I've heard that, when in a surtvival situation and your knife breaks, you can make a new knife out of materials around you (bones, iron implements,etc). Have any of y'all ever made a knife before? I tried to make a knife by using a blade from my knife that fell apart and a makeshift wooden handle, but it didn't work.

This summer project for me is to make a stone knife like the one Tommy Lee Jones made in "the hunted"... I was reading US Army survival manual and pages 4-3 to 4-5 have references on how to make a knife. They seem to go in depth on wooden (fire hardening), bone, stone and metal (if you have it) designs. Since I don't want to get ETS in trouble by posting pictures of the pages from copyrighted book email me and I will try to send you the pics.

Just go to sleep the first night. In the morning you will have every sharp object Nature can provide poking you in the back <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Smashing large bones creates sharp shards. The trouble is Nature doesn't leave large bones lying around very long or theres a big beastie usually chewing on them. Lithic materials are usually plentifull, but it does take skill to fabricate. Your best bet is to buy a decent knife that won't fall apart, tie a paracord lanyard to it and yourself and don't lose the thing <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Then go out and practise making field expedient tools.

What you are talking about is called flint knapping. It is a skill you'd be most likely to see in a native american tools. And example would be a common arrow head. If you are interested there are tons of beginner kits out there, but I'd reccomend staying away from deer antler pressure flaking tools, as they are for more advanced users.

If you are looking for a book that describe this skill in detail, look into one of Tom Brown's books on this topic. I'm pretty sure that Tom Brown's Field Guide to Living With the Earth has more about flint knapping in it.

Hope this helps you.
Frank

Hawk, I know what flint knapping is. I was refering more to what Chris and Polak were talking about, although flint knapping could be uused and I suppose would do just as well in a survival sit.

RC, what Frank was referring to was something approaching a "real" knife, rather than pointed sticks or shards of found bone. I understand from reading that flintknappers were very well respected due to the plain & simple fact that other than true blades, everything else is just a poker.

Some years back, I read about a surgeon who used a very, VERY old obsidian flintknapped blade for a surgery, and he raved about its sharpness.

Chris is right: keep a good blade with you and don't lose it. With it, you can make do with other things; without it, you could be up that S creek.

Sue

The late Donald Crabtree was the dean of american flintknapping. He underwent heart surgery and prepared a complete surgical kit. His surgeon had to practise, the much sharper lithic edges requiring a different muscular effort. Healing time was greatly reduced with the finer incisions and contemporary glass tools are now used in certain applications, ie opthalmalic repair. I have a fine scar on my left palm below the thumb. I recovered a Folsum point from a Pliestocene mammoth kill site. After millenia it flayed me open faster than my best sharpening efforts on fancy steels to date.

Robinson:

My post was more towards Polak saying the knife in the movie "The Hunted". I was just informing him about what it was called.

But still unless you are extremely skilled flintknapping is a very time consuming skill. You are better off trying to get a nice blade shaped flake off of a stone rather than pressure flaking one.

A very good friend of mine was not extremely skilled at it but he knew what he was doing. It took him hours to complete one finished blade.

He made me an obsidian blade knife with a coyote bone handle for a gift, its is beautiful. If you want some pictures, I can take them.

Frank