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.