There is documentary evidence on the manufacture of only a few of
the articles fashioned by the Indians out of the products of their
environment. In most cases this evidence is fragmentary. What is
available is discussed below:
=Stonecarving=: Both pipes and bowls were carved out of soapstone.
As far as is known, most of this work was done by the Narragansetts
in Rhode Island; their products were traded into the Plymouth area.
Bowls of soapstone were produced wholly or in part at the quarry
where the raw material was obtained. Working with picks and chisels
of harder stone (later, presumably, with metal tools) the craftsman
would rough out the general shape of the bowl, bottom side up, while
it was still attached to the parent block. Then he would begin
chipping away underneath the bowl and by inserting a wedge remove it
from the quarry. The inside of the bowl was then hollowed out with
smaller stone adzes and chisels.[256]
Soapstone pipes required considerable skill to manufacture, owing
to their small size. Some of these were elaborately ornamented with
carved figures, but authorities are still not sure whether the more
elaborate pipes were locally made or traded into the Narragansett
territory from elsewhere.[257] Shaping and drilling were originally
done with stone tools, but steel drills were later used in pipe
manufacture.[258]
=Metallurgy=: The Indians learned to cast metal from the English.
Pewter, brass, and presumably lead (for shot) were cast into
ornaments, buttons, ammunition, and gun parts.[259]
Buttons and other small ornaments were cast out of pewter using
one-piece moulds carved from soft stone. Finishing was done by
trimming and grinding away the rough edges. The eyes of buttons were
made by trimming the metal with a knife.[260]
=Woodworking=: The Wampanoags were noted for their skill in
woodworking. They made dugout canoes which might be as much as fifty
feet long.[261] To make a canoe a suitable tree was first selected
then laboriously felled with a stone axe. (During historic times
metal tools came to perform this function and others in the process
of manufacture.)[262] Initial hollowing out of the log was done by
burning.[263] Either the wood was set afire or hot stones were placed
on it.[264] The fire was carefully controlled; the idea was to remove
the inside and leave the outside intact on three sides.[265] The
process was a slow one, taking some ten to twelve days.[266] When
the interior had been burned out as much as possible, the job of
hollowing and smoothing was finished with shell scrapers.[267] The
outside was hewn into shape with stone hatchets and the whole craft
was finished by sanding it with an abrasive stone.[268] A similar
procedure on a smaller scale was used to fashion wooden bowls and
spoons and other such utensils. A bowl was first hollowed out by
burning and then smoothed to a high polish with abrasive stones.[269]
Birch bark canoes were made by the Massachusetts, and Pring reports
them in use by the Wampanoag.[270] The vessels or the material for
them might have been obtained in trade, or, as one writer suggests,
suitable-sized pieces of bark may have been achieved by piecing
together the bark of birches that were stunted stragglers outside
their normal range.[271] Birch bark canoes have the advantage
of being light and easily transported over portages.[272] These
canoes were joined by sewing, probably with bast fiber or something
similar.[273] The seams were caulked with rosin from the pitch
pine.[274] The vessels were strengthened by placing broad, thin ribs
across the inside rather close together.[275]
=Other Manufactures=: The Indians also made glue of a combination
of deer antler and “fishes sounds”.[276] Its use is mentioned for
fletching arrows.