Igneous celt and adze: Mississippian bow project prep!

[swamp monkey]

I want to make a Mississippian era inspired bow.  A few years back I researched archeological finds, and Mississippian images to determine what a bow from that culture would look like.  What I now conclude is it is hard to say.  A lot of varieties have stemmed even out of singular historic tribes.  So I will chose a conservative bow design and focus on the method of the Mississippians. 

This means I need Mississippian tools!  So I have been working on a celt and an adze.  Both are made of Missouri Ozarks igneous rock.  Thanks to Patches for helping with sources.

Both tools need several more hours of sanding before I am done.  The blades need a good edge and I am not there yet.  I think the over all shapes are looking good though.  The sand stone rock in the picture with both tools is my sanding rock. It works amazingly well.

I hope to complete both tools by summer's end.  Then I can practice using them and get a tree in mind for harvest.  Next spring the project will unfold!

I am stoked.  Any tips or advice are welcome.

Swamp Monkey is traveling back in time!

[Patches]

Good luck!

[aaron]

cool project. looks like a good start. I think you're gonna need a more acute angle on the edge.

[Onebowonder]

cool project. looks like a good start. I think you're gonna need a more acute angle on the edge.

A bit perhaps, but not much sharper that about a 90 degree angle.  If you go much of anything tighter than that, you are cutting instead of crushing fibers, ...and the blade will not hold up too well.  A celt is not a sharp bladed tool but a crushing wedge-shaped sort of tool.

OneBow

[swamp monkey]

Update:  I sanded for an additional three hours on the adze and another hour on the Celt.  I am working to remove tool marks and get a smooth surface.  I even got about 3 hours of donated labor sanding from Boy Scout troop 210.  They are working on their archeology merit badge and needed to do some experimental archeology.  This they did for. A minimum of ten minutes each to get an appreciation. Some scouts took a shine to it and requested more time to work on the stone tools.  The boys all got to make cordage that they could take home too.

I will post pics later.  The adze is getting close to being done.  The Celt needs several hours of sanding yet. 

[swamp monkey]

The adze is taking shape.  I have about 1-2 more hours of sanding left on this one.      I started working with sandstones.  I had some rough and medium girt slabs to use.  however, I needed some really fine grit and resorted to 400 grit sandpaper.  The adze is about as smooth as a glacial rock now!

I am still working on the celt - getting tool marks out of it. 

[swamp monkey]

Funny thing about this.  you grind and grind and grind and you think you have the tool marks out until after you wash it, dry it and see all the marks still there.  Smaller yes, but still there. 

Sorry about the pix.  This is not my usual camera.  I couldn't tell it was out of focus. 

I will update pix as I have progress on the tools.  thanks for looking. 

[swamp monkey]

better pix of the adze and celt.  Notice the celt blade when viewed from the blade end curves a little from the center line.  I need to work on that and make it sharper and straighter, but I am getting there. 

Adze is taking shape nicely.   

[swamp monkey]

Now the celt.

[Peacebow_Coos]

Looking good man, that's a lot of rubbin!

[swamp monkey]

a little closer.  I took some more off the blade part to more closely match the angle of the originals. 

I am about ready to find some handle material and see how they fit. 

[swamp monkey]

some good info on this PDF.  Download was simple and easy. 

http://www.academia.edu/428033/Mississippian_Celt_Production_and_Resource_Extraction_in_the_Upper_Big_River_Valley_of_St._Francois_County_Missouri

[swamp monkey]

Here is a handle with socket for the celt.  I have yet to field test it.  When I do I post.

This is white ash.  The socket was burned, scraped, drilled, and filed.   The burned and charred wood was SO much easier to remove than filing normal wood. 

[riverrat]

really nice work there! . im planning on doing similar. looking forward to seeing the bow when its done. great work , keep it up. Tony

[bowandarrow473]

Looking foreward to the finished product!