Sinew thread and rawhide lashing
shrinks tight as it dries
AWhat it needs
Needs 9 other products in all, 2 of them directly.
- 02.06 Sinew thread and rawhide lashingMaking Year 1 needs 9 products
- 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
- 02.03 Stone knives, scrapers and engraving pointsMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
- 02.01 Knapping kitMaking 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
Plant cord stretches and slips. Sinew and rawhide do the opposite: put on wet, they shrink as they dry and pull tight like a clamp. Sinew is the strongest thread on the island; rawhide binds a stone head to a handle so that it never moves.
CYou need
DSteps
- Sinew: when butchering, take the two long flat tendons that run along either side of the backbone, and the cord-like tendons from the back of each leg. Cut them free at the ends and peel them out whole.
- Scrape off all meat and fat. Lay them flat to dry in the shade for a day or two. They dry hard and amber, like horn.
- Pound a dry tendon gently on the log with the cobble until it turns white and breaks up into fibres.
- Pull the fibres apart into threads as fine as needed. A back tendon gives threads as long as the forearm.
- To use: wet a thread in the mouth, and roll two or three together on the thigh if a thicker one is wanted. Wrap or sew with it damp. It carries its own glue and needs no knot: smooth the end down and it stays.
- Rawhide: soak a fresh skin for two days until the hair pulls out easily. Scrape off the hair and the flesh.
- Cut the wet skin into one long strip a finger wide. Start at the outside edge and cut round and round in a spiral toward the middle.
- To lash: wrap the wet strip tightly, each turn beside the last, tuck the end under, and let it dry slowly in the shade. It shrinks and sets as hard as wood.
- Store dry sinew and coiled rawhide strip off the ground, out of reach of animals.
EIt worked if
- A dry rawhide lashing rings when tapped and cannot be shifted by hand.
- A single sinew thread cannot be snapped between two hands.
FWhat goes wrong
- The lashing goes slack in rain. Rawhide and sinew soften when wet. Seal a finished lashing with pitch or fat.
- The sinew crumbles when pounded. It was dried by the fire or pounded with a sharp stone. Dry it in shade and use a smooth cobble.
- The rawhide splits the handle as it dries. It was wrapped too thick in one place. Use more turns of thinner strip.
- Animals eat it. Hang it high.
GIn the story
The first deer falls on the eleventh day, to Wren's spear and Kofi's patience. The whole camp wants the meat. Kofi makes them wait while he takes out the tendons first, and Yara takes the skin before anyone can think of throwing it away. Nothing of that animal is wasted, and that becomes the custom.