Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Look Out Caribou

Hey I'm back! You do remember me don't you? I knew it! You already forgot, didn't you? Well I'm back with something that I have done for school, and my teacher wanted me to put it on the blog so I am.
I think that you will like the sled, if you're interested in buying it you can contact our school and we will discuss the price... Just kidding, it is not for sale, you can make your own with the directions below. Well school's out and I'm heading home.

Caribou (Jaw
Bone) Sled
  Daniel Decker      

I have made a Caribou (Jaw Bone) Sled for cultural awareness, it is a model, and I am going to tell you how you can make one for yourself by yourself. First of all; you are going to need a jawbone from a caribou. Once you get a jawbone you should let it sit for a while and let it dry out; after it has dried put it into a pot and boil it until all of the meat and whatever else might be on there is ready to fall off. Take the jawbone and a knife or something sharp and finish cleaning whatever is left on the bone. The jawbone is clean and you are ready to start building the sled.
After you have completed task one you can start task two. Task two requires a drill, brush cutters, some kind of really thin twine or thread and a razor knife. Take the brush cutters outside and cut some small alders up; it doesn’t matter how much you get because you can always go back and get more if needed. Bring the alders back to where you are working on the project, then take all the leaves off of the alders. After you have taken all of the leaves off the sticks you should try and smooth them out, and you can also skin them (take the bark off). It will not be perfect but it doesn’t have to.
Now you are going to drill some holes (anywhere you want or need them) into the jawbone for the alders, which will help hold up the bottom of the sled, and keep the side rails from sliding all over the place. This will also create stability, which will make the sled stronger. Now you should be ready to tie the alders you stripped down on to the sled with the really thin twine or thread. You should have all of your pieces present so that you can choose the one that fits the best into the spot that you are working on. Patients is needed for this part of the sled as well as many other parts to making the sled, but I found that this particular part is the most frustrating part of the project because of all the small pieces and the tying.
Finally, when you have finished the tiny tying, you can use some kind of industrial strength glue to help keep the knots in place. If you use the glue from your school you will have to retie a lot of knots, and you don’t want to do that. I do not remember the exact type of glue I used but I’m pretty sure it was industrial strength glue. The good thing about the type of glue I used is that it made it look like there is snow and frost on the sled, which is really cool. There is something about the glue you should know; it smells really bad when you are applying it to the sled, this is because of all the fumes it is giving off. The fumes are really dangerous because they can kill a lot of your brain cells, so you can’t do the whole sled at one time. You have to divide it into sections because the glue will seep down and you will glue it to the table.
Once you are finished you can do whatever you want to with the sled that you have just built. You can put it in a case at your school to be viewed by everyone or you can even sell it depending on how high the price is for the amount of work you put into the sled. Now you know how to make your own caribou jawbone sled and you don’t need these instructions anymore.

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