Side hafted microblade

After seeing these on Elfshots blog http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.com/2010/02/palaeoeskimo-side-hafted-microblades.html I decided I had to make one. It was surprisingly easy, kind of like a Hoko knife. With modern tools (my Warren carving knife with a straight blade and a tiny gouge) it went quick, less than an hour. With stone tools and depending on experience it probably took the old ones maybe an hour or less. I used artificial sinew split up into many strands and no glue. The original article doesnt state if glue was found on the preserved artifacts and I really don't think hide glue was all that common on the Arctic and sub Arctic coastal areas. Tim Rast, the owner of Eflshot is a professional archaeologist and maker of things ancient. He has made a bunch of these out of wood, antler, and bone. Please take the time to peruse his site for the many excellent articles on Eskimo and related cultures and their artifacts.

This shows the groove where the blade sets.

Here's a shot of the handle with two notches for the cordage. I used cottonwood for this knife.

This shot shows the brace which is held snug against the blade when tied in place at the two notches on top..

This shows the notch in the brace which sets against the blade.

Here's the blade. I made it from a piece of flint I found in Colorado.

This shows everything set up ready to finish.

This is the completed knife. Overall length is 5 inches.

Closeup of the finished knife. Stone, wood, sinew-a simple but efficient tool.

Paleo stone micro drill

I was showing some antler needles I made on a forum and one guy asked how I drilled the holes. I told him of a quartz micro drill I made. I can't find it for the life of me and the last I saw it was several years ago. The drill was a long, slender sliver that came off a huge crystal I was taking spalls from. I bought the crystal very cheap because it was dropped and the tip pulverized. I mounted the sliver in a piece of bamboo chop stick after flaking a good edge on both sides. I use a deer antler tine for this kind of flaking because I can keep the tip of the antler ground very small to a wedge shape. I retouch the edge as I work to keep a good clean working tip. The quartz drill was just under 1/4" total length and about 3/16" protruded from the end of the chop stick. The short piece of chop stick with stone tip was mounted into a larger diameter handle and twirled like a fire hand drill.

I made the drill in the photos from a piece of  debitage an archaeologist friend had given me. He collected several bags from the surface of an ancient village site that was being built on. I don't know if the archaeologists ever did anything at this site before all the building took place. He was kind enough to give me several bags. This stuff is wonderful to knap and I wouldn't doubt it was heat treated by the ancient artist who made tools from the rock.

I plan to make a bow drill using this set up. I saw one on BushcraftUK a few years back and the maker did a wonderful job. Its the last picture. I did a screen capture from the original article but I can't find it on the site any longer.

Here's the finished drill. Almost 1/4" long OAL.

The shaft after taking out the notch. I used a very thin flake and made two splits and used a pointed end to cut into the base of the notch section to be removed. Then pinched the stick together and used a bit thicker flake to push the notch out of the side till it broke clean. The indents in the sides are for the sinew to get a good hold. The bamboo chop stick is whittled down to about 3/16" diameter.

Here's the drill mounted and waiting for sinew and hide glue. My hide glue is made of an old elk hoof and a few scraps of rawhide chew toy, I use a piece about the size of a nickel and had plenty left over. I use dried flakes and pieces and reconstitute with hot water.

All finished. The sinew is deer leg sinew and the hide glue is smeared over it as well as in the notch. I left this one full length, about 12" and twirl it like a fire drill. It needs to be cut off and mounted in something a little thicker for better control.

Someone at BushcraftUK made this a few years back. Admirable work and I like his set up for doing antler needle eyes. He uses twigs set in the cracks in the log to hold the antler steady. Great idea!

Preforms or finished tools?

I've done a lot of surface collecting of Native American artifacts over the years. One of my most exciting finds was on a friend's property in western Colorado. I was walking the area and found a lot of chips scattered about. I discovered two that were very similar in style within inches of each other. I scratched the surface where I found them and the result is the photo below. It was my first cache. These were all together in a 6" by 6" area. All of them are made from some form of chalcedony, "silicafied ash" and possibly petrified wood. There were no other chips or flakes, proving to me it was a cache of blades buried there on purpose. The only other artifacts I found at this site were a few broken projectile points, some scrappers, and a very nice knife. One very interesting piece I found at this site is a large piece of petrified wood that clearly shows knots and growth rings. It appears that an edge was used to hammer something. I wonder what they thought of this rock? I've found a few of these types of blades all over the country and often thought they were preforms. In some areas they're called "microblades". This cache aroused my suspicions and I performed an experiment.

The blades in the next picture are from a cobble of raw, red agate/chalcedony from Indian Springs, Nevada; it is not heat treated. To begin my experiment, I spalled these off and used all of them, as is, in various chores to see how they would hold up. I cut rawhide, carved and debarked wood, worked bone and antler, and cut meat with them. They were used for everything from heavy cutting to fine detail graving. There was very little change other than some polishing and micro edge flaking from use. They all stayed very sharp and did remarkably good work on the various tasks. I favored the large blade (bottom row, second from left). The top surface started to show a bit of polishing from handling and use. The only polish on the other blades are on the working edges.

The reason for this experiment was to prove to myself that the cache of genuine blades was not for future knapping but a group of tools to be used as is. I examined all of them. Several show signs of wear and polishing like the experimental ones; some had no wear at all. I believe these were both old and new tools buried together at the same time. Also, the shape and size of some of them negate their being made into anything else. There just isn't enough material to knap something further. As to size, the largest one in each photo is 3" long.