Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Traditional Tools [Hardcover]

Monte Burch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

An illustrated guide to making Native American tools and weapons using time-honored methods.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Going through this book, is a lot like attending one of those summer mountain man rendezvous. It's a great lesson in the appreciation of modern convenience and comfort. --Statesman Journal

From the Back Cover

Here is the most comprehensive guide yet to making your own Native American tools and weapons. A valuable reference for these ancient arts, Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools takes you through the steps of the basic flint-knapping of arrowheads and scrapers to the most complex decorating and finishing techniques of painting and fletching. Also included are chapters on material, tools, and the workplace.
The history of the implements is provided, along with a primer on working with flint. Complete instruction is then given on:

digging tools
axes
knives
hide scrapers
spear points
arrowheads
baskets and packs
chisels
harpoons
hooks and line
fish traps
fish nets
spear throwers
slings blow guns
bolas
rabbit sticks
game clubs
traps and snares decoys
calls
spears
darts
bows
arrows
tomahawks
clubs
daggers
lances
shields

Richly illustrated with photographs and line illustrations, Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools is perfect for the survivalist, historian, student, or Native American enthusiast.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159228020X
• ISBN-13: 978-1592280209
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive guide to making Native American tools, December 10, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Traditional Tools (Hardcover)

Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, And Survival Tools is the definitive instructional guide to making Native American tools and weapons. Author Monte Burch takes the reader through all the steps of the basic flint knapping of arrowheads and scrapers to the most complex decorating and finishing techniques of painting and fletching. Of special interest are the chapters dedicated to materials, tools, and the workplace. Readers will learn how to make digging tools, axes, knives, spear points, arrowheads, baskets, harpoons, fish traps, blow guns, tomahawks, traps, lances, shields, and so much more. Enhanced throughout with photographs and line illustrations, Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, And Survival Tools will make an enduringly popular addition to any personal, academic or community library's Native American Studies Collections and is especially recommended reading for survivalists, authors of western novels seeking authenticity in their history backgrounds, and students of Native American history and artifacts.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, December 22, 2008

By 

Brett Colgrove - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Traditional Tools (Hardcover)

I was dissapointed after reading this book.
Must detail was missing and I was left asking many questions.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vague rehash of better books, November 20, 2007

By 

Outside - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Traditional Tools (Paperback)

"A Guide to Manufacturing Native Replicas with Modern Tools" might be a more accurate title. Nothing new offered here, just skimpy information that lacks many details and has the feel of material skimmed from other, more informative books. Birch clearly has experience with some of the skills yet his ability to translate knowledge to paper is lacking. Someone who knows what they are doing can fill in the often large gaps in the information, but then they don't need the book, do they? I always look for the one piece of new information that merits the purchase of a book and was hard pressed to find one here. I should add that Burch is a "professional" author and writes from that vantage point rather than from that of a practitioner of the skills he covers.