OzaawaaMigiziNini
Guide
Stone axes, adzes, gouges and ulus were all often made using a grinding down of the stone material, rather than chipping it away, like in flintknapping. This creates a durable, smooth edge perfect for chopping wood, or bone. Often its' a fine grained stone, like basalt and fine-grained black granite.
Anybody have any photos of their own work, or artifacts? I have been in love with groundstone tech since I was 15, and love to see it. I'm working on a few axe blades this winter, as well as some gouges for a summer dugout canoe project.
This photo is from 2005 or 2006, and shows one of my stone axeblades. That handle is long gone, and was replaced with a dogwood wrap-around handle, which has since been replaced with a red oak handle. The head was my first one ever made, and was done with a bench grinder, as I come from the philosophy of "Learn how to use the tool in general, before you learn how to make it the old way." That way if you spend 3-6 hours shaping an axehead, you won't snap it in two the first time you chop at a tree with it. You'll have broken the blades that were made in an hour total on a power grinder. Now, I peck the grooves in with a chert hammerstone, and grind the blade sharp with sandstone blocks.
Anybody have any photos of their own work, or artifacts? I have been in love with groundstone tech since I was 15, and love to see it. I'm working on a few axe blades this winter, as well as some gouges for a summer dugout canoe project.
This photo is from 2005 or 2006, and shows one of my stone axeblades. That handle is long gone, and was replaced with a dogwood wrap-around handle, which has since been replaced with a red oak handle. The head was my first one ever made, and was done with a bench grinder, as I come from the philosophy of "Learn how to use the tool in general, before you learn how to make it the old way." That way if you spend 3-6 hours shaping an axehead, you won't snap it in two the first time you chop at a tree with it. You'll have broken the blades that were made in an hour total on a power grinder. Now, I peck the grooves in with a chert hammerstone, and grind the blade sharp with sandstone blocks.
