A Crude but Effective Chopper

2010-02-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

The preceding picture is of two choppers. My chopper is a quartzite river cobble taken from a local river. It was broken with another rock and yielded an edge that actually cut a sapling. The black chopper is a real artifact. Compared to a steel axe it is crude but is much better than my river cobble chopper. The object is to cut wood and they both will do this.

The first task, make a chopper.

2010-02-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

Before you can make your bow you need to make a tool with which you can cut your bow stave. I am reminded of an old Don Crabtree film. He was digging obsidian at Glass Buttes, Oregon. The first thing he did was to make a chopper from obsidian. Then he used his chopper to cut a limb from a juniper tree. He then fashioned a digging stck from the limb using his chopper. What would you do using the materials you have in your locale?

The Bow Maker's Blog

A Crude but Effective Chopper

The first task, make a chopper.