Antler Needle Tutorial

[PatrickM]

Antler, like bone is a very useful by-product of animals and can be fashioned into may items that are of use when living in the wilds. This is just one way of making a needle.

Refer to thread "Important Piece of Kit? Tutorial" to see how to get to this stage. After splitting the antler, select the piece for the needle

Using flint scrape away brown surface layer

Abrade soft inner core away on sandstone

Select drill, this one has a small drill head made of flint

Drill in the eye, a small slither of wood inserted into split in wood will help to hold it steady

Eye of the needle completed

Abrade needle to required width

Scrape with flint to a rounded finish

A handy item with all sorts of uses !

 

[Tor helge]

Excellent tutorial.
And the bow drill is a beautiful piece of equipment.

Tor

 

[BorderReiver]

Yet another first class tutorial.Thankyou.

 

[moduser]

Patrick,

Inspirational, thank you.

David

 

[MartiniDave]

Patrick,

You are a true artisan! Excellent.

Dave

 

[Stuart]

I'm running out of words to express delight at your tutorials patrick, so I'll fall back on the emergancy smiley

 

[Motorbike Man]

I've been going throught these and they are unbelievably stunning

 

[Hoodoo]

Again, much appreciated! That drill set is a work of art. Not sure how you are using it though without a socket. Just rocking it back and forth a bit?

 

[steve a]

Hoodoo, look closer, I think this is how it works, the bottom section is like a bobbin with the dowell fixed in place, the top section which is being held by hand fits over the dowell, you can apply pressure with this hand and apply rotaion by the bow on the seperate bobbin. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Porcupine]

the 4th picture shows where the border between the different parts is,basicly its an hourglass shape on an axle,the top end of the axle is in the handle.


very nice way to do it btw,simple and effective,most tutorials i see the man does things in smart ways,has equipment that is pleasing to the eye and not more complicated then needed.(great pictures too )

 

[Hoodoo]

Hoodoo, look closer, I think this is how it works, the bottom section is like a bobbin with the dowell fixed in place, the top section which is being held by hand fits over the dowell, you can apply pressure with this hand and apply rotaion by the bow on the seperate bobbin. Hope that makes sense.

Whoa! Too cool!

 

[PatrickM]

Hoodoo, you should be able to see better from this photo how the drill works.
The bottom part of the unit is drilled through and just slots over the spindle,
allowing it to spin freely when cord is twisted around it.

This system of bow drill is quite versatile, allowing you to try out many different types of drill-heads

 

[spamel]

Can we have a tutorial on that drill please!! That is a beauty, so elegant and yet practical. I really like it.

I remember the needle on Bushcraft, it looks exactly the same as the one you have made, I can just imagine people making them in this method years ago. Fantastic!

 

[Hoodoo]

Thanks Patrick! Totally brilliant!

 

[daved]

Patrick,

Fantastic set of tutorials - looking forward to the next!

You are using flint tools to work on the antler - is this because you want to use "primitive"/traditional tools or does flint just work better for this type of job?(Looking at the pictures of your drill, I don't think I could ever describe that as primitive - very impressive!)

I was wondering whether it would be possible to burn out the eye-hole in the needle with a hot needle (errrm ) or similar?

Dave

 

[~Dan~]

once again patrick beautifully done and such a great tutorial gladly looking forward to the next one

 

[wolf]

is the drill bit just a normal small piece of flint?or did you shape it ?