Glass Scrapers from Historic North America

Abstract

with the wooden tool. However, the hardwood tool would only cut a single block before requiring resharpen ing, which was done with the machete. Limestone veins in the travertine were difficult to cut and quickly dulled the wooden tool. Sharpening activity with stone tools available to the prehistoric and poorer Colonial in habitants would have increased the cutting time. Fire hardening the tip of the wooden tool might decrease the time loss due to sharpening, but we did not test this. An additional problem with the wooden tool was the necessity of using a wide, somewhat dull point to give the cutting edge strength. Thin, finely sharpened points dulled immediately. The impact of the broad, dull pointed tool was responsible for the high incidence of breakage. Impact frequently produced a percussion break rather than the smooth cut characteristic of the machete. However, it should be noted that neither of the workmen had ever cut travertine with wooden tools before. We can assume that they could improve their breakage factor and cut the blocks at a faster rate with practice. Experimentation has proved that travertine building blocks can be shaped with cutting tools made of tropical hardwoods. Preliminary comparison of the relative utili ty of using wooden tools over metal tools indicates that cutting travertine blocks with wooden tools takes over twice as long as with metal ones. In addition, the wooden tools must be frequently resharpened, which significant ly decreases their utility as cutting tools. Additional ex perimentation is planned to test the cutting etticiency ot tools made from a range of different tropical hardwoods We will also experiment with different blade shapes and test the effect of fire hardening.