Maquahuitl Madness!....

[@Ringwraithlp3]

this is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time.

[@polemicvs]

Breath taking Jim! Absolutely beautiful work! Thanks for sharing.

[@HillbillysNdaBush]

Excellent craftsmanship!!! You are truly a master of a lost art.

[@BrujoHN]

Just amazing, man, just amazing. Great work. Tanks for sharing.

[@NecroBanana]

Hey there, Jim. I really like those pigments and the way you painted the Maquahuitls. Keep the vids coming! :)

[@cerridwen20]

As for the colour, if you want it even more historical, I suggest a base liquid of 1:1:1 full egg:plant oil (lineseed-oil):water. That stuff is what my boyfriend uses to paint his historical metal-weapons (ancient greek) and once that is dried (about 1-2 weeks), they really stick to the surface. tried it on several surfaces and it will always be my go-to mixing medium when it comes to historical colour

[@paleomanjim]

Sorry, I do not sell them, just too much work to make....

[@creekcomber]

Mindblowing! Jim, I will have to google Maquahuitl now that these images have been burned into my brain, thanks for the cool step by step process on the pigments.. blessings

[@MajoraZ]

Super cool! Could you post the photos directly somewhere? I'd love to see them.

[@ezzz42]

Wow! The museum replica is superb. Jim, have you made or thought of making the matching tepoztopilli spear that was also burnt in the fire? Your macauhuitl really resembles the drawing of the one lost in the flames. I wonder how close to exact ur replica is, looks spot on to me, well done Jim!

[@masterofzombie]

Yeah te tepoztopilli is awesome to i think he can do it

[@joeerickson516]

"But still no match for superior spanish renaissance weapons like the matchlock musket, the falcon cannon, and the medieval crossbow, and old 🧓 world 🗺 diseases such as mumps, measles, smallpox, and cholera?"

[@joeerickson516]

"What a puny plan!" Lord humongous.

[@joeerickson516]

"The tepoztopilli is not a match for spanish loaded matchlock arquebus?" "1 shot and your outta here?"

[@joeerickson516]

"Not a match for the spanish halberd?" "Poleaxe!"

[@seniorspike]

You should write a book about this man, both the history of the weapon and how to craft one.

[@paleomanjim]

Utah is fantastic, one of the most beautiful states for sure! I could live there easily. We came across a huge badlands area with a dry lake that was littered with small pieces of agate and jasper, some of it very good quality, and of course some obsidian deposits also....thanks

[@sticknstonesbrkbones]

SHOW-OFF!!! LOL Those Maquahuitl's are awesome. I have to learn more about making and knapping a core. Looking forward to your next video that you mentioned to budmenchaca.

[@atlatlista]

As an archaeologist, I find your videos on macuahuitls absolutely fantastic. Beautiful reproductions, just so cool to see with the native paints and the proper obsidian blades. Did you find that the Real Armeria macuahuitl handled differently from the others? I noticed that it didn't swell towards the tip like the rest of the ones you produced.

[@paleomanjim]

+atlatlista The Real Armeria maquahuitl is my favorite and it does have a good feel in the hands. It was a great experience making the native paints and I owe thanks to my friend Jim Bowden for providing me information on how to make the paints and find the proper earths as well as providing me some samples. Thanks for the positive comment....

[@joeerickson516]

"Not good enough for the two ✌ bladed edge pointed spanish Toledo steel rapier, dagger and buckler?"

[@joeerickson516]

"The spanish toledo steel sharp pointed two ✌ bladed edge rapier would annihilate the macuahuitl to wooden splinters and obsidian rocks I think?" 🤔

[@joeerickson516]

"Inferior aztec primitive stone age weapons, 🔫 no match for superior spanish renaissance weapons like the matchlock musket, the falcon cannon, the medieval crossbow and old 🧓 world 🗺 diseases such as mumps, measles, smallpox, and cholera?"

[@joeerickson516]

"The spanish rapier metal blade 🔪 will shatter the wooden war club ♧ to pieces of wood and obsidian rocks."

[@gotrocksinhead]

This video is incredible!! Your macaroni are stunning! I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I cant say enough good things about this video. Thank you. Dan

[@MrBigbad76]

You do amazing work! I dabble myself...no where near as cool as this

[@axelcampossoriano3170]

Damn those look sharp, nice job man!!

[@bjulianlm]

Impressive. Most impressive! Hats off to you sir.

[@BigAl4244]

Beautiful craftsmanship.

[@5xXelementalXx5]

Truly Awesome! Very happy to see a purist at work!

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks, I had a lot of fun with this project.....

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks Dan, I appreciate your input and have enjoyed your video's as well for years. I have sort of been obsessed with blade cores and moving in the direction of some of the European types that were done with direct and indirect percussion, as well as some of the micro blade cores. I dunno, I always have the need to change direction or focus and usually end up coming back to where I was!....jim

[@DeeBadCompany]

Great work , the best ive seen by far very authentic would i be able to buy one ?

[@jibarito137]

Wow. Came across this vid while looking to see if anyone had made any Macanas, but I never expected this. Awesome video and beautiful Maquahuitls. I want one bad. Great work and thank you for sharing, @paleomanjim

[@cetuspa]

Wow you sure keep yourself busy. That land at 33 seconds is prime hunting grounds for meteorites. I can tell. Care to tell where that was exactly? Your Maq's are INCREDIBLE and the pigment gathering was inspiring. Watch out for yellow are that doesn't smell of sulfur it could be Uranium ore.

[@luzrey3737]

You should make a video on how to make a tepotzopilli

[@paleomanjim]

Those are cool!

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks, I'll be posting another video soon showing how to make simple blades from cores without having to make a polyhedral core. Within a few minutes you can be removing nice blades from one face, a technique sometimes used in stone age Europe and Asia....

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks for the info, I did not know about the Delta Utah beds. I will have to check them out.....jim

[@TalksWithDirt]

Just amazing. How many others are bringing such old arts back? Just an amazing assembly of skills and talent. If the ancients used coal, is there any evidence they burned it? I'd love to see you make obsidian turbine blades and re-create a ancient stone age coal fired super critical steam power plant. :) Thanks for sharing with us.

[@budmenchaca]

Three thumbs up and 5 stars! (I have an extra thumb - don't judge me)...this is a really nice pictorial. I must admit...I got a bit fired up with the background music and the slo-mo blade removal shots. Very well put together. Thanks for sharing...now I gotta figure out how to make a core from the obs I got. Time to for a refresher course in blade core removal! Thanks again Jim!

[@SanRafaelSwell]

Wish I had known you were coming to Utah. Would loved to have joined you for an impromptu camping knapin. Utah is a great place but raw material for knapping is a bit hard to come by. There is a good obsidian quarry but that is about all I know of.

[@paleomanjim]

The mortar is just a flat slab of sandstone I picked up many years ago north of Ash Fork Arizona. It is fine grained and solid so I have been using it for years to grind blade core platforms and now pigments. It is becoming sort of like a metate!....thanks...

[@gotrocksinhead]

Well, it seems whatever you do is very interesting. I have a hard time staying focused on one thing for very long! Usually by the time I have a video up I am already on to the next thing! Drives my wife crazy! heh, heh.. Ive watched your video a few times now and love your work with pigments. It is amazing how many different colors are out there. Also the slow mo blades removal is facinating!! Dan

[@NCXitlali]

OH MY GOD!!! Do you sell these!!!?! I am of Lenca and Pipil origin and my ancestors used these weapons! :D

[@knobnosterknapper]

Those are great reproductions Jim. I'd really like to see you put one together for a demonstration on a pumpkin or something. Keep up the great work.

[@paleomanjim]

I have not tried cooking yet, will have to give that a try next time, thanks.....

[@IngeniousOutdoors]

you totally need to do a watermelon cutting test with some of these :D

[@KnapperJackCrafty]

Holy smokes! Fantastic work!

[@BushMania4]

I actually made a pot using this technique!! The egg yolk ( or hide glue) really makes a good bond! Thanks

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks. My son wanted to challenge his jeep so he chose the most difficult trails he could find and a few times we ended up on slick rock looking for cairns others had left to find our way out! All I know is we were 10-20 miles west of Moab most of the time. Thanks for the tip on the Uranium, I have heard blue and a few other colors can have arsenic and other toxic minerals. ...

[@DoctyrEvil]

Mesoamerican obsidian work seems to be of the highest caliber. Your reproduction of the Royal Armory specimen must have been a real labor. According to the illustration the blades are incredibly fine. Thanks for sharing these. It just goes to show there is a big difference between traditional technology and primitive technology.

[@joeerickson516]

"Not a match for wolverine's adamantium claws, or spanish Toledo steel rapier?"

[@DoctyrEvil]

It was obsidian and wood, not steel, that defeated the Aztecs.

[@gotrocksinhead]

cant wait to see what your next adventure will be!

[@烏梨師斂]

You should make a business of selling these on Amazon.

[@paleomanjim]

Only problem is each one takes around 40 hours of work to make!

[@烏梨師斂]

paleomanjim try putting on there and see how much people would pay for it. I think wealthy collector people might pay a lot of money haha

[@axelcampossoriano3170]

paleomanjim damn I’ll for sure buy one if I had money lol

[@NCXitlali]

@@paleomanjim I would buy one!!!!

[@M0TAvation]

Would you be willing to sell the smaller one? The one from the original how to video you posted. I'd love to pose with one of those for my obstacle course races where I usually wear an Aztec warrior costume.

[@ctccsi]

Great Video. Those are awesome!

[@PeterParkerWebslinger3]

make one with metal blades... would be nice to see the leverage being used

[@donnya1000]

Fantastic video!

[@Guyverman01]

If a Macuahuitl was made of Steel, it probably could have won against a sword.

[@joeerickson516]

"The two ✌ edged thin blade 🔪 of the spanish rapier would annihilate the Aztec wooden war club ♧ to pieces of wooden splinters and Obsidian rock."

[@aldojansel9439]

Amazing! I'm researching how to make one. Do you have the obsidian stones ? I'm currently in southern California and I'm considering making a trip to Moab just to find me some. I think as others pointed out it's worth putting on Etsy. You're recreating history. Ask for whatever you want. Great video! Subscribed

[@WAGONJON]

Very nice Jim. I mean everything! Question, the mortar you used to grind the paint pigment, what is its story? Do you have any zoomed out pictures of it? I like mortars! And the little rock at 5:35 with the paleo art work, whats its story too? Your stone working ability is simply amazing! Thanks for taking us along on your journeys! :)

[@Geckogold]

Amazing work. I'd certainly hate to be on the receiving end of one of those things.

[@paleomanjim]

You and me both, these things are just plain scary. Years ago we were filming at the ruins in Guatemala and an actor swining one of these accidentally brushed his leg with it and needed several stitches! Super sharp.

[@szmako]

The drums suit the pictures!

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks!

[@freejutube]

splendid !!

[@hackneysaregreat]

breathtaking jobs

[@izaakkaye6953]

Where did you order your wood to make those from? And how to go obtain your obsidian? I'm from hopi in north eastern Arizona where could I find knapping materials around this area?

[@muttwayne5883]

do you know anything about pecking and grinding axe heads and celts if you do please post a video

[@paleomanjim]

I would hold the section of damaged blade over a flame or fire until it was soft enough to remove, then while the adhesive was still soft I would heat the replacement blade over the fire to pre heat it for insertion. It would be difficult and I suspect that gums os some type were used instead of resins. ...

[@christinaolmos1293]

You are a historian and a Toltec( meaning master artisan) in Aztecan.That is sad that the reproductions they show in books and museums, are primative and won't pass for Olmec craftmanship. Better yet advance Aztec, even now in Mexico with all it's great master craftmen. Theirs no work seen like yours and that's odd, not even macuahuitl's in Teotihuacan. Like Emperor Ahuizotl's shield and a glyphic carved atlatl with jabalin tusk for handles, but the macuahuitl in display looks like it was made by a Paiute brother in the canyon. This is in the museum of Mexico city. Jim you deserve both the golden eagle feather and the Quetzal feather. Tlazocamati (thank you) from the Mexicayo, you should see mine soon in the making. I await from your expert comment's.

[@paleomanjim]

​@@christinaolmos1293 Thanks very much Christina for your nice comment. Blade making was the hardest part of making a Maquahuitl and I was very much inspired by historical accounts as well as Aztec codices depicting this amazing weapon. I have a feeling that my replications are probably not too accurate since none of the originals have survived to the present day. I have a feeling that a future archeologist might actually find one intact in a temple someday. So many of the temples remain buried and unexcavated in the jungle that there is at least a chance. Also, some of the original obsidian blade makers had skills that exceed anything that modern knappers have been able to replicate, including myself. I believe blade making was a full time occupation for the masters and this can be observed in the original blade cores as well. I reached a level of blade making that was acceptable but I remain in awe of the old masters! I look forward to seeing your art work, thanks again, Jim

[@christinaolmos1293]

@@paleomanjim Thank you for your reply, and your output of shared experience.

[@BushMania4]

Sweet video! I was wondering if you sell these things? I'm sure they would would bring in a ton of money if someone bought them! Haha good video!

[@hauseofcards1147]

How much for one!! I want!! Please comment

[@BushMania4]

I tried this with the egg yolk and it worked great!!! Only one bad thing... the egg yolk rots and it makes it smell like crap for a while... It still works though!

[@MrCrunchybizzle]

man, those swords you make are so fucking cool! I really want to make one. It's kind of coincidental that you posted this video because i was messing with earth pigment for the first time yesterday. Have you ever tried cooking your minerals in the fire before you grind them up? I heard it can intensify the colors of many minerals. keep up the great work paleoman!

[@vborg001]

Awesome video!!

[@luzrey3737]

Where do you get the pieces of wood big enough to make the macahuitls?

[@SanRafaelSwell]

Piece large enough to knap? I can't find that stuff anywhere...

[@paleomanjim]

I like the idea but these things are so much work....

[@paleomanjim]

Cool, glad it worked for you....

[@03Terrestre]

Superb.

[@PsyckoSama]

Question. If you had to remove a blade to say, replace one broken in combat, how would you go about it with your setup?

[@Frazzler666]

superbeautiful!

[@420rogerz]

so this is what you been up to! looks like you been busy

[@thebigs14]

How much for one made with obsidian blades on one side and flint on the other?

[@paulvoragen8288]

beautiful weapon

[@AGermanFencer]

If you have no site, build one. Surely many people would like to own a nice Maquahuitl made to their wish or replicated from an original (if there are any (no idea actually, besides that destroyed spanish one)) or pictoral evidence. Me for example. :D

[@drharmonica]

Nice music. I got so into the tune that I forgot to watch the video.

[@paleomanjim]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks...

[@NCXitlali]

Can you teach me? :D

[@paleomanjim]

sorry, too many irons in the fie right now, check back with me in January....

[@marcoscampos8965]

Do you have an online shop? I would like to buy one of these as a display piece. Thanks!!

[@paleomanjim]

Sorry, no online shop. I made a total of 7 over a period of several months, have not made any since. Each one took perhaps 40 hours of work to complete!

[@marcoscampos8965]

are any for sale? if so, how much

[@911ambulancegirl]

Very neat... the music almost made me have a seizure, but still really cool!

[@KrimzonKnight01]

you don't sell? :( damn I want one real bad.

[@phly007]

Where did you learn how to make these?

[@paleomanjim]

Studied the CODEX and copied what I learned

[@budmenchaca]

Sweet! Can't wait!

[@paleomanjim]

sorry, I don't sell them, just too much work to make each one.

[@jjoyjjii9845]

SUPER!

[@joeerickson516]

"Those aztec swords⚔ are no match for spanish rapiers!"

[@aldojansel9439]

Also what would happen if the police caught you with one of these on the streets?

[@saulgarcia7083]

are they for sale

[@timothyhudson7999]

Very sexy handcrafted killing tool. Nice...very nice.

[@trevorallen7757]

I love how historically accurate it is, did you base it on historical sketches?

[@paleomanjim]

Thanks, that was my goal to make the most accurate replica as possible. Two Maquahuitls were brought back to Europe by the Spainiards and were placed in a museum (I believe in France) which later burned down. Fortunately an artist took accurate sketches of them which survived to modern times. My replica with the white dots is an attempt to replicate one of those sketches. Tried to go all natural, even making my paints with various earths. It was a great journey and a lot of fun!

[@joeerickson516]

"Those wooden war clubs ♧ with sharp Obsidian blades will make a war trophy 🏆 for the spanish conquest of the aztecs?" "Unless they have silver 🥈 and gold?"🥇

[@paleomanjim]

What is your point? These were different cultures with weapons designed for their enemy's that they were aware of. Are you suggesting that the Spanish were superior to the Meso Americans? Not a valid comparison imo.

[@joeerickson516]

"Yes they are?" "They have immunity to smallpox from the old 🧓 world, 🗺 the aztecs did not, since they're doomed, from the beginning." "Thanks to the Tlaxcalan and Tarascan allies for the spanish conquistadors and la malinche the translator, for bringing down 👇 the Aztec empire."

[@joeerickson516]

"Unless they want a taste of lead poisoning ☠ from a lead ball ⚽ from a loaded matchlock musket arquebus from Spain?" 🇪🇸

[@joeerickson516]

"Aztec weapons are no match for the Spanish conquistadors tlaxcala and Tarascan auxiliaries?"

[@joeerickson516]

"Spanish Arquebusiers crossbow men 🚹 and cannon operators would defeat the aztecs Mayans and Incas." "With iron cannonballs, lead metal balls, ⚽ gunpowder, fire,🔥 and Toledo steel arrow ➡ heads of the crossbows?"

[@diegofonseca6708]

Do you sell any??

[@paleomanjim]

Sorry, just too much work to sell

[@diegofonseca6708]

@@paleomanjim ah, that’s a shame… well you make some outstanding work and craftsmanship. Seriously the best I’ve seen and there’s several others that make these weapons. You’re the best at it. My MesoAmerican ancestors would appreciate your work. Btw, have you ever made the Aztec spear? That would be awesome.

[@KrakenNate]

For sale?

[@paleomanjim]

Sorry, no, just too much work

[@poppawasarollinstoneboom9396]

How much for you to make me one

[@paleomanjim]

Sorry, they take 40 hours to make so way too much time

[@kraziemaniak5888]

you sell?

[@paleomanjim]

sorry, no

[@pavelmolodchik]

have you noticed the aesthetic (and somewhat functional) similarity to chainsaws? Perhaps hence is the obsession of modern Americans with chainsaw massacres. The populations and generations come and go but the fundamental predispositions prevail

[@joeerickson516]

"Inferior aztec primitive technology vs renaissance technology from Spain?" 🇪🇸 "Mismatch!"

[@joeerickson516]

"Aztec chainsaw a losing primitive weapon, 🔫 is no match for a Spaniard with a loaded matchlock arquebus?"

[@joeerickson516]

"No match for the Spaniards, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans, with smallpox?"

[@joeerickson516]

"Aztec chainsaw inferior to the Toledo steel Spanish rapier."

[@rerspss]

Woow!

[@joeerickson516]

"Not good for a gun 🔫 fight from Spain?" 🇪🇸 "or loaded cannons?" "Or spanish conquistadors on horseback?"🐴 "vicious guard 💂 dogs🐶 like Doberman, bull mastiff, rottweiler?"

[@adamstaples1]

please please please tell me you will sell on to me!

[@anime123ful]

Macuahuitl*

[@KCWonderbread]

able to ruin someones day for sure one of those