Rib bone netting needle

I found this old rib bone while out walking and it occurred to me that it might make a very good netting needle for.

As I abraded the edges with a piece of flint I noticed the bone possessed two laminated layers.

I battened my knife between the layers to split the bone in half.

I used a piece of flint to abrade the edges of the bone to produce the basic needle shape. I made a prototype pump drill with a flint tip, to drill a series of holes through the bone. Using a piece of flint to connect the holes, I formed the tongue of the needle. I completed the needle by using a combination of an abrasive stone and a piece of file, to smooth the edges of the needle. The completed needle is 220mm long and 22mm wide.

Here are the tools I used to make the needle.

and here you can see some of the netting I have made with it.

Knotless netting

I have been off work today with a cold and asthma, so needed a simple project I could do the inside. About a year ago I was shown the principles of knotless netting and decided to try and make a carrier for a large bottle.

I have used para cord below to show how the principles of this method work. Loop the cord (I used my fingers as a gauge) around a gauge and then thread the cord three times around it's self and then make the next loop and repeat the above.

I used gardeners hemp, threaded on a bone needle to make the bottle carrier and used two fingers as a gauge for the netting size.

For the base I reduced the netting size to one finger and tied the last row of mesh together to finish the carrier off. I made the carrying strap using a four strand round plat.

The benefit of this knotless netting carrier is that you can undo the string if you need it or net a different item to meet you needs.

Primitive vice

In order to work on small pieces of bone, flint and antler I have made a very simple vice which works very well. I split a piece of Hazel a few centimeters along it's length using a flint wedge and pointed the other end to push into the ground. In the picture below I have a flint saw secured and am using it to cut through a piece of bone.

The addition of a piece of Ash wood to rest the vice on adds to its stability, allows more pressure to be applied and by moving the piece of Ash nearer of further away the height can be adjusted.

The vice can be held against the wood using the foot or knee.


John Lord sets small pieces of flint into a split stick to pressure flake them and I used this method to make my drill tips in the post below.

Sewing needle holder

I wanted to add a sewing needle to my neck pouch for repairing clothes, bit needed to find a way of carrying it securely and safely.

I decided to use a small bone and first cut the bone a quarter of the way along it's length using a piece of flint.

I abraded the two ends to give a smooth fit and then needed to devise a way of keeping the two parts of bone together . For this I cut a piece of quill from a feather


and inserted this into the long piece of bone. The hollow quill provides a snug fit for the needle once inside it.


Part of the quill protrudes, allowing the top to fit securely onto it. The picture below shows the two pieces of bone pulled apart slightly to enable you to see the quill.

Here is the needle and completed holder.

Smaller Birch bark containers

You can also make some really nice Birch bark containers as well. Here are a couple I have made recently.



This picture also features a Birch cup I made and a bone sewing kit I made for stitching the bark containers.