Hafting celts

[Swims with Beaver]

There was a post on the the modern napping thread about hafting celts. I posted these but not sure about the feedback I'll get. If a celt is hafted, why does the polishing go all the way back to the end of the celt. It makes no sense to me. Polishing can not go under the haft? Like I said in the napping post, my dad use to use wedges when I was a kid to chop wood. Could they be wedges and pounded through logs with another piece of wood so as not to break the end?

 

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[TripleCreek]

SWB,

To answer your question, the polishing on the celt is done before it is halfted. The polishing has very little to do with the function of the halfting. The haft is made by a compression fit on the celt, it is the compression that holds it into the hole in the handle. The polish is mostly done to make the celt more durable. A celt that is well polished does not spall flakes as easily, and the polishing distributes the energy from the blow more evenly around the celt. This is much the way an egg can stand a large amount of compression, as long as there are no cracks in it.

I am also sure that celts “like” tools would have been used as wedges to split trees as well.

Triplecreek

 

[Swims with Beaver]

Triplecreek,

Thanks for the reply. Makes sense to me now. So now I have to ask you, do you think they would have used grit (sand) and then possibly leather to polish the stone?

 

[bede2691]

Cool celt! Do your pics show both sides of the celt? The polished area does look different than most celts. Almost adze like if only one side has that look.

 

[flintmel]

believe Triple Creek is correct, I tried couple times making a handle. The first time I tried a straight piece of hickory and when striking with it the handle wanted to split. Then I tried a crotched branch making the hole just below the crotch, no split handle. The polish does make the celt cut much better

 

[Snakeman]

Here is how they haft them in Papua New Guniea...some of the celts were made of Jade! I bet very similar styles were used in North America. The lashing is Orchid bark with some kind of tree sap as glue. You could chop a tree down with them!!

 

[TripleCreek]

you wrote: "Thanks for the reply. Makes sense to me now. So now I have to ask you, do you think they would have used grit (sand) and then possibly leather to polish the stone?"

SWB, Many things would have been used.

Here is what I have found to work best:

It is best to do the work at (in) a creek side. For the grinding stone you want "degraded" sandstone. You can use sand as an aggregate, but it dulls quickly if not constantly replaced. In temperate water sit by a creek and mix water in with the sandstone grinding base. The water will quickly form a "slurry" that is just heavy enough to "float" the aggregate. This is the best mixture for maximum ware. It is good if doing the work at a creek side, to occasionally “splash" clean the grinding stone to prevent any type of "glazing" on the sandstone base. Then add just the right amount of water to regain the heavy slurry. You want a degraded sandstone so that the base is consistently "shedding" new sand aggregate. If the stone is too hard or does not shed its top layer of quartzite (sand) it will ware its sharp edged top layer down and become dull, and quickly less efficient. The best sandstone is a slab that you can just remove aggregate with your fingernails. This softness of stone will shed aggregate consistently and always give you a fresh cutting surface. (more efficiency) This kind of stone is worth looking for !! You can crush quartzite and add to your slurry, but this material is always becoming duller and duller, where as the correct sandstone base is constantly staying sharp, as the top layer wears away. All these things make a large difference in a long and tedious process. (efficiency matters). I have run out of space so, I'll finish on another post.

 

[TripleCreek]

So, your best conditions are to walk a creek looking for a "typically" Red or Yellow sandstone boulder, with a flat surface, that you can roll into the edge of the small or large creek. Sit with your legs in the water and slant the stone slightly away from your body. Use your hand to splash water onto the surface of the of the sandstone and start grinding away from your body using both hands. You will quickly start forming a nice "dish" into the sandstone. This dish will hold the slurry and make the grinding more efficient, by having more of the surface of the Ax in contact with the abrasive surface on each stroke. Wash this dish out often enough that you always hear the nice grinding sound. If you don't wash the stone as needed the ground aggregate will glaze the sandstone and make it less efficient. This is why it is nice to sit in the creek and do this work, you can easily "splash" clean the grinding stone, without getting up and carrying water every few minutes. Also, this type of manufacturing is best done in July or August, when you "want" to be in the nice cool stream for hours at a time !!
As for polishing, this is best done with charred wood. Charred wood concentrates the molecular sized "silica" that is transferred from the ground into all organics. (wood & weeds) That fine silica will give the best fine polish to a Celt. Char a hardwood log deeply, sit on the log with it slopping down hill, and polish the celt the same fashion you did the grinding. You do not need water to polish!!

 

[TripleCreek]

SWB

Using this system, and a good grade of "green stone" you can produce a useable "Bit" on a close size blank in just a few hours.

Good luck,
Triplecreek

PS I have taught Green stone Ax making for years and just next week will be starting a new Website to promote primitive skills: The site is bran new, so it is being built, but will go on line Friday the 17 th.

Primal-Knowledge.com Check in over the next few months, we will be offering classes on different skills, if your in the MD area.