Stone Axe...

[stabman]

Do you have one?

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1280587-Next-Level-Bushcrafting

 

[heefageLA]

Not Yet ! Aint many rocks 'round these swampy parts

 

[taldesta]

My dad acquired rock and fossil samples over his lifetime ... he, born in Saskatchewan in 1919, enquiring and collecting as he travelled the breadth of Canada and a lot of that with me in tow ...

I gave his 'primitive axe head', what looked to me to be in ebony, to a close friend who can enjoy it and share more with others of like interest and impressionable youth. Dad would have liked that. I don't open links as mostly they are heavy downloads for me here to handle. I can simply hope that my post has some distant relevance to the OP's thread title "Stone Axe' If not, sorry for the incursion into this space - you know I try

 

[stabman]

I don't open links as mostly they are heavy downloads for me here to handle.

I'll post a couple of pics here then.

 

[taldesta]

Thanks so much stabman,

The axe head from dad's collection was at my best guess from recall - 1" thick at head, tapering over 5 1/4 " to rough point, blade 1 3/4"

Ebony. Looked hand hewn.

I can ask for pics, ruler included, if helpful. Don't care if my remembrance is shattered by reality! Humble

 

[stabman]

Thanks so much stabman,

The axe head from dad's collection was at my best guess from recall - 1" thick at head, tapering over 5 1/4 " to rough point, blade 1 3/4"

Ebony. Looked hand hewn.

I can ask for pics, ruler included, if helpful. Don't care if my remembrance is shattered by reality! Humble

Pics are always good.
I'd definitely like to see however many examples people can provide.
I should be getting an old native one from one of my friends in a bit; I made the one I'm holding there.
My brother made the one that chipped.

Looking to buy some stone in a bit to make some more...I think agate would look really nice. :thumbup:

 

[taldesta]

On it. S

 

[heefageLA]

Looking to buy some stone in a bit to make some more...I think agate would look really nice. :thumbup:

Dude, an agate made into an axe head would look awesome!
I tumble and polish rocks regularly and have seen some pretty outstanding agates, and their pretty hard to.
It takes much longer to grind away an agate than say, some old parking lot rock.

 

[stabman]

Dude, an agate made into an axe head would look awesome!
I tumble and polish rocks regularly and have seen some pretty outstanding agates, and their pretty hard to.
It takes much longer to grind away an agate than say, some old parking lot rock.

For sure.
Hoping my brother gets a belt grinder soon; then I could buy some silicon carbide belts for it and speed up the process.

 

[taldesta]

Pics are always good.
I'd definitely like to see however many examples people can provide.

 

[stabman]

Neat.

 

[Cougar Allen]

They used to mount a stone ax head in an antler socket sometimes. Antler can absorb shock (that's what it's for; besides looking handsome for the ladies). The stone is less likely to chip that way.

Agate is tougher than chert, too tough to knap so you have to grind it. (Unless you heat-treat it to embrittle it for knapping.) The toughest stone of all is jade, which is why it was often used for axes.

 

[taldesta]

Remarkable. The lower images look to be museum quality, showing what appears to me to be an axe head, set in shock absorbing antler material which is shaped for insertion into a club like handle. Am I interpreting this correctly?

 

[Cougar Allen]

Yes, just some pix I found with a quick image search to illustrate the concept.

By the way, the Iceman had a copper ax with the head set in an antler socket like that. Copper doesn't need shock protection, but I guess they hadn't figured that out yet. Or maybe it was just habit -- this is the way we've always used to make an ax, with a wooden handle, an antler socket, and then the blade.

 

[Cougar Allen]

No wait -- I just looked for a picture and it turns out I remembered that wrong. Ötzi’s ax handle is made of one piece of wood and the copper head is set in a branch.
.

The haft, i.e. the handle of the axe, was carved from the split wood of a yew tree. A nearly right-angled branch growing out of the trunk was used. The axe blade is held in a slit in the haft with birch tar. It was then bound in place with narrow strips of leather.
Using a replica of the axe, it took just over half an hour to fell a yew tree.

 

[taldesta]

Thanks for this. The iceman looks like an original w&ss sage of his time ... on his own daily quest for survival. A competent one at that.

The tools and equipment he carried do tell a compelling story. A quick google search sure enriched my knowledge of life that time.

Among the 18 tools left behind: dagger with wooden handle and flint blade and scabbard; retoucheur used for the intricate work in the production of flint tools; birch bark containers to carry provisions and embers ...

This research is a great read.

 

[B34NS]

Good looking dino choppers stabman! :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[stabman]

Good looking dino choppers stabman! :thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks.

And thanks to Cougar Allen for finding that info on the other axes.
Good stuff.

 

[taldesta]

Update: Give stone and receive gold.

Not ebony as I guessed from appearance, but, as researched by my friend and keeper of the axe head ...

.... "either made from basalt or steatite. most of the ones i researched came from the Alberta region. polished stone tools were made during the neolithic age, and range between 3,000bc-10,000bc. they were used to strip bark from trees to make rope, to dig holes and to help butcher animals for food. attached is photo i found similar to the
piece u gave me. every time i look at it i start to think of what life was like back then."

 

[mete]

I remember reading that Otzi's axe was very high quality ,polished etc, indicating his special rank .Was that of copper or a bronze ?? Copper can be found as pure copper but bronze alloy requires a metallurgist to make !!