Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit / About year 1
02.03
Stone knives, scrapers and engraving points
retouched blades for fine work
AWhat it needs
Needs 3 other products in all, 1 of them directly.
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- 02.03 Stone knives, scrapers and engraving pointsMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
- 02.01 Knapping kitMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
- 01.02 HammerstoneMaking Year 1 raw materials only
- 01.03 Sharp stone flakeMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
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 raw flake cuts, but it is a random shape. With the knapping kit the edge can be made to order: a long knife, a blunt-edged scraper that cleans a hide without cutting it, a chisel point that grooves bone, a borer that drills. These are the fine tools every other craft waits for.
CYou need
- A good lump of flint, chert or obsidian
- The knapping kit (02.01)
DSteps
- Prepare a blade core: knock the top off the lump to make one flat platform, and trim the sides so a straight ridge runs down the front.
- Strike just behind the top of the ridge with the antler hammer. A long narrow blade with two straight edges comes off, following the ridge. The scars it leaves make two new ridges, so each blade sets up the next.
- Knife: choose a long straight blade. Blunt one edge by rubbing it on sandstone, so a finger can rest on it.
- End scraper: take a thick blade. With the pusher, shape one end into a steep, rounded, blunt edge, like the end of a thumb. It scrapes fat and hair from a hide without slicing through.
- Side scraper: the same steep edge along one side of a broad flake, for working wood and bark.
- Engraving point: snap a thick blade across. Strike one corner of the break so a sliver comes off down the edge. It leaves a tiny, strong chisel tip that cuts grooves in bone and antler.
- Borer: on a pointed flake, press small flakes from both edges until a narrow strong spike remains.
- Notched flake: press one half-round notch into an edge. Drawn along a stick, it shaves it round and smooth.
- Saw: press small evenly spaced nicks along a straight edge.
- Keep each kind in its own fold of a hide roll. Sharpen a dull edge again with the pusher.
EIt worked if
- The knife slices raw meat without sawing.
- The scraper takes the fat off a hide and leaves no cuts.
- The engraving point cuts a clean groove along a bone.
FWhat goes wrong
- Blades come off short and curved. The ridge is not straight, or the blow is too far back. Trim the ridge and strike closer to the edge.
- The scraper cuts the hide. The edge is too sharp. Make it steeper and blunter.
- The borer tip snaps. It is too long and thin, or it was twisted hard. Make it short and stout, and drill with light pressure.
GSafety
- Obsidian edges are the sharpest things on the island and very brittle. Never test one on skin.
HIn the story
Yara asks Hiro for a tool that will clean a deer hide without ruining it, and describes the edge with her hands. He makes six before she nods. From then on anyone who wants a tool brings Hiro a description, and he keeps a line of them waiting.
IFigures
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