And I diverge .............

[Glen Ring]

If you are making many bows you'll be breaking bows...comes with the learning process. When in doubt, make the bow wider and longer or back with sinew.

[mdeland]

This is only my second bow build Glen so like Schultz on Hogan Hero's " I know nutting"!

[Kurt]

Mike I been wanting to make a Lakota Sioux flatbow. The Ash was the preferred wood but they also used Choke cherry, Serviceberry, even juniper and Mulberry.
If I can come up with enough sinew to make the bow springer.
The wood will be air dried and smoked for strength just like the North American Plains Indians did. I will keep it around 65 to 70" long. Or maybe it will be shorter like their war bows they used on horse back. I think they were around 40". This depends on how the logs will split.
Also I will have to go down to the krick and see if it still has some snappers in it and make some coils from their necks.

[Glen Ring]

Sinew turns an iffy stave into a very springy stave. It's time consuming...but bulletproofs the Bow. I have backed bows with snake skin, sinew, Flax, bondo, , raw hide and bamboo. My current pursuit is an atlatl. A bud of mine and I went very primitive years ago and built cane Blowguns...we stalked many grasshoppers with those.

Sitting in the woods knapping flint arrowheads and knives is very relaxing with the animals all around...and connects me to some like minded hunter who sat here and did this a thousand years ago. On my place I have found knapping areas , hammer stones and signs that folks were here a thousand years ago.

Cool pursuit...and by the way, I'll always be an eager amateur at this kind of thing.

[Kurt]

Glen,

You should start a conversation with Rick, he is on here as the sandhilcowboy1. He is a master knapper the ABO way. I always had an interest in the old ways and he gave me a great education on snapping the ABO way. as well as fire starting
When Carolyn and I are in the Gypsy wagon mostly at a camp site in the bush up in the Big Horns or the Gallatin Mountains or the lake shore on Lake Superior I get out the tools and make little stones from big once and do a lot fo blood letting but it's very relaxing. Lake Superior has sone of the best hammer stones but the Agates have been eluting me.
I been working on a clovis but I'm still having a problem getting the flake to travel longer using a antler and horn billet. And I need to have him show me the secret of making a Z flake.

Here are some of my tools I carry in the Gypsy wagon. I might have to change the hides if I get any more blood on them

IMG_2961.jpeg

[mdeland]

I've been messing around with indirect percussion and like the results. This can either be done with modern or ABO tools. I sure like moose antler for a billet, tough as can be. Caribou tines work well for pressure flakers.
I've read the secret of cloves groove is getting the platform really well shaped at the base and the cross section profiled correctly. It usually needs a well defined ridge to travel down point and not stall out in a hinge or step.

[Glen Ring]

Damn...we are cool old dudes I think. When i start talkin about eating weeds and making knives from rocks my young buds think that's so cool. Fire by friction has eluded me so far. I get smoke but no ember. This is my summer to make it happen.There's-much more to most of us than shooting guns isn't there.

[mdeland]

We have these itches that need scratching that are fun to talk about and they seem to be interesting to like minded folks. It's the good ideas that surface when dialoging with those of shared interests that I enjoy. It gets you thinking sideways instead of in the same old groove and new stuff pops up.

[mdeland]

These are my current tools. They seem to grow in number like rabbits over time. I got a moose antler arrow rest pinned and glued in place tonight to go with the tip over lays. I have to shape the grip to what I want and I'm ready to floor tiller. I sure am having fun on this project. Wonder how many newby mistakes I'm making.

[mdeland]

Moose point.

[mdeland]

The Ishe stick pictured works pretty well too!

[Glen Ring]

Ishi Stick....Most are scratching their heads right now. I know what one is and have used it destroying pounds and pounds of stone. My knappin skills are more like an accident. Maybe if we all get to shoot at Raton in August we can have a " Knap In".

[Kurt]

Mike what is all that copper looking things in those tools?

I hope someday I can find a Moos shovel to make a good heavy billet.

[Kurt]

Ishi Stick....Most are scratching their heads right now. I know what one is and have used it destroying pounds and pounds of stone. My knappin skills are more like an accident. Maybe if we all get to shoot at Raton in August we can have a " Knap In".

The Quigley or the Big Hill would also work

I been working with Quartz and that is some tough stuff to flake even with heat treating. I have a couple small points in my photo but they are hard to thin down.

[mdeland]

It's one of the best conversation enhancements I've ever come across sort of like whittling while your BS'en ,keeps your hands busy!
Another piece of equipment I didn't show is Kevlar thin glass gloves. It keeps you from bleeding all the time and still have very good dexterity.