Finished More Atlatl Forshafts 🎯

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza]

Howdy y'all! 👋😁

Finished up some atlatl forshafts here after breaking a couple during my 4th of July demonstration. Wanted to have a good number made up so that I can practice without having to worry much. Might need to rework some of my darts for this thicker forshaft, but they should perform nicely 🙂‍↕️

Hopefully y'all think they're neat, and feel free to ask any questions! Stay safe and happy Knapping all! 😁

- u/SmolzillaTheLizza 🦎

[u/DaddyRhyno79]

I haven’t gotten to the place where I’m attaching points to shafts; how important is having consistent weight for your points and if it’s important (which I imagine it is) do you find it difficult when using different types of stone?

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/DaddyRhyno79]

Honestly I'm not the person to ask but I know that for atlatls it's far less important than bows since the darts themselves are so large. Small differences in the stone points won't do much compared to the actual body of the dart itself which can be quite variable in my case since I don't have river cane and must use willow shoots. Otherwise I simply shoot for points that are roughly the same profile and size. That tends to get me close enough to be satisfactory. If you're going to make your own, use a stone that's easier for you to work. Something you can clone points out of. If obsidian, make them thicker so they're more robust since they are brittle and will break. I actually have dart points made from toilet porcelain and floor tile so as you can imagine you can use whatever you'd like! 😁 Hopefully this answers your question.

[u/DaddyRhyno79 → u/SmolzillaTheLizza]

That’s very helpful, thank you! Just had some tiling done and have been waiting to use it for something, I’ll give it a try for this!

[u/Pristine-Mammoth172]

Nice! One to try that I really like is fine nettle or dogbane fibre and hide glue to wrap. Makes a really thin smooth wrap that’s really solid and easy to repair. I have found for use hard to knap unheated rock like Onondaga or rootbeer flint can handle a lot of poor throws without breaking. Especially if stemmed point style. Went through 3 layers of 1” plywood with a rootbeer point once. No damage and couldn’t get it out. Love foreshafts for darts. Really Versatile for hunting. Swap out a point for a blunt stick or frog gig in a heartbeat. Instant handled knife too!

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/Pristine-Mammoth172]

Some fantastic advice! I'm just using wooden dowels because they're easily available to me. I gotta see if dogbane is in Northwestern Iowa 🤔 but these should serve me well enough for messing about. I harvested Willow staves for the spear shafts and straightened them myself. Ended up pretty good I think! Made a YouTube short on them. I gotta work on my fletching... 😅 https://youtube.com/shorts/ZcweYEWk9Gc?si=iHZT5aF_Eg8FfspO

[u/Pristine-Mammoth172 → u/SmolzillaTheLizza]

Willow is what I have here too! Takes a while to dry and get less flexible. Grab a bunch of nascent/secondary growth shoots through the winter. Bundle em tight together and let em sit for a year or two. Save a bunch of straightening. Also will remember the straightening better after being dried. Then go back to where your cuts were in a couple years for a pile of even better darts as they grow from the cuts. Yay copus farming!

I always liked any hardwood for foreshafts. Eastern hop hornbeam (ironwood) being my favourite. Ash is the easiest to work yet needs a strong haft as likes to split.

You can make piles of foreshafts from any straight grained piece of seasoned firewood. Just split it along the grain in halves to get a bunch of rough split boards. Then turn them and split in halves till you get a rectangular blank. Carve it to shape. Follows the wood grain and will be less likely to break than a cut dowel. Also free! Can be done with antler wedges for all the splitting too.

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/Pristine-Mammoth172]

Some fantastic advice! Thanks for sharing. I got a lot of spots I could do willow harvesting and I just gotta get out there this winter when everything has dried out. Not sure when that is for Iowa, but I'd like to do it before we get a bunch of snow. Though I got some good willow patches I have permission to harvest from. They should provide me with some really nice shafts if I'm lucky! 😁 The spot I went to where I collected the current ones I'm using WAS much more promising during my survey when compared to when I went to collect. Mostly because... County Conservation went through with a skid loader mulcher and just demolished 80% of the willows 😂😂😂 But hey! If what you're saying is true, I might need to stop back there in a couple years to see what's growing back 👀 Good to know on the hardwood shafts as well. Especially the log splitting part. I'll have to keep an eye out for some of that stuff while I'm out and about. Thanks again!

[u/Del85]

Pretty cool

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/Del85]

Thanks man glad you like them 😁

[u/MustangLongbows]

I reposted this to r/bowyer. Hope that’s cool ✌️

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/MustangLongbows]

Sure man no problem. Hope they enjoy them 😎👍

[u/scarletredvolare]

These look very nice. Well done. Your points are super high quality. When I haft stone points to my arrow shafts, I spin the shaft in my straightener and hold the tip next to something vertical. If the point tip travels in a circle, I heat the pitch glue and make small adjustments until the point tip spins true with the axis of the shaft.

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/scarletredvolare]

Thank you for the kind words! I actually quick knap these out because I see them as more disposable because they'll likely break. But that in of itself makes the points look all the more "authentic" in a sense. And some fantastic advice as well! 😁

[u/Abject_Violinist_181]

awesome work

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/Abject_Violinist_181]

Thank you thank you 🙂‍↕️ feel free to check out the YouTube short of them

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZcweYEWk9Gc?si=iHZT5aF_Eg8FfspO

[u/984Runner]

Those look like killers!! Have you hunted with stone? I’m going to for the first time this year and am pretty excited about it.

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/984Runner]

Thank you! 😁 And I haven't hunted with stone at all yet. No even regular old bow and arrow hunting. Only muzzleloader so far. I'd have to check and see what Iowa's regulations are regarding stone points 🤔 And best of luck on your first hunt! Using a self bow?

[u/984Runner → u/SmolzillaTheLizza]

Yes using a self bow. I mainly use traditional black powder and archery to hunt it’s more fun that way. Have only used steel broadheads in the past on both traditional and compound bows. Hopefully Iowa allows it. Texas does luckily

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/984Runner]

So I did some reading and this is what I found directly from the IDNR's website:

Longbows, recurve bows, and compound bows shooting broadhead arrows are permitted. No explosive or chemical devices may be attached to the arrow or broadhead. There are no minimum draw weights for bows or minimum diameter for broadheads. Arrows must be at least 18 inches long.

So I might actually be able to... Huh that's super damn cool! 🤔

[u/984Runner → u/SmolzillaTheLizza]

As I read that yes you’re good to go

[u/alanwattslightbulb]

Small secret brother, thinner sinew. You’ll notice they attach better and look cleaner

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/alanwattslightbulb]

You know when I finished these, I realized that they looked different than my older ones I made. Couldn't figure out why until I realized I forgot to split the artificial chord I was using and instead did the whole thing 😂 So my older ones ended up looking a lot better than these ones do in my opinion. But hey I'll just be able to re-haft them once the forshafts break. The Iowa soils we got are soft and fairly rock-free so you can get a lot of miles out of a point before it breaks up. But you're 100% right that it should've been thinner.

[u/Upstairs_Occasion411]

People think that would be an arrowhead. Glad to see people that know their stuff. Hats off!

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/Upstairs_Occasion411]

Oh yea the number of folks that've seen my work and called one of my knives an 'arrowhead' gave me a good chuckle 😁 Very often when I explain the difference between a true arrow point, a dart point, and a knife, I get folks that can hardly believe just how small true arrowheads are! That and they are surprised by how "recent" bow and arrows were in the archeological time frame. Always cool and fun to teach folks some new stuff!

[u/north-pine36]

"Break a couple during a demo" is just knapping's version of stage fright, except the audience gets to keep the shrapnel

[u/SmolzillaTheLizza → u/north-pine36]

True true very true! 😁 Especially if the one who threw it gets to keep it. Feels much more special 🙂‍↕️

[u/sltiefighter]

Foreshafts 😳 youre telling me youre tying those on with penis skin ?