# shell tools



## sadiejane (Jan 28, 2012)

greetings all-
last fall i went to a primitive skills weekend.
this fella was demonstrating the use of conch shells as woodworking tools.
he described them as replicas of ancient tools made by native north americans from the florida area. since many or most on this forum are from or now living int he southeastern us. i just wanted to ask about your experiences with such tools. have you found them in yr artifact hunts? have you seen them demonstrated by NNA in your area? Just cant seem to quit thinking about these tools and regret i didnt try to make a trade with this fella.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab346/sadiejane9/bois%20d%20arc%202011/DSCN9689.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab346/sadiejane9/bois%20d%20arc%202011/DSCN9690.jpg

thanks


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## Son (Jan 28, 2012)

Yep, shell works for some things. Adornment. Tools, points, hammers, clubs etc.. I managed to amass a collection during my 40 years living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Even found some beads here and there.


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## Willjo (Jan 28, 2012)

He is at most of the Florida knapins I have been to. If you know what you want and know someone that goes to the Fla knapins they could probabley send it to you. The Fla. knapins are comming up soon.


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## jcinpc (Jan 28, 2012)

yeah, he set up behiind me at Sopchoppy  a few years ago. He works that shell for real.


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## olcop (Jan 29, 2012)

*Shell tools*

Saw some shells with holes through them in an antique shop in Jesup, Ga a while back. Shop owner said his understanding was that the shell was put over a small tree or a tree limb and the tree grew out into the shell and sort of made a permanent handle, he thought they were mostly war clubs or weapons of some sort, but it isn't a big stretch to using  them for tools.
Amazing how resourceful our ancestors were.  We all would do well to learn some of this for our own use.
olcop


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## mudwizer (Feb 13, 2012)

Thats where conch him on the head came from


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## olcop (Feb 13, 2012)

Hey Mudwizer,
just read this, almost wet myself laughing
olcop


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## Son (Feb 13, 2012)

Here's some authentic prehistoric shell tools from my collection.


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## Son (Feb 13, 2012)

Small shell vessels probably used to eat from.


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## Son (Feb 13, 2012)

large bead preforms, My shell artifacts come from down around the Tampa area.


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## chehawknapper (Feb 13, 2012)

*Shell tools*

I have made a couple of adzes and chisels from lightning whelks. I had read about the Calusa using these to hollow out trees for their canoes and thought "no way". I had made and used many stone axes and adzes and knew what they would do but did not think that shell would hold up. I was wrong! My larger shell adze will throw wood chips in your face if you are behind me while I am chopping. They really do make effective tools!


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## Son (Feb 13, 2012)

Shell is very durable, and I believe can be used to knap.


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## sadiejane (Feb 14, 2012)

wow son!
thanks for posting those.
yeah, chehawknapper-i was really pretty amazed when i saw that fella hogging away on wood with a shell. obviously does work quite well.


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