Back when I was a kid, my Dad used to sharpen all his own tools with a whetstone. This is a modern day whetstone, and how to use it:
I really enjoyed that video because it was instructive and funny. Unfortunately, the iVokh don’t have modern day tools, so the next step of my research was to see how primitive peoples sharpened things. This is what I found:
This video explains how to sharpen a stone arrowhead, but what I really want to know is how to sharpen a claw…a to’pak claw. Luckily, the tool used to knap the edge of the arrowhead is an antler, and antlers are made of bone. As an aside, the presenter sharpened his antler tool on a piece of sandstone. Yes! Getting closer.
And here, at last is what I was looking for – a [replica] black bear claw with a sharpish point that could be sharpened even further with that sandstone!
In the scene I’m currently writing, the Yellow sharpens a to’pak claw and uses it to carve Death’s hide…as a punishment. Thrilled that it’s possible in my world as well as theirs. 🙂
Happy weekend,
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
March 5th, 2021 at 6:36 pm
You have summoned a memory from early junior school – we made stone age axes by tying flint stones to sticks – but we didn’t sharpen them!
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March 7th, 2021 at 2:06 pm
Probably just as well. 🙂
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March 2nd, 2021 at 12:54 pm
Fascinating…I sharpen all knives with a wet stone and sharp they are…:) I love how much research you do can’t wait to read the next book …you have whetted the appetite …
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March 2nd, 2021 at 12:56 pm
-giggles- Ka ching! thank you, and I’m fascinated, do you use the same technique as shown on that first video?
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March 2nd, 2021 at 1:12 pm
I do but don’t use one of the blue thingys I just do it how my father showed me.. Interesting video though… I may try and get some as it was intesting about the types of knives..
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March 2nd, 2021 at 1:16 pm
I loved the technical aspects of sharpening the different kind of knives. My trouble is, I have no idea what kind of knives I’ve got! Let me know if those blue thingies work.
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March 2nd, 2021 at 1:36 pm
The ones i’ve found so far the postage is more than the product but thats Amazon and e-Bay for you but will keep looking..
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March 2nd, 2021 at 2:10 pm
-sigh- postage is the killer here too. The down side of living on the below the equator. Wait…is Thailand above or below?
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March 2nd, 2021 at 6:32 pm
Above I believe… 😀
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March 2nd, 2021 at 7:15 pm
I got curious and looked it up. Thailand is roughly the same distance north of the equator as northern Australia is /south/ of the equator. In other words…hot and humid. 🙂
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March 2nd, 2021 at 7:17 pm
It certainly is all of that at the moment…phew!
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March 3rd, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Down south in Melbourne we’re having one of the coolest summers I can remember. Lovely. 😀
-fans some cool air up north of the equator-
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March 1st, 2021 at 6:08 pm
As I suspected, you are taking virtual leaps in your creative life!
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March 1st, 2021 at 8:02 pm
lmao – I do love my research. 😉
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March 1st, 2021 at 6:15 am
So interesting. I love how much research you put into this, Andrea. And I learned that I had no idea at all how to sharpen my knives! LOL. No wonder they can’t even cut a stick of butter. “Carving a Death hide.” What a great hook. I can’t wait to read your next creation. 😀
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March 1st, 2021 at 9:11 am
lol – this one is a breech birth, I think. Story, that is!
I have knife sharpening gadgets but I’d love to try my hand at the real thing. 🙂
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March 1st, 2021 at 9:17 am
Some stories are just hard to write. I know the feeling. Keep it up!
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March 1st, 2021 at 9:31 am
Yes. 😦 I’m not giving up, but sometimes it feels as if I really don’t want to write this story. Weird. I suspect I’ve just been in this story for too long. Started in 2004, thought I’d finished in 2013, and here it’s 2021 already. -shrug-
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March 1st, 2021 at 9:51 am
A long journey! Will this one wrap it up or will you need a third?
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March 1st, 2021 at 8:05 pm
3rd…4th? I thought I had the story done back in 2012. Then I decided to change the start. Added a couple of characters. And suddenly it was a whole different story. -sigh- I’ll get there one of these decades…
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March 2nd, 2021 at 4:59 am
Lol. You better!
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March 2nd, 2021 at 9:54 am
-crosses heart and looks angelic- I’m trying, honest. 🙂
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March 1st, 2021 at 5:38 am
Fascinating article. My late husband had a collection of stone arrowheads and primitive tools which he found while plowing our fields over the years. This was a hunting ground for indigenous hunters and others that once paused on what is our property now.
The black arrowhead in the picture looks like obsidian (volcanic glass) which was plentiful among Aztecs, etc.
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March 1st, 2021 at 9:13 am
I’ve never seen on arrowhead outside of a museum. You are so lucky. And yes, I think the black one was obsidian. I didn’t really believe it could be that sharp until he cut the leather with one swipe. Yikes.
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March 2nd, 2021 at 7:12 am
This part of Ohio was formed by a prehistoric lake that extended far south of where we are. Our city is named North Ridgeville because of the ancient lake shore sand ridges. There were always indigenous tribes here that lived and hunted in the area.
The obsidian was used for tools/knives, and also for spears and hunting arrows. Not around here though, obsidian is volcanic glass.
I’ll send you some pictures of the arrowheads, etc.
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March 2nd, 2021 at 9:53 am
Fascinating. So where would the obsidian have come from? Would it be something the tribes traded amongst each other?
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February 28th, 2021 at 7:35 pm
‘the scene I’m currently writing’ Whoop-Whoop. 🙂
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February 28th, 2021 at 8:43 pm
lol – Hi Silversmith! -hugs-
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February 28th, 2021 at 1:59 pm
Getting things anatomically or physically correct was always a fun literary task. Here’s a bit of lore I learned: flint and steel. What is the spark made of? It’s not rock, it’s iron. Raw, unoxidized iron reacts violently with oxygen. Think metal grinder or a semi-truck dragging a chain — all those sparks are iron fragments “burning” in the air. So the flint is sharp enough to cut the iron off in tiny slivers.
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February 28th, 2021 at 8:45 pm
Oh my sainted aunt…that’s brilliant! I had no idea how the spark actually happened. I’ve copy/pasted your explanation into a file for future reference. Mwahahahaha! thank you. 🙂
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February 28th, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Your research is meticulous as always. You must feel vindicated to get an answer like this. Great insight.
Huge Hugs
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February 28th, 2021 at 8:50 pm
Thanks, David. I’m an information magpie. I have a nest full of shinies but I’m expert at nothing. But I do love my shinies. 😀
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