Primitive Technology: Stone Axe (celt)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN people value its authenticity: no cuts, no cheating, and real tool use done entirely with materials found on site.
What it is
The Primitive Technology channel shows the making of a stone axe (celt) using only primitive tools and materials, from shaping and polishing a basalt head to making the wooden handle and hafting it.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2019 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Waterluvian · 2022-12 · on “Hafting an Axe: DIY”
If this fascinates you, be sure to check out this video on making a Celtic axe using low tech methods. [this video] This entire channel is fascinating and strives to be very “authentic” about doing everything without turning off the camera and cheating.
Cites dooglius · 2019-09 · on “Emergent Tool Use from Multi-Agent Interaction”
The state space here looks pretty small, it seems to me that with so much training it's just a case of brute-force search. When I think of "tool use" in regards to the intelligence of early humans, I imagine something more like [0] where the state space is enormous and it takes a good deal of reasoning and planning to get to a desired result. [0] [this video]
Cites elevation · 2023-04 · on “My Search for the Origins of Clothing”
I haven't read Postrel, but the idea of twine being necessary to secure a stone tool to a wooden shaft seems wrong to me. Jon Plant secures a stone tool head to a shaft by building a stone axe called a "celt" with more primitive methods [0]. The friction fit he achieves is likely more robust than a twine lashing because it helps deliver a higher impulse to the work-piece than a mount made of cordage. [0]: [this video]