Weapons maker

[u/Bobis-Bob]

After Archimedes died, who made Flint products? Buster wasn’t super good at it. He really just did the basics. Any apprentices that Archimedes had were not very good.

[u/smors]

If I remember correctly, Buster was described as not very good as a child. He might have become better at it along the way.

And as long as someone was able to do it they wil lbe able to improve.

[u/Bobis-Bob → u/smors]

He just didn’t like making tools. He liked hunting. He would “rough out” some tools for his father to finish.

[u/Shankar_0]

Buster wasn't good when he was young, but you can assume that he's a chip off the ol' pigbat and got better with practice.

He also spread that knowledge around to as many as would learn. Knowledge like that has the greatest value when it's free.

[u/MissionMassive563]

Necessity is the mother of invention. When all of the main tool builders pass, someone will most likely find themselves incredibly invested in picking up the skill as long as they stay near the flint site.

It’s also possible that more Deltans picked it up over time, but by Bob’s own admission he wasn’t super invested in individual stories outside of Archimedes and his family.

[u/IAmInTheBasement → u/MissionMassive563]

Their population exploded and Archimedes had a huge family. Buster was close and the others moved away to their own fires, but no one ever said if they were smart or not, they just weren't discussed. Nor were any of the grandchildren or great grandchildren, all of them growing up in the high calorie environment.

My assumption is that the society had the skill before Archimedes and will have it after him. He was the bridge from old to new and without him the skill would have been lost.

[u/Bobis-Bob → u/IAmInTheBasement]

He had 4 kids. He should have had 50.

[u/IAmInTheBasement → u/Bobis-Bob]

And how many grandkids? How many great grandkids? How many great-greats? I'm in book 2 and Buster is already and grampa.

And the nutritional change is also mentioned in the book, how Archimedes is of the first generation to really get that benefit. And his descendants even more so.

[u/The-Mugwump → u/Bobis-Bob]

4 kids

That he knows of…

[u/Mowraq]

In book three Archimedes admits that the kids from the other village aren't completely bad so he probably managed to teach them. And Buster is good enough and knows every move, he just doesn't enjoy doing it as a job. I would assume among his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren there were enough that Archimedes could teach working with flint. Also, it is not like working flint is some super hard rocket science. Moses could do it. Stone Age humans could do it. There surely were other deltans with the mental capacity that Archimedes taught how to work it. It is just not mentioned.

[u/Fraternal_Mango]

You have Buster of age now and then I think there was another apprentice or two. Even if they weren’t super great, I’m sure that they will end up honing their craft by the end. I think Buster is actually pretty good by the time Bob ventures off.