Stone Age Arrow

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Paleoaleo

Member
Dec 16, 2004
21
0
California, USA
Hope this works! I previously posted this short article on the PaleoPlanet site. I've copied the text and (hopefully) the photos from that site and am hoping to drop them below.

I've made lots of prehistoric looking arrows using steel knives, sandpaper, scrapers, etc. A while back, I experimented with using only stone aged tools to make stone aged equipment. Arrows are easy to make with stone tools. The most difficult part is cutting the notches for the string, and for the point end.


I'm using an abundant local plant commonly called "Mulefat" (Baccharis salicifolia) for the arrowshaft and various flint flake tools to make the notches.

This first photo was taken after the arrow was completed, but it shows the tools I used (all except for a biface I used to cut/saw the ends off square):

notch%20and%20tools.jpg


I started by drilling a hole through the shaft where I wanted my notch to end. I drilled halfway through each side - meeting in the middle:

Drilling%201.jpg


Then I used a couple of sharp flakes with protruding burrin-like projections, to score and carve the inside edges of the notches (I did the same for both the nock end of the arrow and the slotted point end). I kind of sliced in a "V" shape, so that the two cuts would meet somewhere near the middle of the shaft. Mulefat has a pithy center, so this is a relatively quick procedure:

burrin.jpg


This piece was done for the camera after the fact, so I only did one side of the notch here. In this photo, you can see the sliver of wood I removed to make the start of this side of the notch:

burrin%203.jpg


After making the initial notch with the burrin tool, I selected a jasper flake that had a sharp hook shape projecting out. You can't see it very well in this photo, but the tool appears in other photos, and you can see the cat-claw shapped hook. This worked very well to reach deep into the notch and slice away the wood in order to form even slots for the notches:

cleaning%20notch.jpg


For hafting stone points, I like to carve little hollows in the inside of the fingers of the notch, so that they sort of match the rounded shape of the stone point. Kind of like making them a little spoon shapped. I believe that this helps to hold the point steady - at least more so than a flat surface would.

cleaningnotch%202.jpg


Obviously, that first notch was to accept a stone point. I did the same thing for the nock end, only it was easier to do. Using the drill to make the initial holes works well, as it leaves the bottom of the nock very nice - almost as if I used a rat-tail file or some thing:

nock.jpg


After cleaning out the notches, I further cleaned up the notch area by rubbing the shaft on a slab of sandstone.

sandstone.jpg


Rather than use the sandstone on the entire arrow shaft, I used a stone scraper instead. All you need is a right angle break on a piece of stone (or glass) and you can scrape things as cleanly as with a modern cabinet scraper:

scrape2.jpg


scraping%201.jpg


Here's a shot of the right angle break I'm talking about. This one was even more convenient, for it's curved shape helped keep the scraping edge on the arrowshaft:


scraper.jpg


After scraping off the bark and remnants of inner bark, and generally cleaning up the shaft and making it smooth, I burnished it to a pretty high gloss.

burnish.jpg


I'm planning on using a locally occuring dye for cresting. The dye is a deep maroon color, it's called "Cochineal." It actually comes from a scale insect that parasitizes prickly pear cactus (and inpart, I believe, from a moth grub that feeds on the scale insect). The dye is its defense mechanism.

Anyway, I've got to wait to get out to the field to finish my arrow, as planned). Sorry to leave ya hanging!

IM BACK:

In this next set of photos, I'm hafting a small stone point using a pine pitch adhesive mixture, and sinew.

Here's a shot of the point with a small blob of pitch on its stem. Pitch works much like hot-melt glue. To make this batch, I've melted down hardened pine sap (the kind you find plugging wounds in trees), and mixed in some crushed wood charcoal, some dead/dry plant matter (dry rabbit dung works very well), and a touch of bees wax.

The pitch is more of a gap filler than a strong glue, but that's where the sinew comes in to play.

In the photo, I've heated up the pitch, and applied it to the warmed up tail end of the jasper point:

hafting%20point%201.jpg


With the pitch warm and the consistency of taffy, I quickly insert it into the notch. Note that both the point and the notch were heated as well, so that the pitch would adhere to both. If hot pitch touches a cold surface, it will cool without making a bond.

After using a slender stick to help push the pitch into the gaps around the point, I applied some more pitch to the juncture between the point and the fingers of the notch. I did this in order to make a smooth transition from stone to wood - this increases penetration. This also adds a bit more strength to the bond.

Hafting%20point%202.jpg


The process requires several re-heatings of the pitch. After some fiddling around, and making sure the point is straight in the notch (a poorly oriented point won't do!), it should look like the photo above.

Below, is a shot looking straight into the point. Note the smooth transition from point to shaft, and the alignment of the point:

haft%20ing%20point%203.jpg


On one side of the point, I believe I have too much pitch! I'll re-heat and fix that a bit.

While setting the point with pitch, and before wrapping with sinew, I like to perform a "spin test." This is a good way to insure that your point is set straight in the arrow. I'm going to cheat a bit here and use a photo of another point (a larger atlatl dart point):

Imgp1646.jpg


That's the point (had to put that photo in, because it looks cool!), and here's the spin test:

Imgp1649.jpg


The spin on this one was perfect. If it had been wobbly, I could easily re-heat the pitch, realign, and try again. Once I'm certain the point is set well, I'll finish it off by wrapping with moist sinew. On this point, with no side notches, I'd wrap the area where the stem of the point engages the wood, and I'd continue wrapping up the shaft for approximately 1".

I'll have to end this for now, as I need to take some more photos of the application of feathers and the cresting with natural pigments.

Tom
 

tenbears10

Native
Oct 31, 2003
1,220
0
xxxx
Stuart said:
Fantastic Paleoaleo

your posting some great stuff :You_Rock_

I'll second that. :You_Rock_ Please post more of your work. I can't believe the quality and workmanship which has gone into this.

Bill
 

Pict

Settler
Jan 2, 2005
611
0
Central Brazil
clearblogs.com
Tom,

Fantastic post. I've really been enjoying these. Waht kind of bow are you shooting these from? What kind of draw weights do these arrows withstand?

My little brother is an avid traditional archer he has about six stone tipped arros that he assembled with modern tools. I don't think he's hunted with them yet though. I think it would be quite a hunt to take a deer with paleo tech and then butcher it using the same. Deer steaks over a friction fire and who could ask for anything more? Mac
 

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