Anyone shooting traditional stone points?

[GillieSuit]

Howdy folks,

I've gone way primitive these days and have started Knapping my own stone points out of obsidian and other glasslike stone materials. Anyway I was wondering if anyone knows the best types of traditional shafts to use for this traditional setup. My bows are 50 to 55 pounds at 28 inches. I am using both longbows and recurves, but primarily hunt and shoot with my longbow.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Gillie

[petew]

My attempts at Knapping Flint just made sand.
If I was realy wanting to go all out primitive I would be looking for local shafts , like willow, choke cherry Saskatoon ,Rose shoots, etc. Otherwise any normal type wood shaft should do just fine with a stone point .

[calgarychef]

The best shafts are made of osier dogwood or wild rose....both have to be found in the right place. The rose shafts are up north and I've only found them back off the rivers, osier dogwood you should look in deep river valleys. A rose cane is quite heavy and on the stiff side, red osier will make a really good shaft at about 50lbs draw weight. That's all I know unfortunately. I can make a pretty good stone point though.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

The best shafts are made of osier dogwood or wild rose....both have to be found in the right place. The rose shafts are up north and I've only found them back off the rivers, osier dogwood you should look in deep river valleys. A rose cane is quite heavy and on the stiff side, red osier will make a really good shaft at about 50lbs draw weight. That's all I know unfortunately. I can make a pretty good stone point though.

X2 on the Red Osier Dogwood...the Red osier can be found all over Alberta...they are straight ..easily peeled [bark can be used as kinnikinnick a type of tobacco or a light Aspirin like additive]

The red osier can be hand straighted easiely as it dries also or with a homemade arrow straightener ..eccensenially a piece of wood with a srrow sized hole drilled thru it...

Was good at making the arrows as a youth but never accually made arrow heads...we used nails flatened on railroad tracks by trains...

Guys I would love to see some pictures of your work...

Neil

[GillieSuit]

I've got several species of rose around home and I've got lots of dogwood. Unfortunately, they are not what I would call straight in any length or form so I can't imagine attempting to make arrows from these local trees. I'll have to look a little further north and see if I can find better looking trees and bushes.

Aside from that, is there anything available commercially in hickory or something strong and straight. I've only been able to find port orford cedar or pine, which are nice as fun safari shooting arrows, but not very great for hunting. That said, some of the cedar shafts were pretty decent.

Anyway let me know what you guys think.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Remember you can straighten the willow shafts...with a little practice its amazing how straight you can get them...

The best time to harvest your shafts is in late winter when all the willow sap is in the roots...once the shafts have been peeled and dried...[ modern sandpaper helps speed up the shape ]...

for bent shafts using a heat source...small fire...hot coals...even the kitchen stove...heat up the shaft... careful not to burn...and manipulate out the bend using hands and knee...just like we used to do with older aluminum arrows in the field...less the heat..

using steam works but puts moisture back in the shafts which will have to be dried again and will most likely warp will drying again...

I have a wrist size willow widdled down like a thick hammer handle and a hole drilled in the top middle the size of the shafts for stubborn small bends...


If you want to go tradionial using local willows its part of the Procedure

Neil

[GillieSuit]

The willow shafts around home are nice and straight, and about the right diameter for the most part. I'll try this one out this winter. No shortage of willow around my home quarter.

I'll see what I can come up with and then send some pictures.

[Pekan]

I made a red willow arrow recently. Went out in search of saskatoon and after realizing that they're not as straight as you may first think I went with dogwood instead.
Put a bone point on it and some locally found feathers (Magpie), all fastened with milkweed cordage.

Looks cool ( I would have posted a picture but can't seem to figure out how).
As for shooting, my son loves shooting it with his 10lbs longbow, I finally gave it a try with a 50 lbs longbow and think the dogwood shaft may be too flexible for the poundage.

It was fairly easy to put together and I'll definitely make another.
Question:
Any recommendation for local feathers? Magpie are a bit too soft!

[Pekan]

dogwood arrow.jpg
Not the best picture...

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Looks like a killer... I have made them from roadkill owl that worked awesome...the owl was unsaveable but you still have to get a permit from F&W

Neil

[Pekan]

You need a permit for a road killed owl?
Hmmm, we found an eagle feather while paddling down the red deer river, which we kept.

Thats good to know. I almost stopped for what looked like a hawk yesterday.

About stone points, I recently started to keep glass pieces that look suitable for practice knapping. Ishi made some really nice points from glass. Does anyone have any advice on using glass?

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by Pekan

You need a permit for a road killed owl?
Hmmm, we found an eagle feather while paddling down the red deer river, which we kept.

Thats good to know. I almost stopped for what looked like a hawk yesterday.

About stone points, I recently started to keep glass pieces that look suitable for practice knapping. Ishi made some really nice points from glass. Does anyone have any advice on using glass?

Yes unfourtunately, feathers fall under the "found dead widllife" catagory which states any and/or piece there of found wildlife...


Neil

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by L.O.S.T.Arrow

Yes unfourtunately, feathers fall under the "found dead widllife" catagory which states any and/or piece there of found wildlife...


Neil

Crap my Son better go get a permit for that hawk feather he found....hawk is still alive, he just dropped it.....

LC

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Crap my Son better go get a permit for that hawk feather he found....hawk is still alive, he just dropped it.....

LC

lol..I think that is different Lefty...a single feather is one thing a whole wing is another lol

Neil

[SportHuntingHelp]

oops

[shauner]

I've done a lot of practicing on bottle bottoms. Sounds crazy but I make some of my purchase decisions based upon products being in glass jars instead of plastic. HA Spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, etc.
S

[LeroyvdH]

Another option for glass is glass microwave turntables at the trift stores or glass type dishes.. Johnstone works too
Thanks Leroy

[bergman]

Originally Posted by Pekan

About stone points, I recently started to keep glass pieces that look suitable for practice knapping. Ishi made some really nice points from glass. Does anyone have any advice on using glass?

Glass is good, especially since it is easier to work ans easier to find than good crystalline stone (in Alberta, at least).

I use bottoms of jars and bottles - you can find lots of stuff online about arrowheads from beer bottles, but usually a bigger bottle bottom will be able to produce a bigger arrowhead. The flatter the bottom the better. Might have to change your choice of beverage for a week or two!

Best way to pop a bottom of a bottle or jar is to put a large nail/small spike in it and *gently* shake the bottle (not even shake, just wiggle it up and down so the spike bumps the bottom, turning the bottle so the spike hits around the entire perimeter of the bottom.) The bottom will literally just fall of with a pop. Wear gloves and safety glasses. Some wine bottles have flat bottoms, and are bigger. Pretty colors, too!

There are a few siltstones you can find in the badlands that work, and finer grained quartz and even a few cherts around, but a lot of surface rock is frost fractured and breaks along fracture lines instead of where you want it to.

Old CRT television tubes work great (though I think they contain lead), as do tank lids from porcelain toilets, even broken ceramic dishes. Basically any thicker ceramic or glass will do good for knapping.

[Red Bullets]

If you are using glass, a person can use emery cloth to buff and finish glass. Might be applicable to glassknapping.