Author Topic: Stone-age bow without stone  (Read 9562 times)

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Offline Kegan

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Stone-age bow without stone
« on: September 08, 2007, 04:02:51 pm »
Okay, so I don't have any flint-like rocks around here. But I do have various grits of sandstone, and I might be able to get an antler tine off my brother for splitting. So now's the task- build a servicable bow (and maybe some arrows) with just what I have around here. And yes, this is inspired by Jamie's cedar bow :).

Any thoughts, advice, or such before I have at it :)?

jamie

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2007, 06:27:44 pm »
make an antler chisel. you can use it to pry off pieces of wood. where are you located kegan? there has to be some kind of rock. even broken bottles work. peace

Offline mitchman

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2007, 12:57:32 am »
he lives near me and trust me there is no rock workable around here to my knolledge. the only stuff i use is from a rock shop(and at 4 bucks a pound). this can be an expensive hobby, >:( :(

jamie

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2007, 06:17:25 am »
no quartz or granite?

Offline Kegan

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2007, 05:09:07 pm »
Nope, none. Lots and lots and lots of sandstone though, and some slate a mile or two from here. But it doesn't really matter, I got it working (kinda :)). I felled a nice straight sassafras, under the logic that the softer wood would be easier to work. Not so. I kinda over looked how sassafras hates to split, and with the green wood, that's all I had to reduce lots of wood. But it worked. Weekened the base by putting the little antler tine through the tree all around, then climbing straight up the tree and pullin' her down. I split it all to heck, as it refused to follow any kind of sensical splitting. But I finally got a piece. Scraped the bark and brought it to rough width. It's raining too much to light a fire, but next weekend I'll use a hand drill fire to scorch some of the excess wood and rasp it off with some stones. So far she's 76"? long and around two fingers wide (1 1/2"). Tough work, and next time I'll use some sorta cutting edge, a smaller tree, and something that WANTS to be a bow ;D.

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jamie

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2007, 05:16:31 pm »
i thought i was doing it rough. next ill have to do it with just my teeth.  ;D

Offline Kegan

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2007, 05:56:52 pm »
i thought i was doing it rough. next ill have to do it with just my teeth.  ;D

Funny you should mention that. I got tired of just smacking it with peices of sandstone to try and weaken it to snap the end off (it was about a foot too long), so I started gnawing on it. Now I taste sassafas all the time ;D. Didn't work too well though.

Offline 1/2primitive

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2007, 05:08:40 pm »
lol, I guess that's what comes from this kind of hobby....gnawing on sticks......  ;D
     Sean
Dallas/Fort Worth Tx.

Offline mullet

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2007, 05:56:38 pm »
  Slate will make some very sharp hand axes.
Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Offline D. Tiller

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2007, 01:00:58 am »
Go to the meat market and pick up lots of bones. Allow them to dry, shape and heat treat and sharpen. They will make scrapers and good chisels that you can use to make just about anything. Also, work the wood green. hmmm, plus use the sand stone to shape the bone. You will be amazed what you can do with bone tools. To me I think most of the archeological record is bone tools and not stone. Just, bone breaks down more easily than stone.

David T
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Offline Kegan

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2007, 02:34:34 pm »
So far, the sassafras has fallen victim to a drawknife (I got the idea to build an ELB... didn't work too well though ;D). So now I have a barberry(?) stick I'm drying. I'mm gonna use fire to shorten it and bring it to tiller. It won't turn out too well, but I'll try and make some good primitive-primitive arrows to make up for it ;).

Offline Aries

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2007, 01:18:27 am »
You mentioned heat treat.  Does that harden the bone?
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                   you tend to see every problem as a nail."
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Offline D. Tiller

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Re: Stone-age bow without stone
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2007, 03:34:25 pm »
Hardens it a bit just like bone. Dont stick it right in the fire though but in the ground just underneath the fire pit and pull it out when its finnished. Kind of like fire hardenning wood.
“People are less likely to shoot at you if you smile at them” - Mad Jack Churchill