Mulga sword

[johnwelch]

The only way to see would be to get an aboriginal elder to fashion a sharpened heat treated weapon as shown on the video and give it a go.

....!!!
On himself? Woodworkers ?

[johnwelch]

Ian ( and all others)
Thanks for your responses.
Police forensic, surgeons, bone researchers and Japanese swordfighters tell me they don't know. They have no info on wood removing bone. The best that I have is:
US Patent bone chisel. Surgeons find that a chisel thicker than 2mm causes pressure fractures and jamming the chisel .
And maybe mulga needs to be 4mm thick at 10mm back into the blade. But that is too thick and 2mm may be too weak.
Only woodworkers in Oz may be experienced with mulga. You hold the balance of power.

[Toymaker Len]

Having seen the video I think the wound was inflicted with a steel blade that had been traded down from Indonesia (or somewhere) wielded by a tribesman. Two different types of dating give an age of five to seven hundred years and the cut into the bone could only have been done by a metal blade. There really is no way wood can be made hard enough to cut into bone like that. A fascinating story.

[dai sensei]

....!!!
On himself? Woodworkers ?

Hmm I could think of a few to try it on , but I was thinking more a pig or just some bone

[johnwelch]

Yes, it seems that a metal blade is the way to go .
Some replies are :
"Was the skeleton a child? I don’t think even a (very sharp) hardwood blade could cut through an adult outer cortex of bone. I should think the coroner’s office may be able to help you with this inquiry

Good luck with it!
Sue

Miss Susan Liew
Orthopaedic & Spine Surgeon
Director Orthopaedic Surgery, The Alfred
Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Monash University"



"I am very familiar with the structure of bone at the microscopic level but not so much on the finer details of its response to various insults. Bone can be planed off but would agree that this may requires a sharper tool than a wooden edge. I expect. The structure of the skull is two fairly thin bone plates separated by a marrow space but with extensive bridging by small bone trabeculae. A direct perpendicular blow to a scull with a sharpened wooden edge could produce a narrow fracture line through to top plate but not produce total fracture, but this is speaking without direct knowledge.

Regards
Colin
Colin Dunstan
University of Sydney".
-------


It is getting away from Woodwork but my theory is that the legend of the Bundjalung people of north coast NSW is correct. They remember that a boat arrived from Ngareenbil "overseas islands" and meaning "your beloved countryman" in Old Balinese language. By 1527 Islam had expelled Hindu royals and priests from Java to Bali. Indonesian fishing boats were sailing annually to north Qld and Cape York. On the west of Bundjalung near Tenterfield are headwaters of the Darling river. Many words in east Oz seem to be Balinese language. Some guy appears to have carried a sword on a journey down the Darling, the main travel route in west NSW.
A warrior-hero named Ngurunderi battled a sorcerer named Parampari on the lower Darling and killed him. "Parampara" is a Hindu line of teachers. Maybe the legend used Hindu words to describe an old teaching being overcome by the new, assisted by a metal weapon against wooden weapons....

[Robson Valley]

There are easily worked surface deposits of copper metal across North America.
I've been forging copper blades which are just fine in the kitchen for meats & veg
but I have not clobbered bone with copper.

Any evidence of chalcolithic activity in Australia?

[Glider]

If the wound was caused by a wooden edge, it's more likely to be a sharpened nulla nulla made from Gidgee rather than Mulga. Janka hardness value for Gidgee is 19,000 newtons, making it one of the hardest woods in the world.

There another tree outback which may be even harder, the Waddy or Wadi Tree.

mick

[ian]

There are easily worked surface deposits of copper metal across North America.
I've been forging copper blades which are just fine in the kitchen for meats & veg
but I have not clobbered bone with copper.

Any evidence of chalcolithic activity in Australia?

none that I have ever heard of.

[Robson Valley]

I agree. I did a little snooping. Enormous deposits of copper-bearing ore but no copper metal.
Too bad. Lots of cool copper tools made here ever since Man crossed Beringia intop North America.

The sword. No more gas. Make one (or do the aborigines have exclusive rights to the wood?)
and whack a pork roast a few times. What sorts of marks can you make in a ham bone?

Recall that Japan entered the Iron Age, possibly 100-200 CE. Their wreckage has been crossing the
Pacific to the Canadian coastline both before and since. While we hope that none of the crap glows in the dark,
we are measuring elevated levels of radioactivity in seawater from Fukushima.

Did you hear about the motorcycle (750cc?) that floated over here, packed in styrofoam?
Owner didn't want it back. So some nut-case here in BC restored it!

[rob streeper]

I agree. I did a little snooping. Enormous deposits of copper-bearing ore but no copper metal.
Too bad. Lots of cool copper tools made here ever since Man crossed Beringia intop North America.

The sword. No more gas. Make one (or do the aborigines have exclusive rights to the wood?)
and whack a pork roast a few times. What sorts of marks can you make in a ham bone?

Recall that Japan entered the Iron Age, possibly 100-200 CE. Their wreckage has been crossing the
Pacific to the Canadian coastline both before and since. While we hope that none of the crap glows in the dark,
we are measuring elevated levels of radioactivity in seawater from Fukushima.

Did you hear about the motorcycle (750cc?) that floated over here, packed in styrofoam?
Owner didn't want it back. So some nut-case here in BC restored it!

Speaking of glowing in the dark. My wife and I were in Europe at the time the first clouds of Fukushima waste were crossing the west coast of North America. Shortly after returning I measured ~250-275 dpm of gamma radiation from the soil in front of our house. Normal is ~50-60 for this area. Haven't checked lately but I will soon.

[Robson Valley]

Global atmospheric air circulation moves far faster than the Japan Current.
They sure did screw that up.

The best things that float across are the hand-blown, glass ball fish net floats in cord mesh bags.
I've seen collections from grapefruit size to basketball size.
I was in the city and bought a new one, 6" diameter for $10.
Judging by the color, the Jolly Green Giant might be missing something.

Back to the sword cut marks:
Somebody make one and beat on the Sunday roast.