Note the position of use and the securing peg.
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Use any seat 20" - 24" height or whatever is suitable to work comfortably. If the bowstave slides toward you while working it, use a "chock" to raise the work behind the clamphead or cut an inverted "v" into the bottom edge of the top crosspiece to catch knots or irregularities in the stave. To prevent the stave from swinging from side to side while drawshaving; us two 16d nails driven into the 2x10 to hold the work stationary. Attach strings to dowels and chock to keep readily accessible.
Full-size shaving horses may be made from natural forms, dimension lumber, or finely crafted from native woods.
The Three-Stick Roycroft Packframe
Text, Photos and Illustrations By Dick Baugh
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How would you like a pack frame that is comfortable, strong, and can be made from natural materials in less than 1/2 hour? We were introduced to the Roycroft pack by Mors Kochansky at the Rabbitstick Rendezvous a few years ago.
Its an excellent lesson in self sufficiency, outdoor survival skills, knifecraft, lashing, multiple use of an object (blanket) and use of natural materials. What more do you want? But is it primitive? I don't know if our stone age ancestors actually made this type of pack frame. We do know, however, that the "Iceman", whose remains were found after 5300 years in the Alps between Italy and Austria, had with him a wood packframe(1,2,3. See drawing also). The archaeologists have released very few details on his pack frame but say that it was an inverted U shape. I also saw a photo taken in the Himalayas early in the 1900's of a simple inverted U-shaped pack frame. The Koreans have been using A-frame packs for centuries.
Essentially we are lashing together a triangular wood frame, wrapping our belongings in a blanket and tying the bundle to the frame. A single piece of thick cordage is then used as combination shoulder straps and waist band
The Frame
The FrameCut three sticks for the frame. They should be about as thick as your thumb. The length of the bottom piece should be the width of your buttocks. Ideally it should also be slightly curved to fit your back. The length of the two side pieces should be equal to or slightly longer than the distance from your buttocks to the back of your head. I have heard of other ways to select the lengths but this works for me. In the past I have used green willow (Salix sp.) because it was available in the correct diameter, straight, plentiful and easy to cut and if necessary, bend. The Iceman's pack frame was made from hazelnut and larch. Hazelnut is a much tougher wood than willow. The three sticks are held together by a combination of joints and lashing. Figure 1 shows detailed dimensions of the pack that works best for me. As a reference point I am 5' 8" tall and weigh 140 pounds. If the pack frame is too short then a greater fraction of the weight will be carried by your shoulders. If it is too long then the shoulder straps will be very loose and the load will wobble from side to side.
Figure 2 shows two different kinds of joint that can be used to hold the sticks together, the lap (Abe Lincoln) joint orthe butterfly joint, another Mors Kochansky original (4). I don't see much difference between the two but the lap joint is possibly more appropriate if you have weak wood and strong cordage whereas the butterfly joint works well if you have stronger wood and/or weaker cordage. My frame uses a lap joint on top and butterfly joints on the two bottom joints.
The lashing material can be any kind of vegetable fiber cordage or rawhide. It doesn't even have to be very strong if the joints are tight. One joint on my pack is put together with finely shredded cattail leaf fiber, another with New Zealand flax and the third with willow bark cordage. Figure 3 shows one possible way of lashing. It isn't very critical since most of the strength should come from the joint.
The original strap for my pack frame was made from a worn out Volvo seat belt plus a piece of nylon rope. Strong, durable and comfortable but it wasn't very primitive. The strap I am now using is two-ply shredded cattail (Typha sp.) leaf rope. It is made with the middle part, used for the shoulder straps, thicker than the ends. For comfort the straps should be at least one inch (2.54 cm) in diameter. The straps should taper down to 1/2 inch after they leave the shoulders to facilitate tying them around your waist.
Making straps out of cattail leaves is a good lesson in cordage techniques. Making a piece of cordage can be an abstract exercise which doesn't mean much if you have no specific application for the cordage however making a piece of cordage for a particular application combines the "how to make it" with the "What do I use it for after I've made it?". For optimum results gather the cattail leaves late in the growing season, before they have died and turned brown (5). Shred them into narrow strips. A coarse "comb" made by driving nails into a board is a useful tool for the shredding. Otherwise it can be done by hand. Finely shredded fibers will be stronger and more flexible.
After shredding the fibers should be dried and then moistened before twining.
Three-ply braided versus two-ply twined straps: take your choice. The important things are that the cattail leaves should be shredded finely to give flexibility and the straps should be thick enough to give comfort.
Packing and tying on the load: You want to pack your load in such a way that it is comfortable and everything is readily accessible without having to take it all apart. The best way I have found so far is to wrap up your gear the same way you wouId a baby. Another analogy is to say the blanket is folded like an envelope. Fold your blanket into a square and place it on top of the pack frame with the corners up, down, left and right, place something soft such as a coat or sweater at the bottom for padding where it will contact your lower back. This is very important. Otherwise the crosspiece digs into your lower back. Put the rest of your gear on the blanket. Fold up the bottom corner, and then wrap the left and right corners around the gear. Last, fold the top corner down. This way it is easy to access anything by lifting up the top corner.
Tying the pack to the frame: Begin securing the load to the pack frame by first tying a rope to the center of the crosspiece.The load is then tied on in accordancewith Figure 4. It is critical to tighten the rope sufficiently that some of the soft padded portion of the pack protrudes through to keep the crosspiece from contacting your lower back. That is shown in Figure 5.
Gear secured to the pack frame.
The pack all ready to go.
Securing the straps: Secure the center of the straps to the top of the pack as shown in Figure 6. It can be done as illustrated or with a "lark's head" knot. The straps then go over your shoulders, around the bottom of the side pieces and then are tied around your waist. Once the straps are tied together you can leave the knot in place and remove the pack simply by slipping the straps off the bottom of the side pieces.
Field testing: My first real experience with a Roycroft pack was on a two week BOSS walkabout in south eastern Utah. I was using the Roycroft whereas my compadres were using very simple blanket packs. None of us had very heavy loads. One big advantage of the Roycroft over the simpler pack was the ease with which you could untie the pack, add something or take something out, and then re-tie it and be on your way. The other advantage was greater comfort.
My next test of the Roycroft pack was to see how it did with a heavier load. I packed a heavy coat and 25 pounds (11.36 kilograms) of books in the Roycroft and took off on a 1 1/2 hour hike in hills. This is where I learned that narrow straps don't work well. It is also important that there be enough padding in the bottom of the pack to keep the cross piece off your tail. Other than that it works great.
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Footnotes
(1.) 1993, The Iceman. National Geographic, June, page 36.
(2.) 1993. Who Was the Iceman?. Popular Science, February, page 46.
(3.) 1992, The Long-Lost Hunter. Audubon, September-October, page 92.
(4.) Mors Kochansky, Northern Bushcraft, Lone Pine Publishing, ISBN # 0-919433-51-0.
(5.) 1994, SPT Fall Bulletin, pages 10-17.
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Cross boards - L
arch (Larix decidua). Only faces show traces of being worked. Boards were split from small branches.
Top board - 38.3 cent, long X6.1 cent wide X 1.2 cent thick. Bottom board - 40.5 cent, long X4.6 cent, wide X 0.6 cent thick. All boards had rounded end notches like bottom right.
Rod - Hazel (Corylus avellana) 1.98 meters long.
THE MANUFACTURE OF PRIMITIVE PRIMITIVE THRUSTING SPEARS
By Steve Watts
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Our Homo Erectus ancestors possessed both flake and core stone tools. That much is certain. Beyond that, we can only speculate about the wood, bone, fiber and other technologies at their disposal. Our first evidence of wooden thrusting spears does not appear archaeologically until Neanderthal times. Yet, to envision Lower Paleolithic humans without a sharp stick in hand is pretty difficult. They were most likely there, and their use was probably multifunc-tional-for prying and digging up food and flakable stone, for defense against predators, and (even though our earliest ancestors were most likely scavengers, not hunters) for the occasional killing of a maimed, sick or dying animal. The requirements were simple—sturdiness and a sharp point or bevel.
Perhaps the first of these tools were not created by man at all. Wind and water can splinter saplings and tree limbs which can in turn become lethal weapons in the hands of humans. Whatever the circumstances, the thrusting/jabbing spear was born. It is both the ancestor of all piercing weapons that would follow and an important and viable tool for the primitive hunter still. (See "Reconsidering the Thrusting Spear") Primitive Primitive Manufacture:
"Primitive Primitive" as used here has both temporal and technological connotations. Temporal—as in "first first"—reflecting on the earliest possible prototypes and functions. And, technological—as in "basic basic"—exploring the simplest tools and techniques needed to manufacture such spears. Having already offered up the possibility of expedient/found thrusters, we turn now to three basic methods of primitive manufacture—methods available to us and to the men and women of the Old Stone Age.
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The "No Tools" Method:
The technique is simple: Bend it 'til it breaks. Select a dead standing sapling or an accessible limb on a larger tree. Finding just the right tree at just the right stage can be tricky. You are looking for a wood that will "explode" under the stresses of compression and tension, resulting in a splintery break (Fig. 1). Green wood is too flexible for this technique, and wood that is too far gone will be either too weak or will simply snap off cleanly. Experiment with a variety of species to discover the possibilities. Your failed experiments can be used for firewood. Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) fills the need in my part of the country. It's plenty strong enough. It is not very heavy, but remember, we're looking for a thruster not a thrower. And, it splinters into some wicked points and bevels (Fig. 2). Break off the butt end to the desired length and you have created one of the most basic of weapons.
Fig. 1. A bent sapling explodes under the forces of bending... resulting in a properly splintered thruster.
Fig. 2. The "No Tools" method of thrusting spear manufacture results not in a point, but a sharp bevel.
The Hand Axe Method:
Much has been written about the possible uses of flaked stone choppers and hand axes in the Lower Paleolithic. Like the thrusting spear, their use was most likely multifunctional: butchering animals, defense, bone breaking for marrow extraction, use as a prepared core for flake removal, etc. Some people have eliminated the use of the "axe" label, altogether, citing too much of an inference of wood chopping functions. But, chop wood they will! It's not a lot of fun, but hand axes can indeed by used to fell and trim trees.
Select a suitable sapling and begin chopping in a downward direction, working your way around the tree. You are in essence cutting down the tree and shaping the spear's point simultaneously (Fig. 3). Support the tree with your body as you work so that it will not fall under its own weight too soon and splinter or "fuzz up" the point (Fig. 4). Cutting it all the way to the last fiber will result in the desirable strength and sharpness. If you need it sharper, you can use the edge of the hand axe in a scraping fashion (Fig. 5). Lay the downed tree on a log and chop it to the Dead, seasoned wood will be harder to chop, but will produce a spear that is ready to go. Green wood cuts much easier, but will require seasoning or fire hardening to keep the point strong and sharp.
Fig. 3. Chopping has progressed completely around the tree. Continuing in this same manner, the point is completed as the tree is felled.
Fig. 4. Supporting the tree as you chop helps to steady the vibration and keep the point from splintering out.
Fig. 5. Sharpening the point with the edge of the hand axe.
The Fire and Stone Method:
This is basically a "burn and scrape" or a "burn and grind" technique. Select a standing dead sapling and either break it off or uproot it. The spear is sized by burning at the desired location. To create a point, rotate the blank as it burns. A little scraping with an unmodified flake (struck from your hand axe perhaps), or grinding on a coarse stone will remove the char and expose the hard wood underneath. Keep burning and scraping or grinding until satisfied. A very sharp point can result (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. The combination of fire and stone can produce a sharp point efficiently.
Three completed "primitive primitive" thrusting spears. Left to right: No Tools Method, Fire & Stone Method, Hand Axe Method.
RECONSIDERING THE THRUSTING SPEAR
The standard progressive train of thought runs something like this: First, hunters used thrusting spears for the taking of large game. Sometimes these spears were thrown. Lighter and more flexible atlatl darts replaced the heavy spears, only to be replaced themselves by the even speedier arrow. And so, the lowly thrusting spear is left behind in the ever-evolving tool kit of the hunter.
Yet, if we look at the ethnographic evidence from hunter/gatherer cultures which survived into the twentieth century, we find that a place for the thruster remains in the arsenal—in spite of the presence of both atlatl and bow and arrow technology. Inuit hunters of the arctic used short thrusting spears for the dispatching of sea mammals taken by harpoon—much in the same way that a modern hunter may carry a pistol to dispatch an animal wounded by his rifle. Clubs and mauls of various designs were used for this "final blow" function in a multitude of other cultures.
Has the use of thrusting spears as dispatching weapons come and gone several times throughout prehistory? This question is raised by the sometimes confusing assemblages of "spear points" (of various sizes and edge angles) which occur together in a given time period. Were some of these meant for "thrusting" only, while others were designed more specifically for cutting and/or aerodynamic flight? Or, have thrusting spears been there all along, becoming from time to time archaeologically invisible as they periodically alternate back and forth between stone tipped models and the all wooden Lower Paleolithic form?
"What we should be doing is trying to understand how a cultural system handled resources... Most people's thinking goes on the assumption that when something newer and better comes along, the people discard what they did before. This clouds a lot of the ways that tribal cultures are perceived." John White Early Man. Archeological Quarterly Vol. 2,1978
BULLROARERS
By Tom Hackett
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"There is hooting, drumming, singing and shrieking and, as a climax, the head Kani (Bullroarer) is swung____by Itself; then follows a whole chorus of "short-legged " Kani so that, for the first day and night then Is an Infernal howling____Through its swinging movements the large head Kani produces a distinctively soothing rumble; the small "short-legged " Kani are swung with such skill that they sound like the furious yelping of enraged curs. In still weather one can hear the humming from Tami even in Yabim, three or four hours walking distance away." (Bamler 1911:501 in Gourlay 1975)
Few things in life are as enjoyable as furiously yelping like an enraged cur, hence the bullroarer. A
s this journal is concerned with technical rather than mythic or ethnographic endeavors I will only touch on the ideas and mystery surrounding the bullroarer.
Bullroarer, Rhombus, Lightning Sticks, Prayer Sticks, Whizzers, Kani, Rokut, Churingas, etc. (see Drumming On The Edge Of Magic for a list of over 60 indigenous names for this simple tool) are often clouded in the ceremonial/spiritual mystique of special societies and celebrations, yet also appear in some cultures as childrens' toys. In some cultures it portrays a monster to be feared, in others the voice of the ancestors, and yet in others a tool to summon the Gods. From the manifestation of the spiritual world to the source of life giving rain, the bullroarer is truly a pandemic tool. Found on each of the populated continents in various cultures, the bullroarer's functional menagerie is matched only by the wide variety of forms it takes. However, the common function of all bullroarers, regardless of ceremonial significance, is the production of sound.
An attempt has been made here to describe the making of a clear, loud, crisp, bullroarer.
Material Selection
The range of materials used ethnographically includes wood, metal, bone, and antler. Wood is by far the most common material available for the construction of the bullroarer as variety of source and style becomes unlimited. Virtually any kind of wood when shaped to the rough dimensions described herein will produce a sound. However, to make a bullroarer that will be heard for miles one must use a wood with a relatively high concentration of lignin. Lignin is a specialized sclerenchyma tissue found in the secondary cell walls of many plants. Basically, lignified cell walls equate to heavy, dense, wood. The heavier and more dense a piece of wood the better the sound and flight of the bullroarer. Some primitives sought blanks from the trunks of lightening-killed trees in order to take advantage of the magic from the sky.
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