Thread: referb

here are some pics of the latest referb,sorry I didn`t think to take some before shots. the original had horn handles all cracked ,broken and worm eaten the entire blade was covered in rust and pitted quite badly. It still has a few small marks where the pits were very deep .
The scales have been replaced with Black Palm ,it is native to the top end of OZ and New Guinea. It was prised by the natives as it was that hard ,they used it for spears and I believe the method of manufacture is as follows .Due to the hardness their stone axes would not touch it so they would dig around the base and push it over after about six months it would start to crack length wise ,at which time they were able to drive in wedges to split a piece off. This was then placed in a fire and burnt into a round shaft for the spear. Enough of the history lesson,here are some pics
Its the first time I have worked with this material and due to the hardness it cracks very easy if you are not carefully ,you have to tape the back of drill holes etc so bits don`t crack out
as a matter of interest the domed washers are made from stainless 3/32" pop riverts with the shaft removed and the rivet drilled out to 1/16" to accommodate the brass pin
The wedge is made from dear antler
have a good day all
Kind regards Peter