Mussel shell bannerstones

[swamp monkey]

Ogga Booga Style.

Cutting a three sided section out with a piece of flint takes over an hour.   I will do this several times to get an average.   I might get better at it.      Sanding the shell segment into shape takes another 1.5 hours per segment.   I did the segment below on a slab of course sandstone. 

I have no idea how to best drill the holes ABO style.  This stuff is HARD. I dare say it is harder than igneous rock.   I also do NOT have flint drills to make this happen.  My knapping skills are beginner at best.  I will figure something out. .

[swamp monkey]

I got a trip to Philmont under my belt and had some time to work on mothballed projects.  Good memories with my son. 

Here is progress on one of those projects.  I was able to get holes cut.  Not abo.   I am not a flint knapper as of yet and couldn't make drill bits.  Perhaps for my next set of these.   

Each hole is precisely 13 mm.  I put them on a sanded poplar stick that is exactly the right diameter.  This tested my holes and revealed my next steps.  I need to work the inside of the shells to ensure they are the same curvature as the outside.  This will allow the shells to snug up closer together and have less gap between them.  Second I need to make them all the same shape in terms of outline.  I will work on these in that order. 

Lesson learned.  If you want 11 of these start making 15.  (I did)  You break some along the way.  (I did that too)  Stuff happens.

[swamp monkey]

Some progress.  the shells fit tighter together and are beginning to share the same shape.  This is a lot more work than I expected. 

[Dakota Kid]

I had a thought regarding the glued together banner stones inhibiting bend. Perhaps the way they were fashioned together allowed for bending, much like vertebrae in a spinal column. Just a thought. Could it also ad power if done with sinew?

[swamp monkey]

I had a thought regarding the glued together banner stones inhibiting bend. Perhaps the way they were fashioned together allowed for bending, much like vertebrae in a spinal column. Just a thought. Could it also ad power if done with sinew?

DK thanks for the post.  I like that out of the box thinking.   The shaft inside is roughly 1/2 inch in diameter (13mm) and there is not a lot of bend in it.  Perhaps a little. However, I would not expect much bend either.  The western N. American atlatls were bendable and there are several examples to make replicas from.  Eastern N. American atlatls are far less common due to decay potential, but the ones we have access to are not really the bending type.  With that said I will be interested in observing how this one functions.  Will a slight bit of flex impact sound?  adhesion for the glue?  I know I am not moving very fast on this project but I am quite interested in using this atlatl.   Life gets busy.  Most of you know exactly what I am talking about. 

thanks for the interest.

[swamp monkey]

I am getting closer. . .

I have crafted a Kentucky coffee tree handle and am working on an antler hook.  I tried my hand at pine pitch (no Beeswax) recently and found I need practice to make the results practical and nice looking.  I am messy with it.    I chose not to do asphaltum because I did even worse working with it.  I was really messy and there were gaps that were too big.  I want this to look good. 

I will post more as I make progress.

[swamp monkey]

I think my issue was with temperature.  I got better.  The shell on the bottom was held in place with friction.  The rest were glued to prevent clacking or turning.  The atlatl hook was attached too.

I have yet to put some sinew and hide glue around the hook joint and do something with the handle.  I may put finger loops on or something. 

Not done yet . . . but getting there.

[JackCrafty]

Been meaning to check out the latest stuff you've done.  Looks awesome!!

Those stick-latl's are so different from the spoon-latl's we have out west.

[swamp monkey]

Thank you Patrick.  I appreciate the interest and kind words.

I did my sinew/ hide glue wraps and will post pics soon.   I still haven't decided how the handle will be done. I am leaning toward cordage for a handle wrap. 

Lessons learned: 
Shell freshness matters. I placed my 15 shells on a 1/2" dowel (13mm) uncemented, and rubbed them over a sandstone rock.  This worked well for sanding and grinding.  From time to time an edge would flake off taking a layer off with it. Below is a picture with break points identified on the eight I chose to finish with.  I truly think this happened because a few of my shells may have weathered for part of the year before I came along.  When I first started, any shell that flaked off a layer while I was cutting out the rough blank was discarded.  I thought I had only good blanks but i think a few still got by me.  If ever do this again, my intent is to work with shells that show no sign of deterioration.  The dark black/green pigment layer on the outside can't be flaking off even a little.  Don't get  me wrong I like the final product but those little details catch my attention. This has been a lot of work and I want to be proud of it.  I intended to only make one mussel shell weight replica like this.  This one may have been my practice run.  I really want an authentic mussel shell atlatl weight. 

At some point you have to commit to adhesion.  While rubbing this stack of shells over the rock I had trouble sanding them on their triangle edges.  Why?  the shells would rotate slightly at irregular intervals making it hard to give them all the same shape.  So i either had to use hide glue to keep them in place temporarily, or just use the pine pitch glue or asphaltum adhesive.  The bottom line was the shell segments can't move while you are giving them the final shaping and sanding.  What this meant was I had to step back from my notion of gluing in 8 finished shell segments and glue in partially done segments - then finish them in order to get the look I wanted.  Not an earth shattering lesson, just something I note for future projects. 

[JackCrafty]

Great info!  You're a patient man.  Gluing together first makes a lot of sense and you wouldn't normally think of that unless you do the hands-on work.  Chalk another one up to experimental archaeology.  Phooey on book knowledge...

[swamp monkey]

Below are pics of the sinew/hide glue wraps as well as my jute cordage handle wrap. The jute is a place holder until I can get some marsh milkweed cord made.  It is a silky white cord and should balance out the white nacre of the mussel shells. 

I tried the atlatl out this week for the first time.  It threw well.  I was surprised at how well that small hook worked.  I was mildly concerned it wouldn't hold up.  I was concerned over nothing.  It was well balanced and was solid.  The pine pitch held wonderfully.

I used this thrower in a game that a fellow atlatl enthusiast introduced me to.  He called it "Moche toss"  I won't take time on this tread to describe it.  Search for Moche Peruvian atlatl and you will find web hits on the first page.   It is a combination of wing shooting, atlatls and chunky.  The word fun just does not do it justice. 

Back to the atlatl.  I want to change out the fiber wrap and I think I will call this done.  I will post more when I get done. 

[swamp monkey]

I had to wait until after the frost to get enough marsh milkweed stalks to make the cordage I wanted.  The first wrap was jute.  I wanted this to be more authentic.  So I made about 10 feet of milkweed cordage to wrap the handle and make a wrist strap. 

Marsh milkweed makes such a nice light colored cordage.   

thanks for looking. 

SM

[Chief RID]

SM. You are da man! Thanks so much for recording this adventure. Fascinating!