I made a little blade from a piece of novaculite and wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it. I ended up hafting it onto a piece of antler tine that I had laying around. I’ve made similar knives like this in the past as gifts for friends and think of them more as ornamental then functional. Normally I use 5-minute epoxy mixed with a little India ink to fasten the blade to the handle. The ink gives the epoxy a rich dark color to represent the classic pine pitch/charcoal mixture often used for primitive hafting. However, since I wasn’t giving this one away, I decided to actually use pitch for the primary hafting agent to see how it would bind. When I make these as gifts, I use masking tape to cover any part of the stone and handle that I don’t want to get stained with the ink/epoxy mixture. With this knife, I got lazy and didn’t use tape and made a mess on the upper trailing edge of the knife blade. It probably wouldn’t have been so noticeable if I wasn’t using a white stone. I wanted to make sure everything would hold together well, so as an added precaution, I used more pitch than was probably necessary resulting in a sloppy looking haft. Anyway, the novaculite blade itself is a little bulky for the thin antler handle and would have probably been better suited on the end of a spear insert or something similar. The nice thing about using the pine pitch instead of the epoxy is that if I decide I want to put the stone point onto a spear head at a later date, I can always heat up the pitch so the  point loosens. I can then remove it and use it elsewhere.

Popularity: 11%

I’ve been reading Hilary Stewart’s book Indian Fishing which is an excellent resource that describes in detail the fishing techniques used by the native peoples who inhabited the west coast of North America. I was inspired by the artistic quality and craftsmanship expressed by these people in the making of the tools they used on a day-to-day basis. I was so impressed that I wanted to try to replicate something from the book. I opted for the salmon trolling hook that you see here thinking it wouldn’t be too difficult to put together. I had originally lashed the bone barb into place with waxed nylon (artificial sinew) but I wanted to make it more authentic so I ended up replacing that with split spruce roots. I was concerned that the root lashing wouldn’t bind the barb as tightly as the nylon thread did; however, I must confess that it holds it in place more firmly than the synthetic thread did. Perhaps this is due to the residual pitch left in the roots making them a little sticky. All in all, I am very happy with my new hook. What I want to do next is put together about 60 feet of natural twisted cord and then test the hook and line combination out in one of the local farm ponds. I’m hoping I might be able to land a bass with it.

Popularity: unranked

Me and Bravo

I spent some time living in northeastern Minnesota where they receive very cold temperatures and an abundance of annual snowfall. As a result, many folks (especially the many outfitters in the area I lived in) have adopted the use of dog sledding for both fun and profit by touring the numerous frozen lakes and rivers that abound. While I was there, I picked up on the sport of skijoring. If  you are not familiar with skijoring, think of it as a combination of cross country skiing and dog sledding. You basically harness up your dog, throw on a pair of skis and allow your dog to pull you – just like dog sledding, minus the sled. Here in western New York, we don’t usually get snow accumulations consistent enough for winter activities like snowshoeing and nordic skiing. However, this season, like in many other parts of the country and the world (like Britain for example), we have been blessed with a large quantity of fine, light snow. And you can bet that my dog and I have been taking advantage of it. We’ve been out every day (and sometimes at night) to explore the countryside and practice our teamwork. The beauty behind this form of travel is that it doesn’t require a lot of gear to get started nor do you need a team of 10 or 12 dogs to manage during the off season. You just need a pair of nordic skis, a harness, a medium to large sized dog, and some snow. There are some simple directional commands that your dog should know for negotiating turns in the trail.  But other than that, it is fairly simple to pick up. Skijoring has its roots in Scandinavia and has historically been used in a variety of ways. Now, it is mostly used for recreation or sport. If you want to learn more about it, pick up the book Skijor With Your Dog by Mari Hoe-Raitto & Carol Kaynor. It is a great introductory book for beginners and it helped me get started.

Popularity: 11%

I’ve tanned a few deer hides in my day, but this is my first time trying to tan fur. Considering that it was my first attempt, I decided to make it easier on myself by working something small. I had a little red squirrel in my freezer that I’d been saving for just such a project. Typically, I like to read up on things before I dive in, so I went to braintan.com where they have some good articles that cover fur tanning. They primarily tend to focus on the production of brain tanned buckskin, but there are also numerous articles covering other aspects of traditional tanning as well. They also sell a great book and video companion that details the entire process and makes it very easy for the first-time tanner to succeed at making buckskin.

So, on to the fur tanning:

I decided to case-skin the squirrel hide and work it that way.  No real reason here, I just went with it. For convenience sake, I used the egg yolk from one chicken egg and mixed it with some warm water as a substitute for the brain solution. I wanted to do this in a simple fashion, so I didn’t use any tools for the majority of the process (e.x., fleshing tool, cable, etc.). I scraped as much of the flesh from the hide with my fingernail then allowed it to dry a little. Next, I rubbed the egg yolk solution onto the flesh side of the hide and let it partially dry again. Before it dried out completely, I applied another coat of egg. I repeated this process until the egg yolk solution was used up – about four applications in total. Then I just worked the hide in my hands, stretching it back and forth for about an hour, until it was dry. I have to tell you that it didn’t come out perfect. A large area on the lower half of the back came out rather papery. But, with the exception of this and the head/face area, the rest of the fur came out nice and soft. I haven’t smoked it yet because I’m considering adding more yolk solution to the stiff spots and working it some more. I often hear folks say you can case out certain critters and use their hide as an improvised glove or sock. But this squirrel was way too small to cover the four fingers of my hand. Next time I try tanning a squirrel hide, I think I’ll open-skin it and work it that way. I believe I’ll be able to work it much more easily and more thoroughly and possibly be able to do more with it as an open fur. We’ll have to see…..

Popularity: 16%

As the saying goes, “you have to break a few eggs before you can make an omelet.” The same holds true for flint knapping. Of course, with flint knapping, the whole premise revolves around fracturing a piece of stone in a predictable manner in order to produce an edged tool. However, it usually doesn’t take long in your knapping career before something happens that you weren’t prepared for. For example, the other day I was working a dry piece of keokuk that I had shaped into a nice little biface. It was cool and windy outside, my hands were cold, and I was rushing a bit so I could get back in the house to warm up. Somewhere along the line I thought to myself that I should finish up or take a break because I noticed my billet swings were getting sloppy and I wasn’t taking the time to adequately prepare the striking platforms. But I decided to push through, reasoning to myself that I was almost done with the reduction process. Then, just a few moments later, SNAP – followed by a fairly loud expletive! I had landed a poorly placed swing on too stout of a platform which left me with two pieces of keokuk instead of one. Everyone knows that these kinds of things are a part of flint knapping, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept when it happens. I’d like to think that I learned something from this experience, but truth be told,  I tend to put these kinds of lessons behind me rather quickly. So, I’ve decided to write a post about it to help remind myself and any others out there to take your time and to listen to that little voice inside your head when it tells you to take a break. So, with that being said, I expect I’ll be breaking some more pieces this way in the future. I’m just hoping there will be fewer of them.

Popularity: 21%