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I have been a member of a local kayak fishing club Aqua Hunters (http://www.aquahunters.com/) since it's early days back in 2007. A little over a year ago we had a new member join our ranks a young man of 29 by the name of Jesse Wright who is in the US Army (Schofield Barracks) and originally heralds from North Carolina. He is an avid outdoorsman and a avid primitive skills practitioner. He is VERY skilled at many primitive arts and one I'd like to especially highlight is his flint knapping skills. Every one of his knapped stone projects are unique works of art. I was privileged to have him make me a beautiful one of a kind knapped flint knife with antler handle wrapped in brain tanned buckskin he also tanned himself. This young man has amazing natural talent and skills. Here's the knife he made for me.
This knife is as sharp as it is beautiful, and I intend to use it in the field to field dress game. Thank you Jesse. If you "Google" Jesse Wright Flint Knapping you can see some more of his handiwork.
This knife screamed for a nice rawhide sheath so I made myself one from a rawhide chew-bone from a local feed store. I soaked it for a couple days until pliable then just drew up a design, cut to shape, and stitched up using tarred hemp marline cord. After drying I gave it a good coat of Kiwi brown shoe polish. I think it turned out fairly well.
I had plenty leftover rawhide already soaked soft so I took some to make a cover for the plastic sheath of my Mora 612 which deserved something better looking than plastic to complement it's wood handle and blued steel blade.
Here are the two rawhide projects together:
Illegitimus Non Carborundum Akā, ʻo ka poʻe hilinaʻi aku iā Iēhova, e ulu hou nō ko lākou ikaika;
E piʻi ʻēheu aku nō lākou i luna, e like me nā ʻaito;
E holo nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e māloʻeloʻe,
E hele mua nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e maʻule.
`Isaia 40:31
As a youth, my family's hobby was to hunt for arrowheads along the Columbia River and a few sorties into central Oregon where we found some fine obsidian points. I could always tell the real thing from a modern point because the modern artisans would work the edges and leave the middle of the tool smooth. Your friend is indeed a fine craftsman, and has perfected the art of making stone projectiles as evidenced by the even flaking across the entire piece. That knife is an example of superb workmanship and would compare with the finest work that I have seen in the originals! Thank you for sharing.
WOW Looks great. Wish I could find my hidden talent Your sheaths came out nice too.
30/30 Winchester: Not accurate enough fer varmints, barely adequate for small deer; BUT In a 10" to 14" barrelled pistol; is good for moose/elk to 200 yards; ground squirrels to 300 metres
250 Savage... its what the 223 wishes it could be...!
That's some fine art work on the knife!
But the sheath & the Idea is awesome!!!!
The other day I was in a guys personal museum of Indian rocks hes found or bought
over the years, alls I can say is youd have to be there to believe it
Ive been there before but its hard to take it all in
Its like trying to look at 9000 old Winchesters
I am impressed by both your & Jesse's skills, Ji - AWESOME ! !
I've made many a sheath, but never thought of the rawhide chews !
Thanks for the excellent idea, for a new / better sheath for my Gravely & Wreaks style "Tah-Chee" Cherokee Bowie clone, that I got from the Crazy Crow Trading Post last Winter.
Nice touch with the chew toy sheath, it really sets it off.
Years ago when I first got a computer and bandwidth was at a premium there weren't many forums like we have today. There were however "mail lists" that served the same purpose. I got on a mail list sponsored by the Univ of Quebec that talked about primitive skills. Thru that I found out about Dr. Ron Hood and his survival.com web site. There are some real artists out there knapping flint today.
If you're gonna be stupid ya gotta be tough-
Isiah 55:8&9
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
Yes, Jesse Wright is an amazing knapper of stones who would do the ancients proud (notice the fine serrations on blade edge). I had wanted a knife made from Hawaiian obsidian but that is hard to come by (only two known obsidian quarries in state one on Maui, another on Hawai'i) so the danish flint is more than acceptable alternative the quality of work more important than the material it's made from. I really want to try it on game but not sure when I'll get the chance.
Thanks again friends & brothers for your support.
Last edited by Ji in Hawaii on Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Illegitimus Non Carborundum Akā, ʻo ka poʻe hilinaʻi aku iā Iēhova, e ulu hou nō ko lākou ikaika;
E piʻi ʻēheu aku nō lākou i luna, e like me nā ʻaito;
E holo nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e māloʻeloʻe,
E hele mua nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e maʻule.
`Isaia 40:31
Rusty wrote:Nice touch with the chew toy sheath, it really sets it off.
Years ago when I first got a computer and bandwidth was at a premium there weren't many forums like we have today. There were however "mail lists" that served the same purpose. I got on a mail list sponsored by the Univ of Quebec that talked about primitive skills. Thru that I found out about Dr. Ron Hood and his survival.com web site. There are some real artists out there knapping flint today.
Grizz wrote:Great leather work Ji and beautiful flint
question about rawhide, is there any chance of it shrinking mucho when fully dried out?
asking because I don't know...
thanks
Grizz
Yes it does shrink while drying. What I do is wipe the flexible rawhide dry, then clothes-pin it over the knife using as many pins as needed and place in the sun for about an hour turning it over as needed. As it dries and shrinks it forms around the knife the shape it needs to be. After about an hour you can trim the edges to final shape, and start punching holes for the lacing. These are made to allow for any final shrinkage. The thickness of the hide more than anything changes the most. On my covered plastic sheath you can see how snugly the rawhide shrank over the plastic for a nice tight final fit requiring no glue to hold it in place. Just allow for shrinkage and you're in good shape. I paid $3.49 for a pack of 3 medium chew-bones, One I gave to my nephew's dog, and the other two made two sheaths with plenty room to work with so small investment to work with, and no waste if you have a dog.
I forgot to mention the first sheath the one for the flint knife I did dip into some dark walnut Watco Oil a couple times first for protection and second for color. Color was not dark enough to my taste thus the addition of brown shoe polish. The second sheath is straight shoe polish. Probably explains the finish difference between the two sheaths. I was amazed at how long a soak it took to make the rawhide soft enough to work- 48 hours. I was also surprised that it was NOT slimey at all but just wet leather. I think if left unprotected it would still take a long time in torrential rain for the rawhide to begin to get soft, with a little protection even longer. We shall see if I ever get the chance.
Illegitimus Non Carborundum Akā, ʻo ka poʻe hilinaʻi aku iā Iēhova, e ulu hou nō ko lākou ikaika;
E piʻi ʻēheu aku nō lākou i luna, e like me nā ʻaito;
E holo nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e māloʻeloʻe,
E hele mua nō lākou, ʻaʻole hoʻi e maʻule.
`Isaia 40:31
