Welcome Jay. I'm the mug who sold his 2300 to you. Geez don't I feel slack - you've contributed more in 5 minutes that I have in 5 years. Maybe I'll be inspired to contribute more (probably not). Anyway I'm glad you joined the forum. You've already given me couple of giggles and taught me some things (like what a flintknapper is). Blokes with experience like you are worth their weight in jellybeans.
Good Evening Viewers:)
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Well Shucks Juzz! I'm blushing
Plenty of other topics we can talk about if you like- I've tried my hand at a lot of things over the years which isn't necessarily a good thing- I have bits and pieces from twenty hobbies stashed around the place- everything from fly tying, flint knapping, bow and arrow making, ammo loading, photography, drawing, leather making- including brain tan which is absolutely wonderful stuff- broad axing- used to do a lot of that- wood turning (built myself a pole lathe just for fun) you get the idea. And I have heaps of books on hobbies I haven't had time for yet- sail making, wicker work, pottery. I jump from one to the next like a fox terrier on cocaine, and can't throw anything away. I still have the bag of marbles my grandfather took to school at Lewis Ponds about a hundred and twenty years ago! (Speaking of Lewis Ponds- it's just down the valley from Byng, which is the site of the first church built west of the mountains, by another of my great grandfathers- Parson Tom. The little family cemetery there contains relos from every generation from the early eighteen hundreds, to my cousin Murray who died two years ago.) I have sheds full of goodies- wife calls it junk of course. My dear old Dad was standing in my biggest shed one day, hands on his hips, looking around. He said "Mate, what you need in here is a bloody good fire
AND!!! AND!!! Get this! -speaking of the 2300! My wife was chatting with a work mate at the nursing home where she works last night about the cost of everything. Her friend said she wishes she could win the lottery, or come up with a money making scheme so that she could retire. Missus says I know what you mean- actually we've just bought ourselves a metal detector- to which her friend replies- Well, I just happen to own a farm at Windeyer and there are a lot of old diggings along the creek on my place- you're welcome to come out and try your luck any time! Thank you Baby Jesus! I sez to meself. Post the bloody thing will ya?!
Hey Mudgee! Now I remember Colin was supposed to be here tomorrow to rip out another wall, but we've postponed again- I assume you'll be coming with him? I haven't found a live white ant yet, but my gawd they've done the old place a mischief. OK- I'll shut up now. Cheers peoples! Jay.
Plenty of other topics we can talk about if you like- I've tried my hand at a lot of things over the years which isn't necessarily a good thing- I have bits and pieces from twenty hobbies stashed around the place- everything from fly tying, flint knapping, bow and arrow making, ammo loading, photography, drawing, leather making- including brain tan which is absolutely wonderful stuff- broad axing- used to do a lot of that- wood turning (built myself a pole lathe just for fun) you get the idea. And I have heaps of books on hobbies I haven't had time for yet- sail making, wicker work, pottery. I jump from one to the next like a fox terrier on cocaine, and can't throw anything away. I still have the bag of marbles my grandfather took to school at Lewis Ponds about a hundred and twenty years ago! (Speaking of Lewis Ponds- it's just down the valley from Byng, which is the site of the first church built west of the mountains, by another of my great grandfathers- Parson Tom. The little family cemetery there contains relos from every generation from the early eighteen hundreds, to my cousin Murray who died two years ago.) I have sheds full of goodies- wife calls it junk of course. My dear old Dad was standing in my biggest shed one day, hands on his hips, looking around. He said "Mate, what you need in here is a bloody good fire AND!!! AND!!! Get this! -speaking of the 2300! My wife was chatting with a work mate at the nursing home where she works last night about the cost of everything. Her friend said she wishes she could win the lottery, or come up with a money making scheme so that she could retire. Missus says I know what you mean- actually we've just bought ourselves a metal detector- to which her friend replies- Well, I just happen to own a farm at Windeyer and there are a lot of old diggings along the creek on my place- you're welcome to come out and try your luck any time! Thank you Baby Jesus! I sez to meself. Post the bloody thing will ya?!
Hey Mudgee! Now I remember
Colin was supposed to be here tomorrow to rip out another wall, but we've postponed again- I assume you'll be coming with him? I haven't found a live white ant yet, but my gawd they've done the old place a mischief. OK- I'll shut up now. Cheers peoples! Jay.
StoneTheCrows
Neil Mulvaney
JayInOz said:G'day Neil. Yep I live on a farm just outside Gulgong- another gold mining town- also the town pictured on the original ten dollar note. About an hour east of Dubbo- hour and a half if the old dear is driving
Ok Jay
Next time i go up hill end way will give you a shout.
love listening to history yarns so should be fun
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Its going to be a loooong lunch break I think!
Welcome Jay
Looks like you have been living the dream
Will need to catch up one day around a camp fire and get some advice on how to work these lumps, have been playing around a bit and watching a few videos, but seeing a pair of hands in action is something else. They say obsidian produces the sharpest blade known to man, based on the one arrow head I have tried making, I am amazed with the sharpness. Also donated a bit of crimson to prove the theory. :8
Looks like you have been living the dream
Will need to catch up one day around a camp fire and get some advice on how to work these lumps, have been playing around a bit and watching a few videos, but seeing a pair of hands in action is something else. They say obsidian produces the sharpest blade known to man, based on the one arrow head I have tried making, I am amazed with the sharpness. Also donated a bit of crimson to prove the theory. :8
Nice rock there Wally. I'd be happy to give you some pointers. Use copper tools. Tap the tip of your pressure flaker into a four sided point- the sides are excellent for removing flakey edges, and hammering to a point doesn't waste copper like filing does.Main things to remember- follow the ridges, don't try to take off flakes in concave surfaces- you'll get stacks and hinges and nothing usable- and abrade the edges- rub off the thin, sharp edges before you try to take off a flake. And take off the thinnest flakes you can to start when you're pressure flaking. I have a fallow head on the wall here that I took running with an obsidian head- dead before he stopped sliding. At the time I shot him the Australian record bow killed fallow was around 229 Douglas Points- mine scored 234 1/2. Mudgee Hunter here has been in my house and has seen it. Obsidian comes in a dozen colours at least- some are bloody lovely, like gold sheen, silver sheen, rainbow and pumpkin. One of the American knappers I know digs his rock from Glass Buttes in Oregon- it's hundreds of acres of obsidian, metres deep- the biggest single piece he pulled out of there was about seven hundred pounds. He knaps two foot long blades for the local Native American tribes to use in ceremonies. And yes- it can be knapped down to a single molecule thick and is used in some special surgeries. I've skinned and cut up a big Hereford cow with a blade I knapped from dacite- if you shape them right they're magic for skinning as the shoulders on the blade prevent the sharp edge from cutting the hide so you can peel them in a hurry. Years ago the editor of Archery Action magazine and an American bowhunter who used to write under the name Old Derelict Bowhunter, came down from Queensland and I took them camping and bowhunting in the high country around Maitland Bar. We smacked a couple of wild goats and I talked them to death for a couple of days They did a three page story in the mag about my knapping, which was kinda nice
Mudgee I have absolutely no idea what your post meant old fulla Jay.
They did a three page story in the mag about my knapping, which was kinda niceMudgee I have absolutely no idea what your post meant old fulla
Jay.Thanks for the advice Jay, :Y: am keen to have a go at a knife blade. I have a block of mahogany obsidian that I tucked away thinking it would look great as a knife. My favourite is a bit of snowflake obsidian, unfortunately it is only about the size of my hand.
Inspiring hunting story, mIght need to trade the compound bow in for a longbow and fill the quiver with some home knapped snowflake obsidian blades.
Inspiring hunting story, mIght need to trade the compound bow in for a longbow and fill the quiver with some home knapped snowflake obsidian blades.
Good idea Wally I have a few bows- including wheel bows with all the bells and whistles- but my favourite for hunting is a longbow given to me by Bob Sarrels from Texas- a real joy to shoot. Google Sarrels Archery and check out the Sierra model. I have a bowyer mate in Missoula Montana who can make a bow out of just about anything. I sent him a couple of feed bags full of buffalo horn from the territory to cut into long thin strips to use as bow backing. I also sent him a heap of sinew. He promised me a simple stick bow in return. What I actually got from him knocked me socks off Osage Orange bow, backed with elk and kangaroo sinew, covered with matching prairie rattler skins. The belly of the bow is a full length strip of gemsbok horn. The grip and tips of the bow are rocky mountain big horn sheep horn, and the tips are carved into the head and rattles of the snake. It's just beeeeutiful- but I have a worn out shoulder joint and recently tore the bicep off the shoulder- which I'm not going to worry about getting fixed- so I can't pull the bow back any more- it's seventy pounds pull and I can only manage about fifty five- the joys of getting old
If you can get hold of some opal potch it's fun stuff to practice your pressure flaking- it's way too soft to make a useable point, but you can practice the basics. Thick glass works well too. You just need stuff that fractures conchoidally- in any direction. And with your percussion- knocking flakes off the rock and basic shaping, remember that the shock wave from a strike to the rock goes through it in what's known as a herzian cone- about 124 degrees or something- don't really remember now. You know if you shoot a little hole in a piece of glass it takes a cone shaped piece out of the back of it- well that's the critter. you work out the angle to strike and imagine the edges of that cone travelling forward- one edge will be off the rock, and the other will be the line of the fracture- be a bloody site easier to show you
For arrow shafts get hold of some really old, tight straight grained douglas fir- the stuff we Aussies like to call Oregon. A four by two will give you about sixteen arrows. I made a simple jig and can belt them out pretty fast. You need the right spine for your bow, and rather than fiddle arse about for half an hour trying to match an arrow to the previous one, I knock out a heap and then group them into arrows of a similar spine. The arrow has to arch around the bow and then straighten again- archers paradox- which is something you don't need to take into account so much with compound bows, as the arrow flies through the window cut into the riser. I'll shut up now Cheers mate. Jay.
I have a few bows- including wheel bows with all the bells and whistles- but my favourite for hunting is a longbow given to me by Bob Sarrels from Texas- a real joy to shoot. Google Sarrels Archery and check out the Sierra model. I have a bowyer mate in Missoula Montana who can make a bow out of just about anything. I sent him a couple of feed bags full of buffalo horn from the territory to cut into long thin strips to use as bow backing. I also sent him a heap of sinew. He promised me a simple stick bow in return. What I actually got from him knocked me socks off Osage Orange bow, backed with elk and kangaroo sinew, covered with matching prairie rattler skins. The belly of the bow is a full length strip of gemsbok horn. The grip and tips of the bow are rocky mountain big horn sheep horn, and the tips are carved into the head and rattles of the snake. It's just beeeeutiful- but I have a worn out shoulder joint and recently tore the bicep off the shoulder- which I'm not going to worry about getting fixed- so I can't pull the bow back any more- it's seventy pounds pull and I can only manage about fifty five- the joys of getting old If you can get hold of some opal potch it's fun stuff to practice your pressure flaking- it's way too soft to make a useable point, but you can practice the basics. Thick glass works well too. You just need stuff that fractures conchoidally- in any direction. And with your percussion- knocking flakes off the rock and basic shaping, remember that the shock wave from a strike to the rock goes through it in what's known as a herzian cone- about 124 degrees or something- don't really remember now. You know if you shoot a little hole in a piece of glass it takes a cone shaped piece out of the back of it- well that's the critter. you work out the angle to strike and imagine the edges of that cone travelling forward- one edge will be off the rock, and the other will be the line of the fracture- be a bloody site easier to show you
For arrow shafts get hold of some really old, tight straight grained douglas fir- the stuff we Aussies like to call Oregon. A four by two will give you about sixteen arrows. I made a simple jig and can belt them out pretty fast. You need the right spine for your bow, and rather than fiddle arse about for half an hour trying to match an arrow to the previous one, I knock out a heap and then group them into arrows of a similar spine. The arrow has to arch around the bow and then straighten again- archers paradox- which is something you don't need to take into account so much with compound bows, as the arrow flies through the window cut into the riser. I'll shut up now
Cheers mate. Jay.
