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Bill Metcalfe · Post by **Bill Metcalfe** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:50 pm

Hello all my name is bill aand I have been knapping for 40 years and in this time I have aquired much information about the native americans and I hope to share some of it with the folks that come to the festival. I am planning to make the journy of a life time. however I would like to know a little more about the agenda while there will there be any one intersted in the manufacture of stone arrow heads and stone tools? If so I will need to send tools and knappable material ahead as I dont think that the airlines will put up with a bucket of sharp rocks. I also do a demo on manufacturing an native american stile bow in under two hours if anyonde is intersted I will have to make arrangements to geta stave over there also. I am looking forward to hearing more Bill two moons.

Tatanka_Maza · Post by **Tatanka_Maza** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:44 pm

Welcome Bill.

What particular style of native bow do you make?

Bill Metcalfe · Post by **Bill Metcalfe** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:54 am

Tatanaka Most of the bows that I build are self bow with an native american style of the mid western indians I have built a few short horse bows that have a very heavy short draw that makes them hard to shoot accurately. but as we all know the more years of practice the better these fellows were. I have used the sinew backing on several and find that I really do not like them as well as the plain self bow as you can hunt in the rain drizzle weather. I have a good time roughing out a bow and only use three tools to do it have been known to build a bow infront of a croud of bowmakers at mojambark on stay to a shooting 62# 29" draw in 45 minutes and shot at the running pig taget with it I did not win the contest but it was sure fun. where are you from? and are you going to the festival? Bill two moons

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:53 am

Bill,

It's going to be great having you at the festival. I know the knapping will be very popular. I'll have to introduce you to Se-hyun Yoo, the son of one of Korea's famous fletchers. He's made many types of heads (mostly slate) and I think it would be great to get him into knapping.

T

Bill Metcalfe · Post by **Bill Metcalfe** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:20 am

Thomas I am curious to know if there is any knappable stone there in Korea? and then what Quality if it is good maybe I wont have to send so much over. Now I know that I am no world class bowmaker but I wonder if there would be any interst in the quick stile that I make? Have they gotten close to have a schedule of events printed I am rambling again I will sign off for now Bill two moons

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:29 pm

Bill,

The answer is both yes and no. There is knappable stone in Korea, but it's generally not easy to come by. I have a couple stories related to it.

A few years ago, in a video put out by Korea's defense ministry, a Korean professor was down by a river bed knapping. I was very excited to see that and so I tracked him down. I asked him where he found the stone; he admitted to me that it wasn't from Korea--he had it shipped in from Europe.

I gave a knapping kit to Yoo Young-ki, Korea's famous fletcher a few years ago, along with a large hunk of obsidian (called "heuk yo seok" in Korean). You would have thought I gave him the Hope Diamond. Although the Korean peninsula was formed by volcanic action and obsidian points were used historically, the stuff is not easy to come by (and it seems as though it's protected...). Both the kit and the obsidian were put into a display case.

It seems as though flint (called "busheet dol" in Korean) is also native to Korea, but I have yet to find anyplace that has it. I frequently look around when I'm in rocky areas for any rocks that flake off, but have found few. Still, if you look at the museum exhibits, Korea was awash in knapped points, knives, and ax heads.

T

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:31 am

Korea had a long history of using a sort of slate for arrowheads and blades. I have many of these arrowheads from North China. I'm not sure whether the slate short swords were a useable product or whether they were just decorative.

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:19 pm

Here are some examples of those kinds of points (Korea Army Museum).

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:18 am

What's the correct description of that stone, Tom? I said 'slate'; but that may not be right.

Bill Metcalfe · Post by **Bill Metcalfe** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:28 am

qThanks for the pictures are the points made from brass? and stephen the name that most often used to describe the material arrowheads are made from is flint. There are many kinds of stone that will work and this includes agate, chert. flint. jaspers, and obcidian(volcanic glass) juist to name a few. there are several man made materials that can be used such as glass ( the highly colored art glass makes beautiful points) and some of the high quality porclins and some ceramics. Some of the native americans used slate and ground points down on sand stone This was a very slow and tiring bit of work, and was not a wide spread practice, as the points were not as sharp nor a durable. I am working on the arrangement for the trip and Iam very excited to have this chance of a life time. Bill

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:05 pm

Bill,

Stephen was referring to the points in the picture (except for the one on the far right, which is a bronze point), which seem to be made of a type of slate. Their description (in Korean) just says "stone point". Yoo Se-hyun, the son of Korea's famous fletcher, Yoo Young-gi, has made similar points; he would take slate and grind it down by rubbing it on a rock. The points are very nice looking, but also very time intensive to make.

It will be great to have you here, so we can get your expertise on matters like this and others

T

Bill Metcalfe · Post by **Bill Metcalfe** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:30 pm

good day to all. I have been gathering what I understand to be the basic componites for the manufacture of a horn bow and trying to get an understanding of the basic bow making methods to get started. Will there be a demonstration on the manufacture of horn bows? I hope to see many of you there Bill

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:59 pm

They plan to have some type of demo(s), but I'll have to find out more info.

T

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