone handles.  This will look good in neck sheath.

English Flint Knife II

Recent Tomahawk

This is the latest tomahawk.  Made of knapped Texas flint, hafted into a hardwood handle.  Deer hide is sewn over the handle and blade lashings.  It is decorated with seed beads, horsehair locks, coyote fur, and feathers.  Puruse some of the older posts to see pics of prehistoric tomahawks and read some of the history and lore behind the tool.