Alright, I’m going to tell you how to make ground stone tools. These tools are much less prone to breaking than knapped tools (even if they aren’t as sharp).
Go down to the river and look for some rocks. You’ll be looking for something about the size of the tool that you want to make (e.g. an axe head) made out of basalt, rhyolite, granite, or other cryptocrystaline or igneous rock. Look for rocks that have been rounded and smoothed by the river and have approximately the shape you want.
Here’s some basalt:
Some rhyolite:
And some granite:
In addition, I think you can also use chert or flint (you should already know what those look like).
Next, you need to find a large stone of similar type with a flat surface. This stone should be in the river (or you should move it there), and it’s upper surface should be rough and out of the water. It should also be of a suitable height that you can use it while sitting in the river.
Sit down beside it with the stone you want to grind. Holding the tool stone in one of your hands, dip your other hand underwater, use your fingers to dig through any pebbles, and bring up a handful of sand. Place the sand on the big rock, and smooth it out with your hand. While doing so, try to brush away any particularly large bits (you want a nice even layer of sand grains that are the same size as each other.
Next, say you want to put a chisel edge on an axe or chisel. Hold your tool stone in such away that the edge you want to sharpen is at an angle to the larger stone, and rub it back and forth across the larger stone with the sand in between, as you press down firmly. Repeat until the tool stone is the shape you want (you’ll need to turn the tool over to do the other side of the chisel edge. Along the way, your going to need to periodically wash your tool stone, and apply new sand to the larger stone.
Congratulations on your new tool. If you made an ax head, you can use it in your hand to chop down small trees, assuming you don’t mind ruining your hands. If you want to use it on larger trees (or if you just don’t want to ruin your hands), you can haft it. For that, your going to need some wood and some cordage, and you’ll need to peck and grind a groove in your tool.
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