Some primitive tools I made

[Alex Roddie]

These are still under construction as I haven't had a chance to make any birch tar yet--so the axehead and knife blade aren't fixed to their hafts. All of the tools were made entirely using stone age technology.

Firstly a small hafted knife. It's more like a scraper than a knife really. I can imagine it being used as a tool for cleaning hides.
http://www.alexfellwalker.co.uk/pictures/tools/1.jpg

An axe. The blade is made from a large flake of flint, bifacially reworked and pressure flaked. The haft is made from a limb of hawthorn. Unfortunately the wood has dried out a little too fast, leaving a minor crack through the axehead socket, but hopefully with some care I should be able to sort this out with some birch tar once I fix the axehead in position.
http://www.alexfellwalker.co.uk/pictures/tools/2.jpg

Detail on the head of the axe.
http://www.alexfellwalker.co.uk/pictures/tools/3.jpg

A small, lightweight atlatl, together with the tools used to make it. The atlatl is 20 inches in length and uses a length of bramble twine to engage with the nock on the dart (I haven't made any darts yet, but I have made some projectile points).
http://www.alexfellwalker.co.uk/pictures/tools/4.jpg

The atlatl's wrist loop is made from plaited bramble-fibre rope and seems very strong--I'm quite pleased with how that turned out! Much more difficult to harvest the fibres than with nettles, though.
http://www.alexfellwalker.co.uk/pictures/tools/5.jpg

[Paul W]

Very nice especially the axe.

[Pict]

Very well done. I'd love to learn knapping flint. At the moment my stone tool fabrication consists of smashing large quartz rocks and hoping for the best. One tip, close your eyes at the moment of impact. So easy a caveman could do it... right. Mac

[Alex Roddie]

Very well done. I'd love to learn knapping flint. At the moment my stone tool fabrication consists of smashing large quartz rocks and hoping for the best. One tip, close your eyes at the moment of impact. So easy a caveman could do it... right. Mac

Basic flint knapping is fairly straightforward but there is an element of technique involved ... once you learn the principles it gets easier. :) My problem always seems to be finding decently-sized flint nodules in the first place in order to get the right sized flakes. Either that, or sufficiently thinning the flakes. I tend to get lots of crushed striking platforms, probably because I don't have any antler hammers at the moment.

It's something I've been into since I was a child, but only in the last few years have I been able to consistently get decent results. I think the quality of the flint is a very important factor.