I have a bone to pick with everyone here.

you can't knap bone.the way to work bone is to score the bone w/ a pointed piece of stone on both sides.then you take a rock and tap along the score. and this should brake on the score.then you can grind the bone into the shape that you want it to be.knife,point,hook,ect. they show how to do this on the woodsmaster vol # 17 by Ron Hood.the site is www.survival.com
 
Thanks Kevin, these are all development work. Still not happy with them all, but they are functional. Some of those I had the idea of a last ditch knife, but have since thought more along the lines of spear/arrow point. I have enough knives, but would hate to lash one to a pole.

For fish, a barb is nice. For other game, not needed, and might loose you a spear.

Wrap with unscented (flavored) dental floss so it has cord to lash on it.

Ti is soft, so it won't keep an edge through abuse, but should be able to keep it touched up with a rock. It also is very unlikely to snap, but would more likely bend, also should be able to straighten in field.

Got some more ideas for these, I just need to get some more time to try them out. I like to cut a willow every now and then and lash one of these on and play with it. Gives me a good idea of what is and isn't working.

--Carl
 
Carl are you talking about a willow sapling as a spear shaft? All the willows around here are weeping or swamp willows. I have sometimes heard of willow shoots being used as arrows. There are no shoots near the growing willows here. I would have thought they would be too soft anyway.

Drat3 that is a good tip to score and fracture the bone. I imagine it if you did it like scoring and breaking glass alon the edge of a table would be the best way to go about it.
 
Kevin, yep, that's what I use. I have willows growing in the slough beside my house that get up to about 1.5" diameter, these are common around here on stream banks, so it is good to practice with. They are very flexible when fresh, and then dry hard. Pretty easy to get a good, fairly straight on for a 5-6 ft spear. Takes about 1-2 days to dry out, and they don't check.

The other willows I have grow to about 3-4ft dia at the trunk, and their shoots would probably make a decent arrow.

--Carl
 
I use antlers to chip arrowheads. Im not sure if thats what your asking though.
 
Very nice work, Carl. I've saved the picture for ideas down the road.

Kevin, coppice some of those Willows, and in a year or 2 you should have some nice shoots. I do that for basketmaking.

Doc
 
Doc I coppiced once. :confused:

I betcha they won't let me in that restaurant again. :eek:


Is Coppicing a method of cutting the trunk down or laying a living branch in the soil so as to get a bunch of vertical shoots. Do you think it works with all kinds of willows?
 
Hey Carl , can you temper the ti? Maybe thats why its so soft.

My brother in law has ti broadheads that have to be sharpened by lazer.

I like that little mouse sized harpoon. Hey I'm not judging, everything taken in the wild is a trophy.
 
Pieces of clam shell make a relitively good point too. More than anything I count on the fact the humans are PIGS and leave enough refuse of all types for me to use . Do a little forgeing, knapping, wood work, sewing.... you get the point. With a little injunuity:) all that stuff just laying around can be put to use.
What if you're in the middle of no where? There is not mant places I've been that I haven't come across junk, unfortunately.
 
mewolf1 you are right, I try to find places here and there that are pristine, but, typically there are bottles, cans, and "stuff" everywhere.

Find a palce with tons of mosquitoes, and that will be a relatively clean place.
 
Kevin the grey said:
Doc I coppiced once. :confused:

I betcha they won't let me in that restaurant again. :eek:


Is Coppicing a method of cutting the trunk down or laying a living branch in the soil so as to get a bunch of vertical shoots. Do you think it works with all kinds of willows?
Click to expand...

Basically, it's cutting the shrub back to the ground and the next year's shoots will be long and straight, usually with little branching - a desirable trait for basket and arrow making. For a more in-depth treatment, see:
http://outsideeducators.com/Coppicing.html

Doc
 
Doc there are no shrub willows around here. All we have are large full grown trees. I guess they must spring up full grown.
 
Kevin, you can take a sprig of weeping willow and stick it in the ground and it will take off to being a tree. However, that may not be the same kind of willow that Carl is talking about. Be careful where you plant it, because weeping willow will send roots into all kinds of places where you don't want it, such as drainage pipes.
 
Nope, the ones I am talking about look like the ones in the article Doc posted. We have them everywhere around here, so it is useful to figure them out. The good thing is they come back easily, so you can gather material and they will be re-grown quickly (at least to the size of your pinky).

If I was in other areas, other material would be what I practiced with. Again, just comes down to what you have.

--Carl
 
Carl I did harvest some shoots that were growing near ash trees. I do not know if they were ash.There were also other bushes mixed in. They appear to be fairly solid.

We do have some bushes that grow a lot of very red shoots. My buddy thought they were dogwood. They did not work out. They had a very wide pith.

Doc Thanks for the link. If I come across Willow like that I may give it a try.
 
Kevin the grey said:
We do have some bushes that grow a lot of very red shoots. My buddy thought they were dogwood. They did not work out. They had a very wide pith.
Click to expand...

Kevin, I should have mentioned that Red Osier Dogwood - ROD (Cornus sericea) can be used the same way as Willow (Salix spp.), for arrows and basketmaking. As far as pith goes, it shouldn't be a problem. I have some arrows made from ROD and they are fine and if you were concerned that the shoots are not solid all the way through, consider that a lot of early peoples used River Cane (don't know the binomial).

Doc
 
Doc I may grab a couple myself when I visit the range. Could the issue be my buddy tried to take them down? Is the bark supposed to be left on?
 
Kevin the grey said:
Could the issue be my buddy tried to take them down? Is the bark supposed to be left on?
Click to expand...

I don't follow you. What do you mean, 'take them down', do you mean he was trying to reduce the diameter of the shaft and he got into the pith? Because, if that's the case, he needs to gather shoots closer to the size he requires. Also the smaller the shoot, the smaller the pith, of course.

"Is the bark supposed to be left on?" - for arrows? No. For basketmaking - usually, but doesn't have to be.

Doc
 
There are places locally where indian artifacts can be found. I have seen several ancient arrow points made from antler tips. One was even left with a barb. All were left round in cross section with the point whittled, and the marrow drilled out to accept a shaft. Have also seen other tools (such as an awl) made from bone.
 
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