So I made a Paiute deadfall yesterday. Nick made one too though he deemed the basic trap too easy and below his efforts so he affixed a bottle rocket and match striker to it, so that it would sound a report if tripped. As far as my own it wasn’t too hard. Maybe a three on the 1-10 frustration scale. The only major failure was attempting to use fishing line to tie it the first time, which wasn’t strong enough. There was also a bit of finger smashing going on. I didn’t get nailed bad, Nick did. He won’t let me set it up in his yard which he takes to mean the entire back hillside facing the house so I have yet to see if it kills a squirrel. I’ll have to take it home. We’ve got a lot more squirrels in my yard 'cause my mom has lots of bird feeders. Does anyone know what the guidlines are for killing an animal? How many times more ought the rock weigh?
Okay, sorry for the third post in a row but I’m headed home soon since Nick thinks these projects are lame and looking into the stone axe thing for today. I liked this picture of an axe and some other aboriginal items from an Australian museum collection if you are interested:
http://mms.eq.edu.au/5h-artefacts/stone-axe.html
Plus if you like looking at authentic items here are some Iroquois ones on a site that I reference frequently:
http://collections.nysm.nysed.gov/morgan/today.html
Check out the war clubs, and there is an interesting bird trap, and a pair of really ghetto looking snowshoes.
I created a new thread for this conversation under Tools and Toolmaking, Misc.