- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Messages
- 1,409
I have been looking for just the right materials for my next Celt and would like to avoid some of the mistakes I have made in the past so this one will last a bit longer. I'm going to harvest a few small trees to make bow staves out of and I like to do these types of projects with as many Paleo-accurate tools as possible. Most of the groups in the Mid-Atlantic used a small Celt instead of a stone axe for shaping wood. We know that because of the shapes of the blades and stone heads that are found in the Delmarva area. The Celt that I want to make will be short, about 12 inches total, which is a bit smaller than most I've seen but that's the size that works best for me for working bow staves.
My previous mistakes:
Using the wrong stone- I used some of my heat treated Ft. Payne chert. The heating makes it much better for cutting but also a little more brittle and less suitable for an impact tool.
Not wrapping the haft- I assumed that since the Celt doesn't fully penetrate the handle that it would not split- I was wrong.
Wrong adhesive- I used some left over Hide glue that I had made for attaching a sinue backing to a stave. I just got lazy and didn't want to melt the pitch down like I should have.
THIS TIME
I'm using a piece of Blue flint, raw not heated.
Coal burning the haft opening instead of scoring and cutting- will help reduce splitting.
Wrapping above and below the stone with some sinew that I processed last week.
Using pine pitch instead of hide glue for the setting of the stone.
My question:
I know that the sinew fibers stick to themselves when wet and shrink when dry. How tight can I wrap them before the shrinkage breaks the protein bond that binds them when wet? I use sinue strips to set arrow heads and knife blades but have never used them on a haft this thick and want to avoid mistakes.
My previous mistakes:
Using the wrong stone- I used some of my heat treated Ft. Payne chert. The heating makes it much better for cutting but also a little more brittle and less suitable for an impact tool.
Not wrapping the haft- I assumed that since the Celt doesn't fully penetrate the handle that it would not split- I was wrong.
Wrong adhesive- I used some left over Hide glue that I had made for attaching a sinue backing to a stave. I just got lazy and didn't want to melt the pitch down like I should have.
THIS TIME
I'm using a piece of Blue flint, raw not heated.
Coal burning the haft opening instead of scoring and cutting- will help reduce splitting.
Wrapping above and below the stone with some sinew that I processed last week.
Using pine pitch instead of hide glue for the setting of the stone.
My question:
I know that the sinew fibers stick to themselves when wet and shrink when dry. How tight can I wrap them before the shrinkage breaks the protein bond that binds them when wet? I use sinue strips to set arrow heads and knife blades but have never used them on a haft this thick and want to avoid mistakes.
Got any pics? 
