A primative poker...

This one I made myself. It's a deer antler, cleaned, polished and equipped with a tarred line grip. It has no cutting edge, so it's strictly a stabber. I was going through a primitive (i..e paleolithic) thing for a while, so I had a passing interest in plausible ancient weaponry. Somewhere I have a sling that I braided up out of jute twine and a leather pouch, and briefly attempted to launch stones with it. Since this effort required more coordination than I have and a level of practice that I found off-putting, I consigned my primitives to the shelf.

Incidentally, the hide that this piece is sitting on is a genuine Vodou (of Voodoo, or Vodun) drum from Haiti, and is estimated to be over 100 years old. I also collect and play ethnic musical instruments, so I may incorporate some of them into this blog as it progresses. It's not weaponry, I know, but it's still cool.

Now let's get primative!

Here's an flaked (or flintknapped) obsidian blade hafted to a deer antler handle with sinew, just like they used to do in the good old days. Flintknapping is almost a lost art, although there's been something of a revival in recent years, including some incredibly beautiful and surprisingly functional blades. Go to www.flintknapping.com as a launching point into this arcane artform.


Obsidian is a volcanic glass that can be flaked into remarkably sharp edges - sharper, in fact, that we are able to make with surgical steel, which is why it is still used in some modern surgical applications.

Incidentally, neither antler nor obsidian can be detected by a metal detector, although there are laws in many juridictions that prohibit the carrying of "undetectable" weapons. I've always loved that turn of phrase - If a weapon is undetectable, no one could find it, and would be unable to enforce the policy. If someone found it, it would no longer be undetectable, and no law would have been broken.

Whatever. Obey the law and everthing should be just fine...right?