Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit / About year 1
02.19
Stone-tipped spear
AWhat it needs
Needs 11 other products in all, 4 of them directly.
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- 02.19 Stone-tipped spearFood Year 1 needs 11 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
- 02.05 Pitch glueMaking Year 1 needs 6 products
- 02.06 Sinew thread and rawhide lashingMaking Year 1 needs 9 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 wooden point bruises its way in. A stone point cuts, so it goes deeper, bleeds the animal faster and brings down larger game. It is also the pattern for every later weapon head: a shaped blade, seated, glued and bound.
CYou need
DSteps
- The point: start from a flat flake of flint. With the antler hammer, thin it from both faces. With the pusher, shape it to a narrow leaf with two straight sharp edges meeting at a tip.
- Thin the base so it is no thicker than the shaft slot will be, and press a small notch into each edge near the base, for the binding to grip.
- The seat: cut a slot across the end of the shaft, a thumb-joint deep and just wide enough for the base of the point. Start it with a knife flake and deepen it by sawing.
- Taper the outside of the shaft end so that shaft and point make one smooth line. A lump at the joint stops the spear going in.
- Try the point in the slot. It must sit straight, in line with the shaft, with no rocking.
- Warm the slot and the base of the point. Fill the slot with pitch glue, push the point in, sight along the shaft, and hold it true while the glue cools.
- Bind the joint with damp sinew thread: start below the slot, wrap up over the base of the point through the two notches, and back down. Smooth the end flat.
- Cover the binding with a thin skin of pitch to keep the wet out.
- Leave it a day. Sinew and pitch both harden.
- Carry two spare points. A point that breaks is replaced in a few minutes at the fire.
EIt worked if
- Thrown from ten paces into a hide stuffed with grass, it goes in past the binding.
- After ten throws the point has not shifted.
FWhat goes wrong
- The point snaps at the notches. They were pressed too deep. Make them shallow.
- The point twists in its seat. The slot is too wide. Pack it with a sliver of wood and more pitch.
- The shaft splits down from the slot. Bind below the slot before fitting the point.
- It will not go in deep. The joint is too thick. Taper it more and bind thinner.
GSafety
- A spear with a stone point is carried point up and never left lying on the ground.
HIn the story
The wooden spears killed the first deer, but it ran a long way first. Kofi wants a point that ends it quickly. Hiro makes him nine before one flies straight. Wren says nothing, takes the eight rejects, and fits them to her own shafts.
IFigures
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