Just wanted to say a big thank you to John Lord as well as the two Wilderness Survival Skills school instructors for making last weekend's Primitive Tools course such a pleasure to attend. The weather stayed dry, the other students were a good bunch, the food was plentiful and tasty, there was plenty of rock to bust, John Lord was as brilliant as ever and Anthony and Zoe did a sterling job in making sure everyone was well looked after.
Saturday was taken up with the students trying with varying levels of success to make useful items of flint under John's patient instruction, and on Sunday we could either work on our knapping skills and/or make a useful item such as an arrow with what we had made the day before. John and the WSS team provided various useful materials such as hide pieces, feathers, rawhide strips, pitch and beeswax as well as tuition in making natural cordage.
I made a number of handaxes over the weekend and destroyed a lot of beautiful flint in the process, and on Sunday I spent some time making an atlatl and a flint tipped dart.
Since the railway companies frown on passengers carrying 'spears' onto their trains I left the dart and thrower behind. Hopefully someone will give it a good home one day, though if they do I hope they're not too unkind in their criticism of my work. I definitely need to work on my soft hammer skills but that may have to wait until next years course. Needless to say I'm already planning on attending it in 2011.
Saturday was taken up with the students trying with varying levels of success to make useful items of flint under John's patient instruction, and on Sunday we could either work on our knapping skills and/or make a useful item such as an arrow with what we had made the day before. John and the WSS team provided various useful materials such as hide pieces, feathers, rawhide strips, pitch and beeswax as well as tuition in making natural cordage.
I made a number of handaxes over the weekend and destroyed a lot of beautiful flint in the process, and on Sunday I spent some time making an atlatl and a flint tipped dart.
Since the railway companies frown on passengers carrying 'spears' onto their trains I left the dart and thrower behind. Hopefully someone will give it a good home one day, though if they do I hope they're not too unkind in their criticism of my work. I definitely need to work on my soft hammer skills but that may have to wait until next years course. Needless to say I'm already planning on attending it in 2011.
