Homemade gear

Heres some home made gear. These were all made from natural, untreated materials. The first photo shows some cooking utensils. On the left is a spatula/stirring tool. Its made from a piece of valley oak. Its about 16" long. Next is a pestle made from a piece of beech limb. Next is a spoon made from western red cedar and finally a spoon made from palo verde. All of these were made from seasoned limb sections found on the ground. The only treatment was to soak them in olive oil. This helps protect the wood and keeps it from cracking.




Heres a side view of the spoons.




This next picture shows a cordage/tinder shredder, a fire steel mounted in a piece of antler and a"hoko" knife. The shredder is made from a piece of bird leg bone. I use it to finely shred tinder such as cedar bark and to remove the outer skin when I make cordage from dogbane, nettle, etc. The fire steel is made from a piece of file mounted in a piece of antler. It makes a handy scraper, too. The "Hoko" knife is made from a stick of cedar and a flake of Burlington chert. Its 5 1/2" long. The cordage is dogbane. These knives are really easy to make. I've seen archaeological samples from caves and rock shelters that had the blade in the middle of the handle. I would imagine these were used some what like a spoke shave or draw knife as well. There are some excellent photos at Texas Beyond History such as this one:
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/hinds/images/EachWoman.html

Also these sites have excellent tutorials for "Hoko" knives;
Wilderness Way Magazine
www.wwmag.net/hoko.htm

Primitive Ways
www.primitiveways.com/pt-hoko.html

For more Hoko knife info do a google search:
www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hoko+knife




This photo shows some wood needles made from mesquite. The one on the right is finished. I use these for sewing rush/cattail mats for walls, roofs, sleeping mats, etc.The third one from the left is 3" long. Mesquite is a hard, beautiful wood and takes a fine finish by simply burnishing it with another piece of mesquite as I have done to these.



I hope you've been inspired to create your own tools............enjoy!