[music playing]
NARRATOR: In the Yaak Valley, the stone
bladed lance Tom's crafting to fulfill a high value
commission is nearly complete.
What I'm looking for in this notch
is to be able to drop this point all the way down in there.
And we're going to have to make up some pitch glue here.
The pitch glue is an old, primitive recipe.
You put it on when it's hot.
And as it dries, it turns to, what I call, primitive epoxy.
NARRATOR: Pitch is nature's original super glue,
made from a time-tested recipe.
This is lodgepole pine pitch.
That's just a little dried sap.
This is powdered buffalo dung.
Charcoalized, granulated eggshells.
And there's just a little bit of beeswax.
The first thing we need to do is put the pine pitch on the stove
and we'll melt it.
NARRATOR: Sinew, or animal tendon, secures
the blade to the handle.
Hey.
How's it going? - Hey, come in.
How are you?
- Thought I'd come check on you. - All right.
Well, you got here just in the nick of time.
We got the sinew put on.
Yeah. Nice.
How would you like to pitch glue that?
I'd love to.
You're good at it.
The object of the pitch glue is to cover the sinew.
If it ever gets wet, the sinew will come loose on it.
So the pitch glue will make the sinew so it's waterproof.
All right.
Think that'll do it.
Nice job, young lady.
What's next for you now?
I think we'll put a--
put a buffalo hand grip.
All right, here we go.
The Plains Indians used to put a hand grip on 'em.
And it was usually fur, and quite often buffalo hide.
NARRATOR: A single feather adorns the lance as a symbol
of courage and strength.
It's illegal to use eagle feathers.
You can't use eagle feathers.
But you could use wild turkey feathers, game bird feathers.
This is an awful close match to what an immature golden eagle
feather would have looked like.
We're also going to add this ermine to it.
Lots of the Native American stuff
was decorated with these ermine skins.
The power of these little ermines.
I mean, this little sucker here will kill a four pound rabbit.
And because of that power that's in these little critters,
the Native Americans knew that and they
tried to get power from these animals
by hanging them on their lances.
Hope this strings.
Think I'm going to have to go around it.
Got one last touch, and we'll have it done.
Oh!
All right.
I feel real good about the lance.
It came out real good, I thought.
Another project finished It's neat to have it done.