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Description
The Native Way internet site is for people who are fascinated with ancient arrow, spear and dart points, flint knapping, primitive archery, and making, displaying and understanding these popular historical items. We are one of America's premier suppliers of flintknapping supplies and tools, having been in retail and wholesale business for over 14 years. We sell points in stone, bone, bronze and steel for collectors who use, make and display such works.
We do not claim to be the representatives of any particular ethnic group or members of any particular tribal association. We make products of styles found in the Americas, in Europe, Asia and Eurasia. Our craftsmen have family members or histories that include European, Native American and Asian bloodlines, but our genes are so mixed up that you would be silly to purchase our products on racial grounds. Most of our products are of styles so basic and ancient that no one could claim them as their own designs.
We specialize in the finished ancient weaponry of prehistoric and early historic times and the technologies it took to make it. Our products include Native American style bows and arrows, lances, stone axes and stone and metal bladed knives, fishlures and miscellany reminiscent of America's past. We also produce a line of bronze replicas from ancient China, Europe and the Middle East.
Unlike most weapon replicators, we take great pains on the surface layer of our work and most frequently age and patinate our products to look exactly like the originals . It is this patination that distinguishes our products from the vast majority of commercially available replicas.
Novaculite mining is dusty, hard work, and we have done it every other month or so for over 25 years. Novaculite occurs as beds of fine grained silica that is mostly trash, with occasional areas of stone that are flawless or nearly so up to around 20 inches. Overburden to remove is from 10 to 20 feet, using pneumatic rock drills and slow-burst explosives. The stone is then selected, spalled into large flat flakes with steel spalling hammers and carried to our shop. It gets heated to 750 to 800 degrees and is cleaned and graded.