I made these last winter, I used a sandstone slab and some water to grind them to shape and a chunk of flint about the size of a poolball to peck them to shape.  I'm not sure what stone they are made of as I don't know a lot about the names of stone, only their properties.  Each is about as big as my hand, though the black one is a little bit bigger as it is wider, I suppose I should have a size comparison in the photos.  They are quite sharp and I haven't hafted them yet as I don't really have any appropriate wood on hand.  I'm not sure if the black one has a long enough ?shank? on the back to wedge in securely enough so it may need rawhide wrapping or pitch, I'm not sure.

You guys are very talented. All this stone work is completely beyond me. It looks extremely primal. I love the look of celts.

Those big celts just had a hole drilled/burned through the handle.  It is tapered the same as the celt.  The celt only touches on the top and bottom, as you chop, it wedges tighter.  Don't let the sides touch, as the celt settles deeper, it will act like a wedge and split your handle. 

The museum at Moundville, Al. has a celt in a white oak handle that is about 1500 years old.  It fell into the Tombigbee River and was covered by silt and mud which prevented oxygen from getting to the wood handle.  It is about 1 meter long, the handle tapers the whole length to the head which flares to an oval with the celt in the center.  It looks like a large match stick with a tapered stick.  The stick taperes down to slightly larger than your thumb.  There is no signs of lashing or pitch, the sides have a tiny gap, the top and bottoms are 1/4 the diameter and are fitted perfectly.  Bill

Rat, greenstone is the prefered material. it's the hardest, but any smooth dense stone will do. try and find flat river cobbles already in the shape you want and just work the edge. a sidewalk will work fine, but be prepared to sit there grinding for a LONG time. keep it wetted.

and this is my 1st celt

while the celt itself is pretty nice, i didnt do a good job on the handle or hafting. but i learned soon afterwards about the right way to do it

so i took the celt out and im planing on making a new dog wood handle for it

Nice work! I like collecting useful rocks. I tend to find the best flat ones in the deeper sections of old riverbeds, and the best rounded/ovate speciments higher up toward the banks.

A lot of aussie stone axes were either those long, oval stones or quite rectangular. But the same method of selection, shaping and then grinding usually applied. Noone uses em anymore, who has half a morning to cut down a tree!

Many smaller axes were "vine axes"... supple, flexible canes folded in half, with a stone head in the fold and lashing below it. Made for a reason and then discarded afterwards but some would carry the heads and make handles as needed.

Very tidy work though, thanks for sharing I have a perfect stone I found a while ago, just have to find some motivation.

Some of the most significant cultural sites here are old axe grinding sites, almost always sandstone ledges or outcrops next to a watersource. Some were used nearly continuosly for ten thousand years or more.

Does that PPG hold up ok to belting through a log or branch? I'd feel bad using any of those pieces to actually cut anything!

after i realized that i did a bad job hafting it i tried to make it look better with pitch. but it isnt needed if its done properly

I was making copper bladed axes with cedar handles about a year before I found this site.  I got tasked to build a repro of the ax in Moundville, after leaping through hoops to get it ready in time for a display, they decided not to use it.  Oh well, they paid for it, they can do whatever they want with it.

I have found that if I charred the wood and then scraped it out, it is actually fairly easy to fit the celt to the handle.  I drill a too small hole, then I use a small propane torch to enlarge and shape.  I use a pocket knife and a round rasp to do my scraping.  It, like grinding the celt, is fairly easy but very time consuming.  The last one I made, I charred and scraped the handle, also  As far as the burn then scrape for white oak, I probably re-invented the wheel.  Bill