Groswater harpoon progress

Un-notched Groswater
Endblade

I have a few goals in the workshop this week and several orders that I'm trying to fill all at once, but my main focus is to get a Groswater harpoon and assorted Northern Plain's projectile points finished and in the mail by Friday.  The clock is ticking and I need the harpoon to be dry before shipping, so my priority today was working the sealskin so that the lashing can go on to the wood shaft as soon as possible so that it can dry while I work on the other unfinished pieces in the order.

Stretching and drying sealskin for the harpoon line and lashings.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Chert Arrowheads and Endblades

Local Newfoundland Chert

After three days of knapping, there are nearly 90 points in the workshop ready to be turned into necklaces, earrings, lapel pins, and tie-tacs.  Most of these Beothuk arrowheads and Dorset and Groswater Palaeoeskimo endblades will end up as jewellery for sale through the gift shop at The Rooms here in St. John's.  It's been a while since I've restocked a store with this quantity of Elfshot jewellery, so if you have been waiting for the right moment to pick something up, your chance is coming up.

The large biface in the middle is a Groswater Palaeoeskimo assymetric knife, but the rest are arrowheads and endblades.  The upper right corner is full of triangular Middle Dorset Palaeoeskimo endblades, the lower right corner is Groswater Palaeoeskimo box-based, side notched endblades and the left side contains corner notched Beothuk arrowheads.  The larger ones will be turned into necklaces and the smaller ones will be paired up into earrings.  The lonely ones left behind will become tie tacs and lapel pins.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Harpoon Head Repairs Finished

Two antler harpoon heads and two
ivory harpoon heads

The three harpoon heads that I set out to make and/or repair on Monday are finished now.  The missing endblade on the complete Dorset harpoon is part of a larger order, so I'll hold on to that for the time being, but I can contact the owners of the other two harpoon heads and make the delivery arrangements.  I'd like to hang on to the fresh ivory harpoon head for a few days just to be certain that it is stable.  A freshly carved ivory surface is prone to cracking if its not treated carefully.  I coated the harpoon head in mineral oil overnight at various stages and now that it is done, I've added another mineral oil coating.  The oil should help mitigate the swelling and cracking as the new surfaces react to their new temperature, humidity, and pressure.

The new harpoon head is shown here alongside the broken one that it is replacing.

This is an Inuit style toggling harpoon head for seal hunting.  It is made from walrus ivory for the body, iron for the blade, and brass for the rivet to hold the blade in place.

This is a Dorset Palaeoeskimo harpoon head reproduction with a tip fluted endblade.  It is made from antler and Newfoundland chert.

Two of the harpoon heads are part of complete harpoons.  The one in the upper right corner is another Dorset Palaeoeskimo harpoon head that was given a replacement endblade.  I don't have the complete Inuit harpoon, but the client sent along the ivory foreshaft so that I could ensure that the replacement harpoon head fits.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Ground Stone Endblades

A pair of replacement ground stone endblades for a Thule harpoon that I made earlier this year.  The one on the left is made from slate and the one on the right is nephrite.  The slate one is sharp and quick to make, while the much more time consuming nephrite enblade is durable and long lasting.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

A Few New Harpoon Heads

They are damp, because antler and
whalebone become soft and easy to
 work when soaked in water.

I'm continuing to work on Dorset Palaeoeskimo artifact reproductions this week.  Here are a few in-progress shots of some antler harpoon heads.  Two of them are self-bladed, meaning that the harpoon head itself comes to a sharp piercing point and two of them are slotted to fit knapped chert endblades.  They are all Middle Dorset styles, although I intend to add a little slice to the base of the selfbladed one without the barbs, which will give it a slightly earlier appearance.

Chert endblade and antler harpoon head.  The general shape is there, but I need to do a bit more work on the line hole and will probably antique the antler with a bit of tea-staining to give the appearance of age.

They're getting close to being finished, but the pencil marks
show where the next set of cutting and shaping needs to
take place.

Even though these are styles that I've made before and often, I still progress very slowly and deliberately on them.  I block them out roughly and then cut and abrade them progressively into shape.  In between each cutting stage I bring them inside and compare them to photos and drawings of actual artifacts.  Even on relatively simple and familiar harpoon heads like these, I compare them to photos and map out the next cuts in pencil a half dozen or more times.  There are details that show up in the photos that I think are important to making an accurate reproduction that don't show up or make sense until the harpoon head is nearly finished.  The slow pace and constant comparisons lead to a more accurate reproduction and more opportunities to notice subtle details on the actual artifacts, both of which are important to me.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast