Phase 01 — First days: water, fire, shelter / About year 1
01.15
Fire-hardened spear ⚠
first weapon and fishing pole
AWhat it needs
Needs 6 other products in all, 2 of them directly.
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- 01.15 Fire-hardened spear ⚠Making Year 1 needs 6 products
- 01.03 Sharp stone flakeMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
- 01.02 HammerstoneMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.08 First fire and stone hearthMaking Year 1 needs 5 products
- 01.06 Tinder and kindling storeMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.07 Bow-drill fire setMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
- 01.03 Sharp stone flakeshown above ↑← shown at left
- 01.05 Twisted plant-fibre cordMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
Open a box to see what it needs. A dashed box is a product already drawn in full: click it to jump there. In the org chart, drag to move around.
BWhy
A sharpened pole is the first weapon and the first reach beyond the arm: for fish in the shallows, for defence, and later as the shaft for a stone point.
CYou need
DSteps
- Cut the sapling by sawing a groove round it with the flake and snapping it. Trim off the side shoots flush.
- Scrape the bark from the front arm's length, and from the place where the hand will grip.
- Sight along it like an arrow. Where it bends, warm that part over the coals until it is too hot to hold, bend it a little past straight, and hold it until it cools.
- Shave the thicker end to a long even point, a hand's length from full thickness to tip. Scrape away from the body, turning the pole as you go.
- Smooth the point on the rough rock.
- Hold the point a hand-width above the coals, never in flame, and keep turning it. It hisses and steams as the sap dries out. Stop when it is golden brown. Black means burnt, and burnt wood is weak.
- Rub the point on the rock again to bring back the edge. Harden and sharpen once more.
- The spear is for thrusting. Hold it with both hands and keep hold of it.
EIt worked if
- A hard thrust drives it three fingers deep into a rotten log and the point comes out whole.
- Balanced on one finger, it tips toward the point.
FWhat goes wrong
- The point breaks off. It was charred black, or it is too long and thin. Cut it back and make a shorter, thicker point.
- It warps as it dries. Green wood moves. Straighten it again over the coals after a few days.
- It will not stay sharp. Normal for wood. Touch it up on the rock before every use.
GSafety
- Carry it point up when walking with others, and never run with it.
HIn the story
Kofi makes two and hands the second to Wren without a word, to see what she will do with it. She throws it, which he has just told her never to do, and puts it through a floating gourd at ten paces. He decides to find out what else she can do, and so begins two years of the pair of them trying to outdo each other.
IFigures
not drawn yet
