The Zombie War...

It would be a bit more traditional but I'm fond of this particular design for the aesthetics. I have a Oneida friend up in Canada who has an original early 19th century club in their family which is very similar; I added an extra point to the handle section and usually make my clubs more streamlined and contoured. I like the smooth, flowing appearance. I have made several clubs of this style in the past (usually for relatives). Traditional? No, not 100%, but still very usable in a fight and the ergonomics are perfect if I do say so myself.

Actually I obtained this particular piece of cherry from the scrap bin at a wood mill. It was just the right size, it didnt have any visible cracks or knotholes, and had a much livelier grain than the previous piece of cherrywood I used.

It was added bonus how this wood was quartered and cut down, leaving the *true* heartwood in line to where the handle portion would be for added strength. The grain runs somewhat diagonal in cross-section.

How did I do it? I've been carving and flintknapping for over 20 years. I can do it by sight with only a few pencil lines for guides when I begin. I consider this one my best for a non-effigy type warclub as I was able to get the ball absolutely perfectly round and centered just right.

It took about three weeks to finish it.

Another one I made which was really good was the Uktena-motif effigy warclub I made from hickory for my father's oldest brother back in 1997. The ball section is shaped like an egg in a snake's mouth with seven diamond patterns carved into the handle and the end of the handle is shaped like a rattlesnake's rattle. That one took nearly two months. He used to take it to powwows but he can't get around as well as he used to and he keeps it with him either next to his bed or hanging on the gun rack of his truck when he leaves the house.

I have pics of them all on disc somewhere. :confused:



...and I have a nice piece of OAK in the basement which should be ready to carve sometime this fall...
 
A couple more pictures of it:

Club2.jpg


Club3.jpg
 
Wolf_1989 said:
Another one I made which was really good was the Uktena-motif effigy warclub I made from hickory for my father's oldest brother back in 1997. The ball section is shaped like an egg in a snake's mouth with seven diamond patterns carved into the handle and the end of the handle is shaped like a rattlesnake's rattle. That one took nearly two months. He used to take it to powwows but he can't get around as well as he used to and he keeps it with him either next to his bed or hanging on the gun rack of his truck when he leaves the house.

I have pics of them all on disc somewhere. :confused:
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Wolf, I know of Uktena.;) :D
I'd love to see all the pix if you ever run across them! We can take this to email if you would like but I'd be interested in knowing more if you're willing?:thumbup: :cool:


.
 
Email? Sure we can do that. :cool:

I don't know where my disc went. It vanished when we were moving into this place. It's probably in a box somewhere. I hope it wasn't left in the car we had at the time because we sold it 4 years ago. :mad:
 
Since the thread has delved into Aboriginal bludgeoning weapons, I'm reminded that I once wanted to try to make my own taiaha and macuahuitl. Never got around to 'em yet. :(
 
DannyinJapan said:
be extra careful with obsidian if you use it. that stuff will cut you so easy you wont even feel it.
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Yeah, I'd be wary if I had access to the stuff... far sharper than the steel of a surgeon's scalpel I'm told. Sadly, (or safely[/i) I think mine would be a western post-industrial compromise and use old razor blades instead. :D

Now a taiaha or wahaika... I doubt that super-fine accidental incisions would be a danger in any event!
 
When I flint-knap, I use old TV screens. The glass knaps easier than stone and it's cheaper than buying flint slabs, too. They would work well for your Aztec club, I think.
 
There's a weird new product out there that I reviewed a week ago. It's a belt sword! It actually fits into a leather belt, and is completely invisible.

One of those would be a good anti-zombie weapon, since it's really quick to present, and can be easily carried while you're engaging with your preferred longarm. (And it had more effect on my clothing-covered simulated tissue and bone than my WWII!)

Until they get close or you run out of ammunition! :)

Then, transition to the Razor Sword. :D

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John
 
DannyinJapan said:
When I flint-knap, I use old TV screens. The glass knaps easier than stone and it's cheaper than buying flint slabs, too. They would work well for your Aztec club, I think.
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Hmm. Is there a particular quality to TV screen glass that makes it more suitable than other, perhaps more readily available forms?

Mind you, I've never successfully flintknapped ANYTHING as of yet. Would certainly look more authentic. I imagine myself embedded with a multitude of little shards, like an obscene fruitcake of flesh and silicates. :(

Spectre said:
There's a weird new product out there that I reviewed a week ago. It's a belt sword! It actually fits into a leather belt, and is completely invisible.
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Neat. Sounds like a modern take on a much older Indian weapon, the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi']Urumi[/url]. They were sometimes worn as a belt too. Sometimes much longer though, I imagine they'd be a nightmare to practice with the first time! :eek:
 
TV glass has some added chemical, maybe sodium, that makes it fracture like stone and less like glass. If you can find a dump or place where people get rid of their old tube tvs, then you just smash the glass with a hammer and grab the big pieces.
Use gloves and a mask and clean off the silver coating on the inside of the glass, its toxic.
There are several instructional videos on flinknapping that will get you up to a decent level pretty quickly.
 
I can tell you from experience that obsidian when freshly flaked is some mean stuff.

If you pressure flake serrations on an obsidian blade, it will cut like the dickens.
 
Anyone ever watch the shows on Discovery about the Spanish Conquistador's creating an insergent force and over throwingthe Aztec empire?

The show I saw spoke about the tactics used with their weapons and how they were probably implemented. The Spanish with their huge muskets would open up with their big mysterious noise makers, then let their native insergents go in and do the real work. Turns out that muskets were almost worthless in the numbers they had against the numbers they were fighting. But the intimidation was priceless.

They did experiments with the Aztec weapons. The Aztec obsidian sword is not a laughing matter. You can wear your steel helmet and steel body armor, but that sword will take the will to fight out of anyone whose arm or leg is seperated from their body. They were almost totally bisecting hanging pork sides with those "stone age" weapons.

The thing that blew my mind is these 12 year old kids that they found that use their slings to hunt rabbits, the technology hasnt changed. In order to get a standardized weight and size projectile you make it out of clay near a river and sun dry it. Those kids proved that you really can be accurate enough to open someone's head at a decent distance. They were busting cantelopes on a regular basis at something like 25 yards.

Now imagine something like 50,000 angry natives with obsidian swords and slings.
 
The atlatl is where it was at with the Aztecs.
http://www.tasigh.org/ingenium/atlatl.html
In the 16th Century, when the Spanish Conquistadors invaded Central America, the Aztecs re-adopted the atlatl (which is where we get the word from) because of its incredible power. They weren't able to compete against the Spaniard's firearms but many a Conquistador was surprised to have an armor-piercing dart pass completely through their steel breastplates; both front and back.

Dave Ingvall set the World Record for distance of 848.56 feet with an atlatl-thrown dart in 1995.
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Although Wikipedia has a different view -

The atlatl has been used by early Native Americans as well. It seems to have been introduced during the immigration across the Bering Land Bridge, a wide section of exposed seabed that connected Asia and North America during the last Ice Age. The word atlatl is derived from a Nahuatl word for "water thrower," as it was most commonly used for fishing. The Aztecs reinvented the atlatl after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in their lands and they were used extensively during the resulting war. History shows that the Spanish feared the Aztec atlatl above all other weapons. Many unfortunate Spaniards were surprised to find the power of the weapon, which proved deadly even though it couldn't penetrate Spanish metal armor.
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SamuraiDave said:
The thing that blew my mind is these 12 year old kids that they found that use their slings to hunt rabbits, the technology hasnt changed. In order to get a standardized weight and size projectile you make it out of clay near a river and sun dry it. Those kids proved that you really can be accurate enough to open someone's head at a decent distance. They were busting cantelopes on a regular basis at something like 25 yards.
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I was given two slings by a Peruvian friend, a big one for stones the size of half bricks, and a little one for pebbles. She said the shepherds where she came from, lacking border collies, used the big slings in herding: when they saw an animal wandering away, they would drop a big rock in front of it to get it headed back in the right direction. They were also used to fight other shepherds at long range. The small slings were used by children, but (she said with a wink) they had other uses, and she advised me to practice with the small sling until I could make all the pebbles go in the right direction.

I immediately saw what she meant, I was a menace! The stones sometimes went where I wanted with remarkable force, and I could well imagine busting cantaloups and heads at 20 yards. But it struck me as a weapon that would take years of practice to master. (Reality check: I have a terrible arm.) When the ancient Phoenicians and Romans used slingers in war, they hired Balearic mercenaries who trained in their use from childhood. According to Wikipedia
In ancient times, the islanders of the Gymnesian [Balearic] Islands . . . were famous for their skill with the sling. As slingers they served, as mercenaries, first under the Carthaginians, and afterwards under the Romans. They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, and a javelin burnt at the end, and in some cases tipped with a small iron point; but their effective weapons were their slings, of which each man carried three, wound round his head (Strabo p. 168; Eustath.), or, as others tell us, one round the head, one round the body, and one in the hand. (Diodorus) The three slings were of different lengths, for stones of different sizes; the largest they hurled with as much force as if it were flung from a catapult; and they seldom missed their mark. To this exercise they were trained from infancy, in order to earn their livelihood as mercenary soldiers. It is said that the mothers only allowed their children to eat bread when they had struck it off a post with the sling.
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SamuraiDave said:
They did experiments with the Aztec weapons. The Aztec obsidian sword is not a laughing matter. You can wear your steel helmet and steel body armor, but that sword will take the will to fight out of anyone whose arm or leg is seperated from their body. They were almost totally bisecting hanging pork sides with those "stone age" weapons.
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I could believe it. According to one historical account, a macuahuitl nearly severed the head of one Conquistador's horse! :eek:
 
Just to add some more obligatory H.I. khukuri content, here's some of my choices as zombie outbreak "get some" gear...


WARNING: GRATUITOUS CHITLANGI PORN AHEAD!

HPIM0900.jpg


HPIM0907.jpg


HPIM0895.jpg
 
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