Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit / About year 1
02.20
Spear thrower and darts
doubles the hunter's range
AWhat it needs
Needs 12 other products in all, 1 of them directly.
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- 02.20 Spear thrower and dartsFood Year 1 needs 12 products
- 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 thrown spear is only as fast as the arm. The spear thrower is a stick that makes the arm a forearm longer, and that extra length flings a light spear two or three times as far, hard enough to kill a deer at thirty paces.
CYou need
- For the thrower: a straight piece of hard wood as long as the forearm and hand, two fingers wide, with a side twig left on near one end as a hook. Or a carved bone hook fixed on like a spear point (02.19).
- For the darts: straight light shoots, as thick as a finger and a little taller than the thrower, with stone points fitted as for the spear
- Three large wing feathers for each dart, and the glue and thread used for the spear
DSteps
- Thrower: trim the side twig to a short blunt peg, slanting forward. This is the hook that pushes the dart.
- Shape the other end into a grip. Cut two notches for the first two fingers, or tie on two loops of hide.
- Scrape the rest thin enough to flex slightly, and smooth it.
- Darts: straighten each shoot over the fire by warming and bending. Scrape it smooth.
- Fit a small stone point to the thick end, as for the spear but lighter.
- In the thin end, bore a shallow cup with a flint borer, just big enough to sit on the hook.
- Split three feathers down the quill. Bind them round the shaft a hand-span from the cupped end, at equal spacing, with sinew at the front and back of each feather. Feathers keep the dart flying straight.
- A good dart is whippy. Held by the ends and pressed, it should bend easily and spring back. A stiff dart flies badly.
- To throw: lay the dart along the thrower with its cup on the hook. Hold the grip, and pinch the dart lightly between thumb and finger. Throw overhand as if throwing a stone, and at the end snap the wrist forward. The thrower swings up and over, pushing the dart away; let the pinch go by itself.
- Practise every day at a grass-stuffed hide. Begin at fifteen paces.
EIt worked if
- The dart flies level and point first, and reaches sixty paces.
- Eight throws in ten hit a deer-sized target at twenty-five paces.
FWhat goes wrong
- The dart slaps down in front of you. It was held too tightly, or the hook is too long. Pinch lightly; shorten the hook.
- It flies sideways or tumbles. No feathers, a bent shaft, or a shaft that is too stiff.
- The cup splits. Bind the end of the shaft with sinew before boring it.
- The hook breaks off. The twig was dead wood. Use a live branch joint or a bone hook.
GSafety
- The dart can go further than you expect and through things you cannot see. Throw only where the whole flight path is clear.
HIn the story
Kofi has read about this tool and never held one. His first twenty throws go into the ground, into a tree and once nearly into Tane. Wren watches for an hour without a word, picks it up, and puts her third dart through the target. Kofi asks her to show him. It costs him something to ask.
IFigures
not drawn yet
not drawn yet