I wanted to make an Iroquois ball war club. But as I removed wood an eagle head kind of appeared with a knot that looks kinda like a baby duck in the eagles mouth. So I went that route instead. It’s a piece of Mulberry I cut down last year.

Pike head on the other end

Beautiful craftsmanship and vision Jay!

Hopefully it will remain a strictly decorative/ornamental piece. Too pretty to use cracking coconuts!

And the business end flip side of the eagle head

That's really awesome!! I've always wanted to try making one.

Hatchet,draw knife,and rasp to work down?

Beautifully done, very nice craftsmanship!

My first attempt at carving. I used an air die grinder with metal bits. And Wrapped deer rawhide.

Another example of the talent on this site.

MP

I got the shape with a draw knife

Nice work, Jay. Looks deadly.

Super cool, that turned out awesome. Perfect for a young guy to jump from the tree stand and club the prey. I`m too old to be jumping, and i`d have to check the rule book, but looks like a winner to me ;)

Nice job

Nice carving on the club

Nice piece of work

That's a real beauty Jay.

Turned out early good Jay.

Nicest club I've ever seen!! Beautiful.

Really good Jay is what I typed but my I pad types what it wants sometimes.

That’s what you call listening to the wood. As you worked that piece of wood you saw that eagle head. That turned out beautiful. I’d say you made the right call. Very nice job. Well done.

Yep that piece of mulberry had a voice and you heard it Jay. Great work buddy.

I have to ask, Do you have any formal art training? Or does this ability come naturally?

My dad had an art degree and he could do stuff like this, but mostly he painted or did drawings.

MP

Nice work.

MPDH, thanks No art training I just looked up pictures and used those.

That is pure art! Beautiful

Beautiful. I really like it. Maybe there is another trade in our future?? Did you save any logs that would make staves out of that Mulberry? >>>----> Ken

Yeah I have some drying Ken

Man I wish that I had the talent and patience as well as time as alot of you guys have on here ! Love browsing thru and looking at all the works of art on here!

Very cool.

That is totally awesome

Beautiful work. Don't administer the "coup de grace" on a deer with it though...too pretty. Use the Frisky method instead ( i.e. tire iron)!

So cool you saw that piece of woods inner beauty Jay. And brought it out for all of us to see.

Like Don said. That how you listen to the wood.

Bjrogg

Jay, that's really beautiful!!

Thought you might like to see my antique Penobscot war/root club. It's 2 sided, talk about serious carving!

The other side.

OUTSTANDING workmanship Sickness and Phantom.

Just this summer I had to cut a 3" diameter cherry tree down with a 6" burl in the middle because I wanted to for this very reason. I cut it in half at the burl, coated it and waiting for the wood to dry out.

No way could I do what you guys did so I will just carve the ends round.

Now that's what I call a nogin-nizer!

Awesome work! Especially for ur first time! Got a full pix of that hall stand? Looks like a fancier version of ours.

Beautiful work guys!!!

Pretty cool, you have some serious time and workmanship into that. Sometime, I'd like to make a Last of the Mohicans style.

PhantomWolf, those authentic ones are very hard to come by even if you spent the thousands of dollars they bring. But the fact that it’s handed down Makes it a true heirloom. And it’s one of the nicest I’ve ever seen.

Jon, I’m looking for a Burl today while rabbit and stump hunting

Gun, here is the hall tree in my Mud room

Cedar, that Mohican gunstock war club would be pretty simple to make and very. effective. Hopefully more can of you guys can start making them. It isn’t hard. Just time consuming. And hopefully it isn’t shutdown because it’s not technically archery related.

Wow Phantom!! That's an incredible piece!!

Here Gun

Very nice

From a rough tree branch to a masterpiece of fine artwork. You're quite the artist. I never would have thought that was a first.

Very nice work..

My first try at a Eastern Lenape wood land Indian Style ball war club. I would say it was archery related. As a weapon of the same time period. The other one is a root style war club from Canada. Made by natives for a souvenir. The ball club is made from Cherry wood. Good thread.

Those war clubs are a work of art, very well done. Looks like I got another project on my to do list. :-)

I really like the root ball clubs

Thanks Jay & guys. I don't want anyone to misunderstand and think that I carved the root ball. It was given to me by my father back around 1950. It was given to him by his uncle sometime in the '30's I believe. I have no idea how old it is.

It was identified as a Penobscot club quite awhile ago, by an expert, in one of the Maine university museums.

Beautiful work

Ralph, You were very clear it was passed down. That is a true heirloom. You can’t make one of those. Again, that is one of the nicest original Root clubs I’ve seen. And is very valuable. Have you ever had a value put on it?

Jay that's a beaut. Here's ours.

I inherited these from my late father-in-law who was a missionary in Sudan for a while. I think they must be some kind of war weapon. All are very heavy for their size. African black wood? The one with pattern is part of the wood as its not as wide as the other side. That one is 33" long.

Jay, no on getting an estimate of value. I have tried finding root clubs for sale on the big auction site for what that's worth but never saw anything comparable.

Thanks for your comments they're much appreciated.

Ralph, I’ve seen authentic root clubs pictures in Museums and auctions. but with much less detail than yours. And they were from hundreds to thousands. I’ll try to find some

Ralph, I’ve seen authentic root clubs pictures in Museums and auctions. but with much less detail than yours. And they were from hundreds to thousands. I’ll try to find some

Thanks again Jay!

I know you wouldn’t sell it but here’s some similar ones on an auction site

There are clubs made by tribe members in the early 1900s to sell as soveniers, those are in the hundreds. Authentic ones are in the thousands.

Jay, that's a beautiful club. You've got some serious talent.

Jay, those are some crazy prices! Yeah, I couldn't sell it so will leave it to my only son because it was passed down from my great uncle to my dad and then to me.

Otherwise I might be tempted only to buy, honestly, something I probably really don't need and wouldn't/couldn't compare to the club's history etc.

I've been tempted to "attempt" some kind of root ball carving at some point if I was to come across a worthy tree root. Time will tell I guess.

Thank you.

Phantom, the Penobscots, Maliseets, Passamaquoddies etc. carved those out of gray birch root crowns. The Penobscots called it msquartjees; the Passamaquoddy word was psqocis (same word in both languages, despite the different spellings). It means "little red root," and if you've ever dug up a gray birch roots and all you've seen how red they are.

Several sold at an auction in Thomaston, ME this past weekend; they all went for serious money. This one was the pick of the litter; it sold for $15K.

Wow! From 1795 Cool crow heads on it

The red color is what makes me think Phantomwolfs is authentic and very valuable.

Kerry, that's an unbelievable price!! Looking at the detail in mine it makes me wonder as to its value.

Thank you for the additional info.

You have a gift for it. Nice

That’s awesome! I’ve been wanting to try to make a gunstock war club. Wanted once since Last of the Mohicans came out in the early 90’s.

Chingachgook Wielded a pretty big stick

Very nice

very nice work and a great way to ward off the winter doldrums

I liked the LOTM movie thirty years ago. But that was then when I still went to movies on occasion. Now, I really can't stand fake hollywood 'build the drama' claptrap of any kind.

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