Three Minutes Til Charlie
10-17-2020, 06:57 PM
Ragna wandered along the southern edge of the prairie, searching for a good, straight stick to craft into a wooden spear. She also wanted to find something shorter and a bit thicker to work into an axe handle for her husband. She was crafting with another man she'd found in the prairie. Normally she wouldn't be so bold but he was a quiet, almost timid sort of fellow so if he got fresh she felt fairly confident she could put him in his place.
Ragna scanned the brush as she walked along until she spied some straight branches that had blown down from a thin, gnarly tree. She picked out a long, straight branch for the spear and a shorter one for the handle. Carefully maneuvering the sticks into her jaws she trotted back to the area of shorter grass they'd set aside as a crafting area.
10-17-2020, 08:20 PM
Shilah settled down in their crafting area while the woman went off to find sticks for her project. He had some bone and flint which he planned to work into spearheads. He planned to work out an experiment to see which was the better spearhead as far as it came to inflicting damage. Shilah picked out a piece of flint. He examined it to find the ridges in the stone and decided where the point would be. Picking up a piece of granite he put a paw on the flint the struck at it with the granite. He worked carefully, chipping at the flint for awhile until he felt he needed a break.
Setting aside the stone and flint he picked up the deer scapula and proceeded to drop a larger rock on it. It cracked at first but after a few more drops it fractured into pieces. He picked up one and examined it before determining it would make a suitable spearhead. At that point Ragna returned with her branches. He smiled at her. "Find what you needed?"
10-25-2020, 11:07 AM
Ragna nodded at the man's words. "I did indeed. This should keep me occupied for a little bit." Ragna set the stick down between her paws and started to chew off the extra branches and leaves so that she would have a clean, straight stick to sharpen into a simple, wooden spear. She seized one particularly large, excess brach and pulled for a moment before scissoring her teeth all the way to the bottom and chewing it off. She worked in silence until at last he had a nice spear shaft.
"So, where did you learn your skills Shilah?"
She set the thicker stick between her paws and started chewing off the leaves and extra little sticks from that one as well. She had to focus on chewing some of the thicker ones off, pausing to spit out the wood from her teeth. She worked away until she had a clean shaft for the axe head.
10-25-2020, 11:09 AM
Shilah continued to chew on the piece of bone until he shaped one side of the bone spearhead. He then moved to the next. Shilah focused on the overall shape, he could refine it later. Once that was done he moved back to the flint, pausing to carry on the conversation for a bit while his mouth wasn't full. "Most of what I learned was from my father when it comes to weaponry. Do you do a lot of crafting, miss Ragna?"
Shilah moved the flint between his paws and took a good look it, eyeing the veins. Repositioning his paw he picked up the granite stone and began to strike the flint with calculated strikes knocking short flakes from it. He worked carefully, sculpting while keeping the ridges in mind and where he intended for the tip to be. He set the rock down to take another break, stretching his jaws to rest up for a bit. He really needed a companion with an opposable thumb.
10-25-2020, 01:01 PM
Ragna grinned. "How interesting. I study healing and fighting. I learned most everything from my mother." She didn't talk much of her father, he hadn't been in the picture. "I do quite a bit of crafting with my husband. He enjoys such pursuits as well." It was nice to have a mate who enjoyed doing the same things she did. Ragna picked the spear up in her jaws and trotted over to a large rock. She carefully repositioned the spear in her mouth so that her jaws were closer to the tip. She eyed the rock for a moment and then started rubbing the end of the spear against the rock to sharpen and push it into a point.
Satisfied with her spear she moved back to the axe handle. She carefully chewed at the end, removing a bit of excess material with her jaws and spitting it out on the grass. She then worked her fangs over one end of it to form a notch that could effectively hold the axe head.
10-25-2020, 01:02 PM
Shilah shifted the flint under his paw and this time instead of picking up the granite stone this time he grabbed a chunk of antler and hit the flint hard with the blunt end of the antler to break more pieces off. Taking the granite up in his jaws again he carefully whittled at the flint, rubbing it along the edge until he had a serviceable arrowhead. There, that was one done.
He reached out a paw and scooted the piece of bone over between his paws. He chewed just a little bit more to refine the shape before running the bone along the granite stone to help sharpen the edges even further. He grinned to himself as he set the spearhead's side by side and examined them. "Well, I think that's enough for me. I'm going to have to give my jaws a rest after all that work." He stretched his jaw for a moment then yawned.