Hand Tools - The Real Deal

[Andy Kev.]

Thinking of getting a new plane from Veritas or L-N? Or maybe a new axe from Hultefors? Forget it.

I was watching a programme the other night about a Dutch archaeologist investigating stone age life in Bavaria. He decided to make tools based on previous finds and then test them. The first thing they used was an axe with a helve made out of beech and a head out of basalt. The head was sort of tear drop shaped in profile i.e. looking along the shaft. They got an oak tree of about 2 foot diameter down with it. It took two and a half hours but they got it down. In any event there probably wasn't much time pressure in the stone age.

Then there was the chisel made from an elk's thigh bone. The top was the knobbly bit that you see on the end of big bones and that was struck with a modern beech mallet (they reckon the technology of that has not changed in all the thousands of years). The whole thing looked to be about ten inches long and the end looked to be sharpened to about 45°. Amazingly the bloke cut really square and precise looking mortices out of a rough plank of what looked like four inch thick oak.

The discussion about stone age sharpening techniques was a bit unconclusive though as it got heated and they all clubbed each other to death.

I think the point is that instead of saving up a couple of hundred quid for a new jack plane, it is much cheaper and more efficient to go out and kill an elk and take it from there.

 

[Mike.S]

The discussion about stone age sharpening techniques was a bit unconclusive though as it got heated and they all clubbed each other to death.

Chuckle =D> =D>

Then there was the chisel made from an elk's thigh bone.

This could be developed further - perhaps for dovetails a baculum could be used?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"The discussion about stone age sharpening techniques was a bit inconclusive though as it got heated and they all clubbed each other to death"
Nothing much different there, then.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

This could be developed further - perhaps for dovetails a baculum could be used?

Did they have nice, fine bevelled edges to their bones, then?

 

[AndyT]

Fascinating stuff. Was it this guy?

http://youtu.be/jgL_eBFGqqQ

There must be so much in archaeology that only really makes sense when someone goes out to the woods and tries it.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Fascinating stuff. Was it this guy?

http://youtu.be/jgL_eBFGqqQ

There must be so much in archaeology that only really makes sense when someone goes out to the woods and tries it.

The axe looked identical but it wasn't the same occasion. Possibly the same bloke though.

 

[rafezetter]

Thinking of getting a new plane from Veritas or L-N? Or maybe a new axe from Hultefors? Forget it.

I was watching a programme the other night about a Dutch archaeologist investigating stone age life in Bavaria. He decided to make tools based on previous finds and then test them. The first thing they used was an axe with a helve made out of beech and a head out of basalt. The head was sort of tear drop shaped in profile i.e. looking along the shaft. They got an oak tree of about 2 foot diameter down with it. It took two and a half hours but they got it down. In any event there probably wasn't much time pressure in the stone age.

Then there was the chisel made from an elk's thigh bone. The top was the knobbly bit that you see on the end of big bones and that was struck with a modern beech mallet (they reckon the technology of that has not changed in all the thousands of years). The whole thing looked to be about ten inches long and the end looked to be sharpened to about 45°. Amazingly the bloke cut really square and precise looking mortices out of a rough plank of what looked like four inch thick oak.

The discussion about stone age sharpening techniques was a bit unconclusive though as it got heated and they all clubbed each other to death.

I think the point is that instead of saving up a couple of hundred quid for a new jack plane, it is much cheaper and more efficient to go out and kill an elk and take it from there.

Oh man that gave me a laugh!

Bone chisel eh? It's obviously possible but how durable would it be, although bones are meant for compression forces, repeated shock forces might shatter it after a time, but then again they probably had an overabundance of them.