deer scapula plant cutter

[swamp monkey]

I saw this item from the southwestern U. S. used to collect tules, a type of rush that grows in marshy areas.   It is made from a deer shoulder blade and is serrated to cut easily.  Well. what else does a guy do with his deer shoulder blades after the harvest?  So I tried to make one and use it. 

Making: Below is the diagram of how I cut the shoulder blade to make the rough shape.  I used a dremel to cut  one out and flint to do another.  Frankly I fractured the one done with flint along the thin sections far more often. It is still functional but it will not last as long. 

Once cut out I needed to grind in the serrations and put a hole in the upper portion for a wrist strap to be inserted.  The grinding can be done with sandstone or a file and both work about the same in my book.  It just depends on what you have on hand.  Use dogbane for the cord if you have access to it - less rotting. 

The Test:  This thing cuts well!  I cut into cattails with only a few strokes.  A handful of bulrushes went down with the same ease.  I was surprised.  I confess I brought an old hickory carving knife just in case this was a bust-  I needed the materiel to make mats with some kids in a program.  But the old hickory remained dry and in the truck. 

If you were blessed with a deer this season consider saving a shoulder blade to make a cutting blade for rushes. 

I included a picture of a unrelated items that has the bulrush mat in the back ground to show what it made after the cutting.  The mats are easy to make and only requires long marsh plants, string and the ability to tie your shoes.  My then five year old son helped me make this one. 

[swamp monkey]

the final pic has a mussel shell version of the same tool.  You can pressure flake or grind this stuff in.  In MO you have to have a fishing permit to take mussel shells and obey the regs.  fun stuff.

[bareshaft12]

Some years back I found a mussel shell with a hoe in the center in a cave.I bet thats what they used it for.

[swamp monkey]

I saw a shell like this in a report about a woodland site in SW Missouri and the hole was there to permit a long wooden handle to slide through.  The very end was flared so the shell would not slip off the end.  The resulting product was a hoe.  I have a picture of a replica in the mussel shell tool post.  If the side was not serrated that may be what you found.  If the side WAS serrated then I am not so sure.  I would be interested to know what you have.   

[JEB]

To answer your question,"what else do you make with shoulder blades" I make  guitar picks.  e-mail me your address and i will send you a couple if you want.

[david w.]

Would you mind upping a picture of those guitar picks?

[JW_Halverson]

I cleaned, bleached (actually it was peroxide), and wrote in fine black ink the specifics of the hunt where I harvested that deer.  The deer got caped and mounted and it hangs on the wall.  Eventually I want to hang the mount on an old cedar fencepost on a base with the scapula lying in grass at the base of the fencepost.

Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikira used scapulae for hoes as well as "squash knives"