Primitive Technology

by David Wescott

  Now we are at the stage of having a pot full of either fresh conifer sap or reconstituted conifer pitch, thick and sticky. Some folks use it in this state and pat charcoal powder on the surface to protect from getting the sap on their body as in the old bark canoes where high flexibility was needed.

  For hafting, I prefer "Scotty's Deluxe Formula". Using a double boiler of earthenware, soapstone or tin cans (If you didn't catch Maria Sidoroff's excellent article on ceramics in the bulletin of Primitive Technology Vol. 1 No. 1 ). Slowly heat the batch to evaporate the turpentine and other remaining fluids. For a one cup batch, take it off the heat after ten minutes for the first test. Dip an arrow shaft sized stick into the hot glop then dip the stick and glop in cool water until you feel it's around 72 degrees all the way through. It will chill on the surface while remaining hot in the center. Allow this core heat to resurface and test by lightly pressing the blob. Don't squeeze hard; it may erupt! Once at or near 72 degrees, press your fingernail into it. It should dent 1/32" at 6 pounds pressure. Catch the indentation with your nail or a dull knife and pry up slowly. It should move a smidgen (1/4 tad) before popping out or off, a small conchoidal-like spall. If you can squeeze the blob flat between your fingers, it's still a little soft for hafting use. If it's weak and brittle and shatters then you have over cooked it. Back in the turpentine dissolution jar for over brittle batches. For harder, less flexible batches, mix crushed rock dust and short plant fibers into the batch while cooking. I prefer red hematite and limonite dust for color and wolfs bane (dogbane to the civilized world) fibers with the outer bark included for the burnt sienna color. One-fourth inch fibers add some flexible strength to the batch.

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  If you squeeze the blob flat between your fingers, it's still a little soft for hafting use.

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  To use this stuff in hafting stone to wood such as in an arrowhead into a pre-formed socket, preheat the arrowhead and the wood socket to drive off moisture and warm the haft area. Dip the hot arrowhead's base into the hot resin mix and join the two while both are still hot. Center and balance the point by spinning the arrow with the tip down on a smooth hard wood surface and no, don't use Aunt Ethel's cherry side board. Adjust the point while the whole thing is warm and reheat over a low fire if required. Use small wood shavings as shims, if needed, until the whole arrow and point spin true. Needless to say, start with a straight arrow. Use small blade flakes of heat-tolerant flint or a dull knife (native copper, of course), both hot, to remove excess rosin to sculpt the haft area. Allow the haft area to completely cool then bind with hide glue soaked sinew. [Stay away from commercial liquid hide glues and use the granular type as handled by a few dealers in the Resource Directory and Bulletin Board of the S.P.T.].

  After twelve to twenty-four hours of drying time, depending on heat and humidity, excess rosin will ooze out of the notch from the shrinking sinew. Pop off these "oozettes" with your finger nail. Remoisten and rub vigorously with your fingers to spread the hide glue and to remelt and smooth the rosin. You can now shoot your arrow into green hardwood. The point may break or perhaps the shaft but if you did correctly the haft area will survive seven times out of ten shots.

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  REFERENCES

  Klopsteg, Paul E.

  1934 Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow.

  Ward, Jay

  1949 Naval Stores: The Industry in Trees. The Yearbook of Agriculture, U.S.D.A. G.P.O. Wash., D.C.

  Sidoroff, Maria

  1991 Introduction to Ceramic Replication. Bulletin of Primitive Technology Vol. 1, No.1.

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  For many of us, our interest in all of this is more towards the practical aspect of finding a workable natural material suitable for hafting stone to wood, bone and such.

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  MEMBERS RESPOND. Adhesives

  Making Pitch Sticks

  By Evard H. Gibby

  As a follow-up to the section on adhesives in the Fall 1991 BPT, storing pitch on sticks is a handy and makes the use of it simple in the field.

  Collect a batch of pitch from conifer trees and heat it near a fire in a small can or pot. As it is melting add up to 1/2 its volume of finely ground wood ash and stir until the mixture is melted and well mixed.

  Take several small twigs (3 - 4 inches long) and begin dipping them in the hot mixture, and setting them aside to cool. Re-dip them several times like dipping candles, until a small hot dog shaped blob of pitch is on each stick. As each stick is dipped it can be dipped into cold water to help cool it faster if desired. When sufficient pitch coats each stick and it has partially cooled it can be rolled back and forth in the palms to help shape the pitch stick.

  Store a few of these sticks in your possibles bag or pack for ready use in the field. To use the pitch stick, in hefting for example, heat the end of the pitch stick over a small flame and either let the melted pitch drip into the notch of the handle or daub it in with the pitch stick. When the desired amount of pitch lines the notch (reheat the pitch in notch over the flame if needed) insert the blade and wrap with cordage or sinew.

  Another method described by Charles Robbins of the Anasazi Post is to melt the pitch, mix in the ground charcoal, and let the mixture begin to cool. When it begins to firm up, pour it onto a flat surface and roll it into a long coil about the diameter of a pencil. After it has completely cooled, break it into pieces several inches long for convenient storage and use. Jim Woods of the Herrett Museum, Twin Falls, Idaho describes the Australian aboriginal method of making pitch sticks as follows:

  Collect pitch (in our case use conifer pitch) and heat in a container until it melts. While it is heating take some charcoal out of the fire and grind into a fine powder and place this in a small cone shaped depression in the ground. When the pitch is melted pour it into the depression with the charcoal. When it begins to cool, start mixing the pitch and charcoal together by hand. Pull out small blobs and mix it similar to pulling taffy. Then roll between hands to make small cigar shaped pitch sticks, set aside and make another until all the pitch is used. The ratio is roughly 1/2 charcoal to 1/2 pitch. The pitch sticks are used as described above.

  Mr. Woods suggests the primitive Americans may have added ground up dried grass fibers to their pitch to give it strength. He also suggests that there are several unanswered questions regarding the preparation of pitch adhesives. How long should the material be heated for best results? Should it be boiled or just heated up? Can it be overcooked and become too brittle? Can the pitch be reheated several times and still be effective? What were the additives, and how much were used by the primitives?

  Trying to find the answers to these and other questions about pitch adhesive would be a beneficial research project says Woods. Any takers?

  One way to keep pine pitch glue from becoming brittle is by adding a small amount of beeswax to the pitch when melted. This causes the pitch to become tacky and reduces the chances of shattering.

  Beeswax, however, is not readily available in the wilderness in a primitive or survival situation, but milkweed plants are often found. When melting a batch of pine pitch, cut a few stalks of milkweed and allow the juice to drip into the container with the melting pitch. This will also give the pitch glue a tacky property. Some experimentation should be done to determine how much juice to add to get the desired result. Different types of milkweed may have different amounts of latex in their juice. The plant that I have used in southern Idaho is Asclepias speciosa.

  A Word On Pitch

  By Errett Callahan

  In his article, Making Pitch Sticks, in BPT #6, Evard Gibby asks for comments on evaluating pitch mixtures. Having used various pine pitch mixtures for over 20 years and consulted with Swedish pitch users, I'd like to offer Gibby, Jim Woods, and our readers a word or two on the subject.

  Various members of the Swedish Society of Prehistoric Technology have graciously shared their years of experience with me, experience founded upon traditional use
patterns ages old in Scandinavia. Pitch is typically mixed about 50-50 with finely powdered charcoal, extremely finely powdered (i.e. lampblack). I was at first under the impression that the less the pitch was heated the better, but not so. You don't just heat it till it melts, you boil the tar out of it (or into it). (Just as with pine tar.) The longer you boil it down the better, but watch out it doesn't catch fire. I can't see that cooking reduces the volume any, but it does seem to make it tougher and more resilient. Still, at its best, pine pitch mixtures are but fillers, not glues. Nor can it compare with the Australian spinifax gum, which allows hafting of stone tools without the use of binding.

  Additives include, in various parts of the world, charcoal powder, hardwood ashes, unfired ceramic clay powder, and dried dung flakes (of grass eaters). I haven't tried them all so can't evaluate their relative merits. A mixture with beeswax (40% to 60% pitch) improves its flexibility. But remember, the North American Indian didn't have the honey bee. Other natural waxes, however, have yet to be investigated. So I'll close by asking, as Gibby did, if there are any takers on the use of waxes other than beeswax, either for pitch mixes, sealers, varnishes, or mummy gum. (Shades of Silsby, BPT #2.)

  About Animal Glues

  By Errett Callahan

  The bad news: I have just been informed that some art supply houses are now withdrawing their animal hide glues (rabbit skin glue) from the market. This seems to be because of protests by misinformed "animal rights" activists who think rabbits are being slaughtered solely for the glue. (Haven't they seen the meat for sale in the frozen food section of their grocery stores?) So those who are paranoid about making bows without sinew backing will now have to learn real bowmaking skills or make their own glue.

  The good news: Tim Baker sent me a sample bottle of fish glue which seems to be of superior quality in a liquid state (unlike liquid animal hide glues which are very weak). It's made by Garrett Wade Co., Inc., 161 Avenue of the Americas, NYC 10013 (phone: 800-221-2942). Yes, they take phone orders. I don't know the cost, but I'm very impressed with the strength. Yes, you can use it for sinew bows.

  Pitch sticks ready for just about any job. Evard Gibby.

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  Section 5

  Projectiles Power From The Human Hand

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  Thong-Thrown Arrows and Spears

  By Tim Baker

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  Payne-Gallwey, in "Crossbows", his 1903study of balistic machines, describes an ancient pastime among men of Yorkshire: arrow-throwing. A string is wrapped around the arrow and the index finger, the string acting somewhat like a flexible atlatl. Gallwey reports distance of up to 372 yards!

  To put this in perspective, a 70lb bow is about the comfortable draw-weight limit for a typical archer. Such a bow can be expected to cast a normal weight hunting arrow about 250 yards. An average atlatl thrower will reach about 125 yards.

  But 370 yards ! And by hand ! ? !

  Gallwey had to be wrong. And there was a simple way to prove it.

  Following Gallwey's instructions, one end of a knotted string was wrapped around a standard target arrow, the other end around my index finger. The arrow was thrown toward a pile of hay at the end of my driveway. Then two unexpected things happened: 1. a surpisingly heavy tug as the arrow was released - real work was being done; 2. the arrow disappeared.

  Then there was silence in the neighborhood. A long, uncomfortable silence, followed in time by the distant but unmistakable sound of a 125-grain steel field point imbedding in wood siding. Gallwey was onto something.

  Upon reflection, 300-plus distances are not surprising. Near-equal amounts of energy are expended by the arm and body when throwing either a 1,000-grain atlatl dart, or a 300-grain arrow (One once = 437 grains). In addition, compared to the atlatl, a string's lighter mass makes more of that energy available to the arrow. Obviously a lighter arrow should travel farther than a heavier dart. Recent experiments by Oregon flintknapper and atlatl researcher, Craig Ratzat support this thinking. Craig reaches far greater distances when using lighter darts.

  Gallwey's Yorkshire arrow throwers used hazel shafts about the thickness of a man's little finger. Hazel was selected because of its light pithy center and strong, thin wood shell. Arrows were 31" in length, and well dried. Shafts were made without weighted heads, fletching, or nocks. To fly straight and true each shaft was slightly tapered, blunt end forward. Shaft diameters were 3/16 at the small end, 1/ 4 at the center, and 5/16 at the head. Each weighed about one-half ounce. A proper shaft's balance point was about 13" from it's head.

  Here are Gallwey's throwing instructions verbatim:

  1. Make a pencil mark around the arrow at 16 inches from the head. Fig. B.

  2. Take a piece of hard, strong string, 1/16" in diameter and 28" long. Tie a double knot at 1/2" from one end of the string. Fig. C.

  3. Hold the head of the arrow towards you in your left hand, and hitch the knot firmly around the pencil mark, as shown in Fig. D.

  4. Next, and still holding the head of the arrow towards you in the left hand, twist the loose end of the string around the first joint of the first finger of the right hand, until the inside edge of this finger is 3" from the point of the arrow along its' shaft Keep the string tightly stretched from the finger to the knot. The knot will not slip if the string is kept taut. Fig. E.

  5. Now grip the arrow close to its' head between the thumb and second and third fingers of the right hand ( the first finger keeping the string tight); and turn it from you in the direction of its' intended flight.

  Fig. F.

  6. Hold the arrow at arms length in front of you, then draw it back and with a powerful jerk of the arm, cast it forward and high as if throwing a stone, its' line of flight being at an angle of about 45 degrees to the ground.

  Pointers to remember-

  1. Remember that the knot is merely hitched to the arrow and not tied to it.

  2. During the process of winding the string on the forefinger of the right hand, the left hand should grasp the arrow and the string together a few inches below the knot, so a s to prevent the latter from slipping. The part of the string (about half its' length) which is wrapped around the finger may be unravelled so as not to cut the skin. The unravelled portion may be stopped by a knot from unwinding too far.

  Arrow throwing is not extinct. Utah paleontologist, Don Burge has been throwing arrows for twenty years. He uses tamarisk, dogwood, or even Port Orford cedar shafts. Each is feathered, and weighted as per normal hunting arrows. Throwing 500-grain arrows, Don reaches distances of 200 yards, equaling the performance of a 65lb bow. He reports his students typically reach these distances after 20 minutes practice.

  As when stringing a child's spinning top,the string is held in place by pressure against the knot. At release, as the string exceeds a 90-degree angle relative to the arrow, the knot is freed and the string falls free.

  Don uses a well-worn leather shoestring, sometimes dampened for traction. He places the knot near the fletching and wraps the thong one-quarter turn around the shaft. The knot faces forward, permitting the string to slip free on release. Don has thrown 185-grain arrows over 300 yards.

  Don ready to release. The arrow is thrown very much like a rock or baseball. The Fingers will release their grip instinctively.

  Trapper, flintknapper, George Stewart uses a different launching technique learned from his father, Elmer, who in turn learned it around the turn of the century from Cherokee Indian boys in Stillwell, Oklahoma. Arrows are launched with a30"throwing stick. Afour-inchleatherthongattachestothe stick's end; a one inch-long sliver of bone is tied to the thong's end. A small barb is tied at the balance point of a normal-weight arrow. The bone sliver catches in the barb. The rear of the arrow is held in the left hand, throwing stick in the right. Aim is taken, and the arrow is snapped forward, atlatl-style.

  George believes this system to be more accurate than a simple thong release. Although it seems to have been used only for sport, it is evident, as
George points out, that an emergency weapon could be constructed in very short order, which in practiced hands would be fairly affective.

  Cherokee bowmaker, Al Herrin corroborates the use of this arrow-throwing method, and its' use principally as a toy. But he is not convinced of its' Indian origin. He reports that by tradition, throwing-arrows were made from shingles. Al feels it quite possible that arrow-throwing originated with early European settlers.

  Thong-thrown shafts were not always used for sport. Greeks used thonged spears in war. Their method of thong attachment, and release is depicted on vases of the period. Atlatls would likely have been more effective, but may not have been known in the Mediterranean world of the time. Far more ancient use of thong-thrown shafts is suggested by SPT member Paul Comstock elsewhere in this issue.

  Atlatls have greater range, and are more accurate and penetrating than thong-thrown spears or arrows. Bow-shot arrows have greater range, are far more accurate, and sufficiently penetrating for large game. This, no doubt, accounts for the present obscurity of thong-thrown shafts. In the age of mega-fauna, heavy thong-thrown shafts would have been practical. In a pinch, thong-thrown arrows and light spears could be used for today. But as in the post bow-and-arrow- past, the chief value of thong-thrown projectiles is sport.

  To prevent the knot disengaging, tension must be kept on the string.

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