Finished War Clubs

Thought I'd post a pic of the finished war clubs. There is a modern & black powder gun show in Lincoln, NE next weekend I am prep-ing for. This is fun event. The blackpowder portion of the event is dressed in buckskins and sell period trade goods. A lot of characters who like to have a good time. I always get a table selling my stone knives, rattles, spears, war clubs & tomahawks...supports the 'hobby' and you always meet some interesting people.

Finished Hafted Stone Heads

I had a gentleman who wanted me to haft a couple of modern made stone replica heads to handles. These were pictured a couple posts back. The top was a full groove axe head which was set into a hardwood handle, wrapped with rawhides, that when dry had shrank to hold tight. The handle was stained with boiled walnut hulls and burnished with a deer leg bone to give a polished, or varnished look. To burnish all you do is vigorously rub a bone across the wood. It compresses and smooths the outer fibers to give a polished look. The bottom is representative of a plains war club. It was made in a similar way, except that deer hide was stretched and sew over the entire handle. Warriors would decorate their personal weapons with fringes, fur, scalp locks, etc. as they felt inclined. There were several varieties of war clubs utilized. One, like the pictured pecked and grooved double pointed head. Another was a common rounded rock, pecked and grooved, hafted. A unique style was a rounded rock, wrapped with a loose section of hide and attached to a handle - similar to the medevil mace with the ball and chain on a handle. These war clubs were used in combat, and longer-handled ones from horseback. As I did some research on war clubs, I found a good number of double pointed heads fashioned from alabaster, a carving stone used for sculptures. So, I located a source and will try my hand fashioning some double pointed club heads, as well as banner stones for atlatls.