help anyone ??

[rdebinski]

has anyone found a shaft straightener? I believe they are rather rare in Texas? I'll try to dowload a pic tomorrow. its an oval stone about 7 x 3 inches, 1 inch thick, has a shallow groove in the middle and "cuts " in the stone on one side of the groove that are perpendicular to the groove, on one side only. The cuts are very clearly "man made" and very clean, about 2-3 mm deep. 1-1.5 inches in length. a very interesting artifact. I have yet to show it to our Texas Parks and Wildlife resident archeaolgist. Found on my ranch where several spear heads, arrow heads, a bird point and a drill have been found on the surface, 2 have been dated by archeaologist to be 3000 to 5000 years old.

 

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[larson1951]

you need to post a picture
it sounds like you have a shaft abrader not shaft straightener
shaft abraders were used in pairs......it is likely another one might exist in the area but not likely that you can just go and find it
the shaft straighteners i see are made from bone....we call them an arrow shaft wrench

 

[natchitoches]

i have part of one that was found in east texas.
but my camera is not working now.

 

[rdebinski]

thanks for the help guys, i'll post a picture tonight when i get back to work gotta get some sleep today!!

 

[rock]

Post your spearheads with it.

 

[rdebinski]

help with identifying this piece

here are the pictures you've been waiting for along with some projectile points i found at the same site.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Those look like shaft abrader not straightner.

 

[kuger]

Its to make a flat edge when chipping a point

 

[Neogeo]

That is a sweet Tx. artifact!....I have something very much in the same fam as that one...I will try to get some pix.

Looks like your on a good site as well.

 

[GatorBoy]

Very nice. Looks to be a combo ..shaft abbrading / grinding stone. Alot of early archaic and Paleo points have the base ground that might indicate the age of the artifact some. The fact that the smaller grooves don't continue off the edge of the stone gives some indication of the size of the item being ground. Looks like they were for points and the other for shafts. Nice find.

 

[newnan man]

Ok, heres a question. How does one "straighten" a shaft? Wood is springy and will just retain its bent form. It might straighten a little but not enough to use as an arrow or spear shaft. Go get a thin fairly straight limb from a tree and bend it straight all you want, as soon as pressure is eased it goes right back to a bent shaft.

I can understand the abraders as they could literally sand a fairly straight shaft to a truer form. I think to straighten something it would have to be pressed flat and left that way for a long time like is done with warped lumber. Just my thoughts on the matter but these staighteners my be a something altogerther different tool.

 

[GatorBoy]

The way that is done is keeping it in a straight position until dry..the use of smoke and fire to dehydrate also hardens the wood.

 

[GatorBoy]

The ones that have a hole straight through the bone or somtines stone are straighteners. The stones with the half round worn into them are abbrading stones.

 

[larson1951]

Ok, heres a question. How does one "straighten" a shaft? Wood is springy and will just retain its bent form. It might straighten a little but not enough to use as an arrow or spear shaft. Go get a thin fairly straight limb from a tree and bend it straight all you want, as soon as pressure is eased it goes right back to a bent shaft.

I can understand the abraders as they could literally sand a fairly straight shaft to a truer form. I think to straighten something it would have to be pressed flat and left that way for a long time like is done with warped lumber. Just my thoughts on the matter but these staighteners my be a something altogether different tool.

an abrader was not for sanding a shaft into straightness, it was done to a dried shaft with water and a fire
a shaft abrader was used to polish a shaft not to make it straight

you are wrong an arrow shaft can be straightened with a bone shaft wrench or straightener
and a spear or atlatl shaft can be straightened also by the same method only no wrench was used
the material was harvested then cured and dried with the bark removed with a flint spoke shave
after the shafts were cured they were straightened by wetting the bent area needed and then inserted into the shaft wrench and heated with pressure applied with the wrench
an arrow shaft could be straightened in minutes and a larger shaft could be done by the same method only it was bent by hand over a caul until cooled
this is how it is done

 

[larson1951]

here is an image to show how pressure (after heating and wetting) is applied to the shaft
also see how much the shaft can be bent with little effort
it is then bent to desired way and held like this until cooled down
i hope these few viddys and these images show the process you were asking about

 

[newnan man]

That is pretty ingenious of those ol boys! Thanks for the info as it was something I had wondered about a few times. Makes sense and I bet they would have loved one of those propane stoves! Now tell me what were gorgets used for? I personally think a type of adornment. I've heard that one debated a lot over the years.

 

[GatorBoy]

I belive the word gorget describes the throat area of something. The word was used to describe a piece of armor or leather worn by 16th and 17th century military to protect the throat. In the case of native American artifacts it is used to describe something hung around the neck. I assume pendant would be just as good of a description.

 

[NC field hunter]

Ok, heres a question. How does one "straighten" a shaft? Wood is springy and will just retain its bent form. It might straighten a little but not enough to use as an arrow or spear shaft. Go get a thin fairly straight limb from a tree and bend it straight all you want, as soon as pressure is eased it goes right back to a bent shaft.

I can understand the abraders as they could literally sand a fairly straight shaft to a truer form. I think to straighten something it would have to be pressed flat and left that way for a long time like is done with warped lumber. Just my thoughts on the matter but these staighteners my be a something altogerther different tool.

After wood cures out it is easy to straighten. Look at a pool stick. They will warp if not stored correct.

 

[NC field hunter]

an abrader was not for sanding a shaft into straightness, it was done to a dried shaft with water and a fire
a shaft abrader was used to polish a shaft not to make it straight

you are wrong an arrow shaft can be straightened with a bone shaft wrench or straightener
and a spear or atlatl shaft can be straightened also by the same method only no wrench was used
the material was harvested then cured and dried with the bark removed with a flint spoke shave
after the shafts were cured they were straightened by wetting the bent area needed and then inserted into the shaft wrench and heated with pressure applied with the wrench
an arrow shaft could be straightened in minutes and a larger shaft could be done by the same method only it was bent by hand over a caul until cooled
this is how it is done

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_zkAdHrU_A

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhdbZC-23sU

You are correct Larson. They knew some physics back then. It was for aerodynamics and keeping shots straight with as little fall as possible. In a way, we are more primitive than them. Especially, no offense, but the computer job guys.

 

[newnan man]

Gorget is a name commonly used to discribe the two or more holed stone artifacts found. Like a lot of things it can have more than one meaning. Also true were pendants which many times had only one hole up near one end thus a pendant. I'm sure both names are correct.
Again I think they are an adornment as so many are highly polished, some with engravings and/or tally marks. They have always been one of my favorite type of artifacts.
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