Primitive Technology
Page 18
Adzes
An adz is a flat bottomed ax turned sidwise. The top curved back of the bit is the critical area and should follow the same suggested angle and arc of an axe. The platter (lower arc) bottom side receives less force when used correctly. Any method of hafting that prevents compression between the bit and poll can be considered. Pinch the two ends together with force and you are in danger of buckling it. Wrapping with buckskin is the best or substitute suede leather. Both provide a good grip whereas rawhide is too slick for my taste. Once wrapped as tight as possible, give it a cinch wrap. After use the leather will stretch some so recinching is usually called for.
I prefer an angle of just less than 90 degrees between the handle and head. More acute angles work fine with razor sharp steel tools but not with stone ones.
Handles that are oval to rectangular allow you to control the cutting angle whereas round handles tend to be harder to manage. Smooth wood seems to be the best finish although built up handles of leather and cane work fine if smooth and friction free. A completed greenstone tool should have a scabbard made to protect the bit and someway of assuring that a fine touch-up whetstone accompany the tool wherever it is taken. Using a damaged bit for further work is inviting tool destruction.
Adzes - Top-left: Gouge bit hafted to honeysuckle bush handle. Right: Plano-convex head hafted to plum wood with suede and cinched with latigo.
A few types of adzes. Top row, second from left has proven to be the most efficient type for me.
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MORTISING A CELT HANDLE
Photos By Scott Silsby
A. A finished mortise in Bitternut Hickory. It took about an hour and an additional ten minutes of sawing and rasping with a quartzite knife to clean up.
B. Beveled edge celt hafted as a carpenter's hatchet ("hadzet") was used to cut this green hickory.
C. While an adze would work better here, the hatchet gets by. Chips of stone are death on cutting bits, hence the admonishment.
D. Handle is roughed out and ready to mortiise.
E. A narrow bited chisel of greenstone. Pecked grooves help in holding.
F. An extremely tough mallet of Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood) is used to gently cut the mortise.
G. Hatchet and axe handles in various stages of production, with mortising chisel and mallet.
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HAFTING A GROOVED OR FLAKED AXE
Cut down desired limb, sapling, or root. Trim handle to final length (not too long, one usually holds just under the head) cut forks or split to correct length by chopping or sawing against a solid log or tree.
From Primitive Technology, Callahan, 1987.
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Live Tree Hafting - Scott Silsby
This photograph of the greenstone axe bit set in a bitternut hickory branch (two years growth) illustrates a long held misconception of stone tool technology by the general public. But now you know that you were not the only curious fool alive who pondered the possibilities of this highly impractical technique. I think I have a good amount of experience with trees having had a career dealing directly with them for a couple of decades not to mention a couple other decades as an avocational woodsman. I have met a lot of trees in my life yet I have never run across one with just the right sized hole for mortising an axe. I have seen plenty of rotted, insect or bird damaged ones but always the wrong shape or condition for axe hafting. Somewhere out there I would guess one exists but lacking it, I decided to make one just to learn from the experience.
Mental notes gleaned from this are as follows:
1. Pick a tree at a comfortable working height (I didn't).
2. Make sure you will have room to work at both ends of the mortise (I didn't).
3. Assure the tree (or limb) will retain enough strength to survive gutting it and still remain intact in a storm or from icing (I did).
4. Once the head is wedged in it must be held in until enough growth grips it as the wind moves the wood somewhat. (Eventually had to hammer it back in and bungee cord it.)
5. Guard your creation from vandals and thieves.
6. Plug gaps in the mortise with resin or gum to deter insects. (I used beeswax and replugged it as needed.)
Is it worth all the bother? Most likely not but stay tuned for further updates as the "creation" is turned into an axe after the upcoming sap flow allows bark stripping.
For those interested in prehistoric Native American examples I recommend an article by Gregory Perino which includes a photograph and drawings of several types including one that illustrates hafting incorporating secondary growth around the mortise. Whether it was cultivated or discovered is not clear. (Perino '79)
A PEEK INTO THE PAST: AN ANCIENT WOOD CARVING KIT CACHE
Text and Illustrations By Steve Allely © 1995
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Ever wonder what some ancient tool kits might look like if you could go back in time and see one? If you're anything like me you've probably wondered about that sort of thing before a time or two and applied it to your favorite subject or particular area of interest.
Well thanks to a friend of mine by the name of Steve Wallman and his keen eye for archaeological clues, we have some pretty good insight on what is almost certainly an ancient wood carving kit. In brief, it consists of an elk antler splitting wedge, a beaver jaw or at least the remains of one, nine jasper flakes and a sandstone abrader. Steve first told me of this find, and how he felt certain that it was a wood carving kit, quite a number of years ago. Some time later I was able to actually see it for myself and had to agree. In short, you have tools for splitting, carving, gouging, scraping, sawing, planing, rasping and sanding. Personally I'd have to say that if this isn't a wood carving kit, then I don't know what one is. Later, he graciously gave it to me since he felt it would mean more to me than him and I've been itching to write something about it ever since.
This find was made in the forested region southeast of LaPine Oregon a number of years ago in the middle of a logging operation. This region of Oregon sits on the immediate east side of the Cascade range and is a relatively flat area interspersed by volcanic features such as cinder cones, buttes, and periodic rimrock and lava outcroppings along with a few isolated springs. The area is covered with ponderosa pine and lodge pole and lies just to the west of where the tree line stops and the sage and juniper take over to form the northwestern edge of the Great Basin. It's likely that the people who lived in this area were quite migratory and their yearly routine probably led them west into the forested regions and up into the Cascade range during the summer months and then back out into the Great Basin region just to the east to spend the winter much like the herds of game animals still do even to this day.
Figure 1. Position of items found in cache.
The site in which the find was made was near a spring as most sites in the area are. There is a great deal of pumice and ash throughout the entire region that overlays many of the older archaeological sites, from both Mt. Mazama to the south and from Newberry Crater only a short distance to the north. Usually the ash and pumice along with the duff on the forest floor keep sites buried and fairly undisturbed but logging operations had uncovered this particular one as they often do.
Steve happened to be looking over the site and noticed in a section of uncovered ground something that didn't look quite right. Upon further careful investigation he found a small cache pit with the items stashed in it as shown.
The timely discovery of this cache was fortunate since the heavy equipment in use would have surely destroyed the items within and scattered them if they hadn't been removed. As it was, the sandstone abrader had already been broken by being run over prior to its being found.
A brief description of the items from the cache is as follows: The elk antler splitting wedge is 5" long by approximately 2 1/4" wide and is fairly decomposed as are the rest of the bone items found. The nature of the decomposition makes it appear as if it had been eaten away by acid to some degree and it's original surface highly p
itted and etched away. Possibly this was due to an acidic content in the surrounding soil. It's outer surface and inner marrow are still readily apparent though.
All that was left of the beaver jaw was one incisor tooth incased in a small amount of jaw bone, two molars and another fragment of bone which may be a part of the same jaw. Beaver teeth along with other rodent teeth have long been a documented part of wood carving for years among many tribal groups. I'd read this before in various places and also had it confirmed by Errett Callahan in a recent phone conversation that I had with him about the widespread use of beaver teeth amongst native peoples. I have a modern beaver jaw and incisor tooth that is nearly identical in size and shape to the old one. The rear teeth or molars, in the modem jaw are identical to the two found in the cache, although there are a total of four rear teeth in a beaver lower jaw so two are missing. It's possible that they may have been removed by the former owner or had fallen out or were disturbed and scattered in later years by burrowing rodents, or by the disturbance that uncovered the cache in the first place. Experimenting with my beaver jaw led me to wrap the base of the incisors with sinew for reinforcement, smooth off the rough portions of the jaw bone for a more comfortable grip and then wrap it with a thick thong of brain tanned leather. It makes an admirable wood working tool, and is most effective if the wood is still green.
The nine jasper flakes all found clutched together, are a brownish yellow heat treated jasper and appear to be percussion flakes from biface manufacture. What's interesting about sites in this region is that obsidian was almost exclusively used for knives and points due to the availability of several good sources of it nearby, only 25 miles or less, while jasper and agate was generally used only for such items as drills, gravers, and other "hard use" bone and woodworking tools. The reason of course is that obsidian while being extremely sharp, doesn't hold up nearly as well as does the harder non obsidian materials. So here we have jasper flakes that could be used for carving, sawing, drilling, scraping, and planing. None of them had been altered or used yet in anyway and appeared to be "fresh" with no edge wear apparent. Perhaps they were intended to be altered into whatever carving or shaping tools were needed at a later date.
The sandstone abrader is 6" long, 2 3/4" wide and is 3/ 4" thick. It's really the equivalent of a modern sanding block in about 60 grit. It was broken as was mentioned earlier probably by heavy logging equipment passing over it and was restored by Steve Wallman. This is definitely an abrader and not a misidentified mano used in conjunction with a metate. It's made from a very gritty and abrasive sandstone and shows definite use wear on both sides and along the two longer squared edges. I would tend to think that this would be used more after the wooden item being shaped was dry since sanding while wood is still green simply loads up sandstone (or sandpaper for that matter), with wet wood fiber. So quite possibly this is a final finishing and shaping tool at least for wooden items. Additionally, it could be used for bone and antler items as well and may well have been used to shape and sharpen the elk antler splitting wedge it was found with.
It's unfortunate that this find couldn't be more precisely dated with some possible obsidian hydration dates from the associated lithic scatter nearby but the disturbed nature of the site makes this speculative at best. There were some fragments of point bases also found nearby which are quite old, possibly several thousand years or more but since they weren't found in direct association with the cache and could have come from a deeper level in the site, its difficult to be certain. It's quite possible that the cache is very old and may be well over several thousand years, but no real firm date can be assigned.
So there you have it. A splitting wedge which was an important wood working technique amongst native peoples especially for removing the initial piece of wood to be worked, a beaver jaw, with the incisor tooth for carving and gouging, nine jasper flakes for carving, scraping, planing or whatever else you choose to do with them, and a sandstone abraderfor rasping and sanding with the dual purpose of being useful for bone and antler as well as wood. All of us who are interested in aboriginal life skills are indebted to Steve Wallman for granting us a glimpse into an ancient tool kit.
LEFT - Figure 2. The wood working cache found by Steve Wallman. A - Beaver incisor and molar teeth showing outline of lower jaw bone. B - Bone fragment which may be part of jaw bone. C - Nine heat treated jasper flakes. D - Elk antler splitting wedge. E -Sandstone abrader. All items shown to scale.
FUNCTIONAL MOTIONS *
Working Wood With Stone Tools
Text and Illustrations By Errett Callahan
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This article is provided for those who wonder what happens to stone when it's used to work wood. It has been taken from Experimental Archaeological Papers #4. June 1976 (APE#4) edited by Errett Callahan. These were papers compiled from the field studies of participants in Phase I and II of the Pamunkey Project (Virginia Commonwealth University Field School), a landmark effort in this country in the field of living/experimental archaeology.
This information is provided for two reasons: 1. to provide scholars and practitioners with solid research data about edge damage, and 2. to establish a model of what can be produced by adding the scientific process to good field work. ED
I. Percussion
A. Rectilinear (in a near-straight line downwards,up and downwards, or otherwise)
1. Chopping (dicing) - uni-directional arced movement usually directed downward into objective piece at oblique to perpendicular angle (45° - 90°) to that piece, as severing a standing or fallen sapling, breaking sod, or dicing carrots, etc.
2. Chop-sliding - uni-directional movement usually directed downward into objective piece at oblique angle (30° - 45°) blending into a pushing of the tool's edge along the cut away from the body, as severing a standing sapling.
B. Random
3. Agitating (tossing, spinning, shuffling) - bi-or multi-directional movement of 2 or more objects at random angles (0 - 360°) one against the other in air or liquid media, perhaps with aid of a container, as tossing flakes up and down in a basket for a musical rattle.
II. Pressure
C. Longitudinal (parallel to lineal edge)
4. Cutting (incising) - uni-directional movement parallel to lineal edge and usually directed toward body with tool held near perpendicular (90°) to objective piece, as cutting a sizzling tenderloin steak.
5. Sawing- bi-directional movement parallel to lineal edge, with the tool held near perpendicular to objective piece, tilting from side to side (80° -100°) as/if needed to widen the gap and prevent binding, as severing a small branch from a sapling.
D. Transverse (perpendicular to lineal edge)
6. Scraping, uni-directional - uni-directional movement perpendicular to lineal edge, directed either toward or away from body, with tool held at 45° - 90° to objectivepiece, as removing scales from a fish or fleshing a hide.
7. Scraping, bi-directional - bi-directional movement perpendicular to ineal edge, directed both toward and away from body, or from side to side, with tool held at 90° to objective piece, as scraping bark from a willow twig.
8. Whittling (carving) - uni-directional arced movement, near perpendicular to lineal edge, directed away from body, with tool held, by one end, at up to 30° to objective piece, as sharpening a pencil by hand.
9. Planing (shaving, away) - uni-directional movement, generally not arched, perpendicular to lineal edge, directed away from body with a pushing motion, with tool held, at both sides, at up to 30° to objective piece, as planing down an arrow shaft with a snapped blade, flake, or biface.
10. Drawing (shaving, toward) - uni-directional movement, arched or not, near perpendicular to lineal edge, directed toward body with a pulling motion, with tool held by one end or both sides, at up to 30° to objective piece, as sharpening a pencil toward the body.
11. Digging - uni-directional movement perpendicular to lineal edge, usually directed toward body with tool held near or beyond perpen
dicular (90° -135°) to objective piece, as scooping out a hole in the ground. May accompany initial chopping movement.