Lost Arts

[Gun Runner]

I guess I learned from the old school. If you dont know how to make something, check with somebody that does. Growing up on a small farm if we needed something and dint know how to make it we traded (bartered) with somebody. One of the guys I went to school with (grade school thru high school) lived bout 1/2 mile down the road. We used to trade veggies back and forth with his people. Some other folks in the area were trades man and we had an old saw mill. Had an old dodge 6 cyl eng and trannie with a stright shaft back to the saw blade. Couple collars to keep the shaft from jumping around. We built a barn and all the fenceing around it, plus new OUT HOUSE plus couple other small buildings. We traded something for a small cat tractor and used to haul logs to our mill and help other folks with things they needed. One of the guys was a mech. and kept the tractor and saw mill running. Dont ever remember any of the folks around the area going with out as we all traded/bartered things.

Gun Runner

[ironglow]

   I have been teaching at a Christian center for several weeks, which has required my having my tools located at the center, will be pulling them back next few days and will do some kind of demonstration so it is available to you..

[Cornbelt]

  Speaking of lost arts, anyone ever try to knap arrow heads from coke bottle bottoms? I've heard it could be done and it is tempered glass.
  I've seen flint knapped. The guy made it look easy, but trying it myself, found it was an art indeed! Coke bottles are easier to find than arrow heads, too.

[Needles]

My grandpa showed me how to 'blue' a gun barrel with bacon grease. I actually wrote an article on doing that for Rifle Magazine back in the early '90s. I grew up on a sharecropper farm. My grandpa did a lot of things that came from being out a good ways from town. He could use tractor weights or millstones and a piece of chain or cable to make gate closers. I once helped him make a picnic table using a pile of white oak, a brace 'n' bit, chisels and wooden pegs. The only nails were to hold the boards down for the top. He never got around to showing me how to build a still; he claimed he made his still out of the heating system in one of the old farm houses that used a boiler and radiators--- he said it would still heat the house, too! 

[reliquary]

Cornbelt:  There are a couple of youtube things around if you Google, but this is what I used as a "giveout", prevously, when doing demos on primitive technology.  Works with soft drink bottles, too. 
 
http://cavemanchemistry.com/oldcave/projects/stone/bottle.html

[Cornbelt]

  Thanks Reliquary. That's an interesting link. Found an arrowhead the other day, and a beer bottle just this week. How lucky can a guy get? (I guess I'll find out by counting the remaining bandaids in the box when I'm done.)

[reliquary]

Most of my points are kinda "clunky"-looking.  Sometimes I get a real cooperative rock and it turns out pretty nice.  I've sold a few things I've made from the booth at gun shows, but mostly give them away in the demos. 
 
Another guy and I do classes for school, tour, encampment, and Scout groups and some more detailed things for a Scout badge of some kind.  Some of the kids we've taught have even picked up primitive bowyery and knapping as a hobby.  Just remember:  It's simple, but not necessarily easy.