Stone Axe...

[Onebowonder]

I can make no certifications as to just how authentic this design is to any particular culture, as I really do not know too much!  I have surely been influenced by stuff I've looked at, but this is my own 'design' so to speak - so I can't really blame it on anybody else.  It's not a completed project - but here are some pics of where it is at up this point.  Just roughed out and not yet solidly hafted, the stone hardly moves at all!   

The Stone Axe head is a bit of river stone I collected from the bed of the Oconoluftee river in Cherokee, NC.  I hand ground the edges to about 90 degrees and the mid-line groove.  My fingers still cramp on me when I think about it.  For some projects being a little OCD really does help.

The hande is an Osage limb that I saved when I cut some magical bow wood recently.  The forks are not yet complete.  I plan to put notches into the tops of them and then pinch them tightly together and wrap them with raw hide bindings.  I have some pine pitch I will use to discourage the stone from from slipping about when it strikes stuff.

OneBow

[Pat B]

That looks cool. A good, tight wrap with wet rawhide or gut and that head ain't going anywhere. You can trim or carve the excess "ears" after the wrap.   A friend on mine would grind stone axes on his concrete driveway.

[tipi stuff]

Very cool OneBow. How much time do you think it took you to shape the stone, start to finish? I agree with Pat B, put a good rawhide wrapping on it so the handle doesn't split the first time you use it.  Curtis

[RBLusthaus]

Really cool.  I assume that, once complete, you can only use one side of the axe to hit stuff with, or else the force pushes the stone from the handle???

[Onebowonder]

Really cool.  I assume that, once complete, you can only use one side of the axe to hit stuff with, or else the force pushes the stone from the handle???

It's really a prototype for me as it's the first I've built this way, but I don't think so.  There is a groove ground down the midline of the stone that the forks fit in to.  When they are tensioned against the stone it should be stable in both directions, ...I think.  The idea of the pitch is to keep any wobble from getting started in the first place - again, we'll see how it works.  I've made a Celt before that only cuts in one direction and relies on compression to hold the stone bit in place while working, and they work very well.  This is just a slightly different design with mechanism to hold the blade in both planes of action.  I'll post some pictures when I get it done and do some testing.


OneBow

[RBLusthaus]

I think I see.  Would love to see some pics of the inside of the fork and the side of the stone.  Very interested in the outcome as well. 

[swamp monkey]

How cool.  I have hafted a few of these for use and learned to ensure the stone touches the front and back of the hole .  Sides should not touch the wood.  If they do the wood can bust from side force.  End to end pressure on the stick works best. 

These stone celts are a lot of work.  I am working on a stone Celt and adze in the Ooga booga cavemen only section.  There is a LOT of time involved even with modern tools and even more time involved with primitive methods. 

Nice work one bow.  How does it work on trees?