one fire- three projects

[swamp monkey]

The recent lower humidity encouraged me to go outside and work on some primitive projects.  So i had one fire going and three projects.  I burned out a stump mortar, made some pine pitch glue, and burned mussel shells to make temper for primitive pottery. 

at one point the pine volatiles caught fire to burn off.  It made for a nice picture.

[swamp monkey]

once the stump mortar was bunred out I let it cool and then used a mussel shell adze to scrape the char out.  I then sanded it with a sand stone rock and removed the bark.  I need to make a pestle to go with the mortar. 

[swamp monkey]

paper shell mussels delaminate quickly in heat.  I took the delaminated shells fragments and ground them in a bucket (the stump mortar wasn't done yet  ).  I sifted the finer parts for temper and ground the large parts again before sifting yet again. 

repeat, repeat, repeat.

[Zuma]

Go get it monkey.
I have been taking advantage of the cool cloudy
weather here in VA also. Finishing boxes, bowls
and diggin taters. Alot of knappin too. lol
Might need to trade some of my clay for your finished shells?
Zuma

[swamp monkey]

I have been collecting pine sap for the past three months and finally had enough to make my glue.  I collected camp fire charcoal, and some elk dung from Missouri's wild elk herd. 

I heated my pine sap, once it was boiling I added the ground elk dung and charcoal.  I used some of the tutorials found on the PA website.  It worked out pretty well for my first attempt.  I made several pitch sticks.  I will continue to collect sap because I want to make and Aztec sword, and some arrows.  I anticipate needing a little more pine pitch glue. 

[YosemiteBen]

Nice pcks Swampy! Don't let the pitch catch fire though makes it brittle!

[Pat B]

If it gets brittle, just add bees wax. I prefer brittle pitch for making glue and varnish.

[swamp monkey]

Thanks for the advice guys.  It didn't burn more than a few seconds.  Lucky I guess. 

I appreciate all of the expertise on this community.

Swamp monkey

[Dalton Knapper]

That burnt mussel shell also makes excellent temper for pottery. The Mississippians in NE Arkansas all used it in their pottery. Great work. Cool results.

[neuse]

Nice job.
Thanks for the pictures.

[Jodocus]

yeah, there's nothing like playing with fire.

Nice pics, good job on the mortar. I've been thinking aboutthis method lately and will soon try it out.