 This is a reproduction of a Pā kahawai trolling lure I made form wood, bone abalone and coconut fiber. Pā kahawai are designed to attract and hook large surface-feeding fish, such as kahawai (sea trout: Arripis trutta). Adapted from Polynesian trolling lures, pā kahawai are composite lures typically constructed using a ground and shaped pāua (large New Zealand abalone with blue-green inner shell) shell lure set in a wooden shank with a bone barb fixed at the base and bound tightly with muka (flax fibre) cord.  
This is a traditional U-shaped Halibut fish hook used by Native Americans from Central California and North. It is made of steam-bent Yew wood, dogbane or spruce root cord and a bone spike. This style traditional hooks were used to catch fish from a few pounds up to 200lbs. If interested check out the calendar for the traditional fishing course where we will be making fish-spears, Yew hooks, handwoven fish nets, lures and fish-traps. (coming soon..)
 Primitive fish-spear made of a small oak branch, which is split in four quadrants. Dogbane cordage is woven and wrapped around base at terminus of splits to prevent further splitting. Bone barbs are secured with pitch-glue and lashed on with animal tendon. The spear-head is secured into a long spear shaft but will come loose in order to prevent damage if the fish struggles. Spear tied to shaft with a small line so you dont loose the fish. The entire piece is 4" long.   Greenstone axes or celts have been used in North America for more than 10,000 years, since the early Archaic period. Basalts, Ryolite and Greenstone were used because of their hardness. Numerous indigenous groups still living hunter/gatherer or agriculturalist lifestyles continue to use polished stone axes (or celts) in places like Papua New Guinea and the Amazon. Stones are first flaked into a very rough shape through direct percussion techniques. This process removes the bulk but is not incredibly effective due to the hardness of the stone. The bulk of the work lies in the hours spent 'pecking' or hitting the axe with another hard cobble to slowly remove bits of rock, one little piece of dust at a time. Once the axe takes shape through hammering, we grind the celt on a large flat piece of course sandstone. All-in-all this should take a few days to a week of constant work--this particular celt took 16 years, from start to finish....entirely due to procrastination. Glad to have it done and excited to start the next one.  At times, covering ground in a survival situation is absolutely necessary to ensuring that you make it out alive. The old adage "stay put until the rescue party finds you" can be situation dependent and doesn't always ring true. In this case, preparing yourself to survive 'on-the-go' adds an entire new dimension to the skills you may already possess. 'Quickie' shelters, coal extenders, preserved meat and the ability to transport purified water are primary considerations that need to taken care of before trekking into unfamiliar territory. To start, here is a simple and effective method for making a canteen to transport water. While it does take some preparation, this canteen can be made in a few hours. First, we need to peel some flexible bark from a tree, hollow a small piece of wood, gather some pine sap and make a 3 foot piece of cordage. 
Next, you fold the piece of bark in half lengthwise, while curling the end together around the hollow piece of wood. You can cut off excess bark at the top where it overlaps. From here, tightly wrap your cord around the bark so that it is pinched around the hollow piece of wood. This should now form a triangle with slightly overlapping seems (.5 inch). Next step, seal off all the seems with Pine sap glue! 
To make glue out of Pine sap, crush a bunch of charcoal into a fine powder and mix it about 25/75 with pine sap. This will act as a binding agent, and keep the sap from being sticky once it cools. To do this, you'll first need to heat the sap until it is liquid. Now, take the liquid sap/charcoal and spread it under and on top of the seems. If it hardens too quickly use a hot rock to further melt it in place. Glue all seems and let dry. Once the sap is hardened try it out. You can always fix leaks easily with a little dab of sap. That should do it. Surprisingly, I have had one canteen like this last for 2 years of fairly regular use!! Best of luck and hope it saves your life one day! tm 
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