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Post by abuelito on Oct 20, 2008 11:08:09 GMT -5
 photo #1 monkey killer |
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Post by abuelito on Oct 20, 2008 11:09:37 GMT -5
 photo# 2 monkey killer |
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Post by abuelito on Oct 20, 2008 11:29:08 GMT -5
 photo#3 ,in my many travels and searching out mines and caves i came up this flecha,,,,it was where some one had worked,much old wood of many forms,much very fine garnet,allow me to tell you about the wood,it was an iron wood,this wood was exported to united states many years ago to make the first cogs in grinding mills,as well as other uses,this wood i found was hollowed out,halves of wood hollowed out,different points of wood,imbedded in this wood was fine garnet,this garnet can be found in creek beds very fine,later ill show a photo of this garnet in a lump,it can be crushed with your hand and the fine garnet released,well i carried it and an old friend of mine many years old,he dont know how old,never had birth certificates,and it really didnt matter,,,i asked him about it by shouting and showing the flecha to him,and wirh my hands i was asking what is this,,,he responded monkey killer,also mata aves y patos,bird killer and duck killer,he took his hand doubled the fingers in and blew in his hand,made a sign 2foot long the wood,,,blow gun,,,,when we want to clean rust off of some stuff we just take a hand full of fine garnet and rub away,,and i know you all know,you have used garnet sand paper,well the mayas used garnet in cutting their jade,,,,well i carried this flecha for years and just found it in all my junk,so though of a friend of your and mine arapaho,when i come back to usa ill send it to him,he likes this kinda material,,,,, :-*ab |
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Post by kap on Oct 20, 2008 15:01:49 GMT -5
Very Nice! Thanks for sharing with us.  Keith |
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Post by arappaho on Oct 20, 2008 20:51:48 GMT -5
Well, ab, I have certainly never seen a blow gun dart that looks like that before. Very customized. I love your collecting stories, but I am wondering why you call this a 'flecha' ? I'm not sure what the word means? Please help. And, by the way, you must be a pretty sweet old man,too.  Thanks, Joe |
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Post by abuelito on Oct 20, 2008 21:40:13 GMT -5
hello friend,well i had never seen anything like it before,i looks heavy but it is feather light,dont know what material it is also,under scope its silver and black,i dont know why i didnt take out the broken pieces there also,heads and stems,some thinner,also why i didnt take out the wood that was used in forming these flechas(arrow), some of the wood had a hollowed out half curve,and in my mind they would place them together over the stem with garnet and hold closed with hand and rotate,bigger pieces of the wood was worn really down where they had applied the garnet for forming and polishing,piles of very fine garnet,but this wood is called iron wood,first used in usa for making gears on big mills,oh well cant undo the past,well i go into a cave and look around,but i am not to big on hanging around in one,to scared of scorpions,and them spiders as big as you hand,and not to mention snakes hibernating,,so go in get out,ok , this old half deaf man ho knows how old,ant crawl on his legs and bear feet and he dont feel it,he knew right away what it was,he blew into his closed fist,,ok later :-*ab
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Post by Basketweaverz on Oct 23, 2008 13:13:21 GMT -5
Joe - flecha is Spanish for arrow or dart. Pronounced flay-cha.
Basket
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Post by travelerga on Oct 23, 2008 17:55:51 GMT -5
like our modern day weapon flesette (fleash ette), in our anti personal artillery rounds, I think they have been outlawed, to devestating.
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Post by arappaho on Oct 23, 2008 20:15:52 GMT -5
Thanks basket , That's what I kindof gathered. Ya know my wife bought me some cassettes on"How to Speak Spanish" years ago so I could listen to them on my commute to and from work. Have I ever? No. I guess I need to give them a try,huh.  And I'll have to look up the weapon you are talking about, travelrga. Never heard of it before, but then again, I'm not much into present day weapons. ab, your honesty is refreshing, tho I never would've guessed it from the greatest Rockhound south of the border. I will go into a cave but I don't like to hang around in there too long either. But I do understand what you were saying about the grains of garnet actually being absorbed into the wood. We have some Ironwood in this area. As far as the hollowed out pieces go, I don't know. Maybe they were the beginnings of the blow gun? Joe |
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Post by abuelito on Nov 1, 2008 8:40:38 GMT -5
joe the arrapajo,well the old man,i had the time to talk to him some more,,the hollowed out half round pieces of wood,they would put some garnet along the curved out pieces and then take a cut piece of material that was kinda squares material,then place it on one piece of the hollowed out wood and then cover it with the other,them hold it together with your hand,then twist the material ,keep twisting till it formed or sanded round,kept adding garet,,this is what the grand son explained the grandfather was telling me,,,,well that is not the important part,,,now you under stand this old man is half deaf and speaks a dialect mixed with spanish and i dont know what else,joe many of these people speak a language that is older than spanish and has not come from spanish or english or latin but original from them,,,,ok here is what i found out after going back and questioning,the grand son,with much hand waving and face movements and lip movements,,ok not only was this used in a blow gun but in an other way,,,here goes the fellow with the bow,like bow and arrow,,,,help in his hand a tube with the bow,in other words the hand holding the bow also had a tube holding it to the bow,,,now joe,the arrow was not an arrorw,but a round stick that fit into the tube being held to the bow,the string pulled back and released and the small stick was released into the tube and it propelled the flecha,,,,why i dont know,,joe most of this was drawn in sand,for me to understand,i am glad because we can still draw in sand,joe dont mean to poke fun at anyone,had a person with mexican goverment studying their language and wrote a pamplet for them in their own language,it was how to build a out house,to try to have sanation,and wash hands,,well great they gave out the phamplets,but none of the people could read,their language was never in print,so it was some time getting information to me,but enjoyed it. :-*ab
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Post by arappaho on Nov 2, 2008 21:48:01 GMT -5
Great stuff, Friend! I think you have answered all the questions. It would seem this man, the woodworker and arrow maker, definately had his own system. It sounds like he would take the two halves of the tube, put the garnet grit in them, hold them in his hand, and sand and smooth the shafts of the arrow. Then he would put the two halves of the tube back together, with glue or binding, I don't know. But earlier you said there was a 'groove' ground into the outside of each half. When you pull an arrow back to shoot, you aren't pulling it back with your fingertips. The arrow is held between two fingers clamping down on it. Maybe those 'grooves' were made to get a better grip with your fingers and that is why he would put the arrow shafts into the tube. Like I said, this arrow making woodworker definately had his own system. Now the one thing I am wondering about is how did he put his flight feathers on the shaft? We call this "fletching". That's why I was getting a bit confused when you were using the word "flecha" for the arrow. I wonder if he put the feathers on the arrow shaft or the tube? If he put the flight feathers on the tube he would be able to reuse the same tube for many different arrow shafts. Which isn't such a bad idea. He would save alot of time not having to fletch each arrow. Anyway, I think we are beginning to unravel this mystery. ;D Good work there, ab! And I am not trying to make fun of anyone either, but it is funny that some one would go to the trouble of writing a pamphlet for a people that can not read. Oh well, what will they think of next? Joe |
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