Making a simple spear

[mitunnelrat]

Since I was in the woods scouting for a new hunting location yesterday I decided to start the process of making a simple spear.
I read a letter in Backwoodsman Magazine that seemed to make good sense to me, so its the procedure I chose to follow.

All I had on me was my EDC fixed blade, so I'm keeping the whole exercise limited to that one tool.

First was selecting a straight sapling of roughly 1.5" diameter. The author said pick one next to a tree, which I'm guessing is so you're harvesting a sapling with little to no chance of growing any larger.
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00654-20121113-1343.jpg?t=1352939997

Cutting it to length (5-6') took a few minutes, but it made a nice walking staff when I meandered back to my car.

Right now I'm at the point of keeping it tied to a rigid, straight item while it dries.
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00655-20121114-1840.jpg?t=1352940095
I used the prop stick for my SUV hatch since I had it handy. I'll update with how long its supposed to take doing that after I reread the article, I need a refresher.

But, for now, I figured I'd be safe squaring off the butt, again, with just a small knife.
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00658-20121114-1932.jpg?t=1352940107

That gave me a handful of kindling I can use in a later step, fire curing the spear point. in that step I'll actually be burying the point an inch or two in the ground beneath a fire so it doesn't char and become brittle. Chances are I'll make a couple more soon to rotate one above the flames and place the other in hot coals to do a compare/ contrast of the different methods.

I read these spears were traditionally melee weapons rather than range. They weren't thrown. The hunters depending on them also followed the "one is none" rule, and typically had 2-3 ready for use.

Who here's made spears - besides Grumpy, lol ;) ?

[Evolver]

Nice job on the spear! To make it even more universal on one end you could whittle in a barb for things that you want to catch and on the other just a point for things that you want to kill/harm but not catch and on the just pointed end you could put a chair leg slip on floor protector cup or a piece of hose to protect the tip so it could be used as a walking staff.

[mitunnelrat]

Thanks, and those are some good ideas, but I probably won't do any of them on this one since I'm at least simulating emergency field conditions.

[bacpacker]

Good job MIT. What type of limb did you use? Also what issue of Back Woodsman had the article in it? That looks like a nice project to work on.

[mitunnelrat]

All I know is I cut down a hard wood tree, bp! Lol

I'll get back with you on which issue it was, exactly, but one of the main articles was on the rocket stove if that helps.

[bacpacker]

Tnx. I'll have to dig thru the issues I have and see if I can find it.

As far as trees go, I'm thinking a maple sapling would make a decent one. Good strength and tite grain. Although that may be all wrong.

[mitunnelrat]

ok, its Volume 33 No. 5... Sept/ Oct 2012

[Grumpy Old Man]

MITR am I that transparent? I have a warhead that Cold Steel made about 20 years ago that I have periodically used for spears. Think of a larger bladed assagai. My experience is that ash or hickory make the best shafts, but lodgepole pine also works well. Some head materials to consider are knapped flint or chert, old car leaf springs and strangely enough lance heads from Crazy Crow. Link here

http://www.crazycrow.com/native-american-spearheads

[bacpacker]

Grumpy you have vot me thinking now. A replacement shovel handle qould work just fine on the spur of the minute.

I need to go dig around in my dads woods and see what all is out there.

[mitunnelrat]

Lol. You may have mentioned your interests a time or two here ;)

[mitunnelrat]

Just wanted to update real quick. I've left it to dry as I've been out hunting. The author recommended a 6-7' length. Mine is 5'.

The next step will be whittling a point 10-12" long. After that its bury it in loose soil 2" under a fire and let it harden. Pics to follow, I promise.

[bacpacker]

I make an attempt at spear making yesterday. I have a young Ash tree in the yard and had a low hanging limb that was always in the way when i mow. I took it off with my Machete and roughed the point out with it. Finished up the tip with my pocket knife.

The limb has a little bit of a bow in it and it's less than 6' long, so it's not much. But it did give me a little bit of a opportunity give it a try and did realize that it is a little more time consuming to make the tip correctly. I will give mine a hardening attempt as well to get a feel for the timing involved.

[Sniper-T]

lots of google out there for 'straighten a bent spear shaft'...

[Grumpy Old Man]

Steam it and flex it in the opposite direction of the bend.

[Metrocruiser]

Just wanted to update real quick. I've left it to dry as I've been out hunting. The author recommended a 6-7' length. Mine is 5'.

The next step will be whittling a point 10-12" long. After that its bury it in loose soil 2" under a fire and let it harden. Pics to follow, I promise.

Hi mitr,
Is spear still burried ?
been waiting for pics :)

I am going to take my sons out today and use your post to make them some walking sticks.

[mitunnelrat]

Hey metro,

Sorry about the delay. Its sitting unfinished in my car right now - I haven't gotten out to start a fire yet. Tell you what though, I'm long overdue for a night out in the woods and have next weekend off. I can do it then, and meet several goals at once. I'll have the results up the night of Sunday, the 6th. Ok?

[Metrocruiser]

:P no rush, instead of the hike we organized the garage to fit 50 more gallons of water and 25 gallons of gas.
dug out the bowflex, time to dust it off and retire it from extension wire, shop vac hose and rope hanger.

[MegaCPC]

That's a cool simple project to keep your handy skills sharp. If you don't have a blade to whittle a point or attach to the shaft, you can use a circuit board from a cell phone or iPod, etc. They're pretty durable and sharp as shit when broken into a point.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb146/megacpc/cellspear_zps292c0086.jpg

[bacpacker]

Now there is an original idea and a good one at that. I may have to play around with some scrap boards and see how that would work.

[mitunnelrat]

Well, it sure ain't purty, and it did a number on my knife edge, but I did get it prepped for fire hardening tonight.

I figured I can stick it in the ash trap to my wood furnace to get it under a fire since I didn't make it out for an overnighter last Saturday.
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00707-20130110-2056.jpg?t=1357869554
And a close up of the point itself. Sorry for the quality. That's the spine of my EDC knife behind it. Its 1/8" thickhttp://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00706-20130110-2052.jpg?t=1357871147
.

[mitunnelrat]

Well, I got it in to "bake" last night.
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00708-20130110-2351.jpg?t=1357942065
Now I just need to figure out where I went wrong
http://emob304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG00709-20130111-0026.jpg?t=1357942051

[Metrocruiser]

Holy crap what went wrong??

[mitunnelrat]

I'm pretty sure this is a product of being in a rush when I first cut the sapling down, and "felling" it (broke it off the stump) after I chopped through most of it with my knife.

I'm going to cut cleanly through the next one with a saw. That should produce better results

[bacpacker]

How long has that been drying since you first started working on it? Where was it stored? it almost looks like the fire may have taken it to dry to quick and it split.

[mitunnelrat]

It's rode in the back of my car, tied to a length of oak, since I grabbed it mid November.

[4suchatimeasthis]

I think Backpacker might be right, it's possible that the heat from the stove was too much. It would be interesting to see what the result would be if the spear was kept in a dry environment with moderate heat, for say a few months. Do you think bamboo would be any good for spear making? I was wondering because I know my dad stores a bunch of bamboo (for fishing poles, I guess) above the log beams in their cabin. That wood heat in there is very dry, gave me tons of nosebleeds as a kid!

Ha, too bad you couldn't fit one in a dehydrator, lol.

[bacpacker]

I would think Bamboo would work fine for a spear. Having said that, I've never worked with it so don't know for certain. I do know they were used a spikes back during the Vietnam war, so I assume they would be pretty rigid and strong.

[4suchatimeasthis]

Thanks, BP, good to know. Cause we have a patch of it along the road we live off of, growing in the ditch. It's a good 20-25ft square section of bamboo, just growing......kinda random for TN, lol. I think it's pretty :)

[mitunnelrat]

Drying out too fast makes as much sense as my initial thought. Guess I'll go for a clean cut, and a longer drying period in a more consistent climate.

I still wonder though, Indigenous peoples didn't have the creature comforts we do. Maybe I let it cure too long and the extra heat from the fire took it over the edge?

[4suchatimeasthis]

Well, and I am trying to think, I know there are things you season with oil (wooden objects) as they cure....trying to remember....I am too lazy to go look it up, I could probably google it and figure it out. I would imagine that it might be a good idea to season the raw wood with some type of clear, foodgrade oil, it would probably help it from absorbing blood, etc, when it was used. Also, if it absorbed a good bit of oil periodically, once it was dry, it wouldn't absorb so much water, if you used it for spear fishing, etc.

I know that temperatures and humidity have an effect on wood, some types more than others. You can easily see that in the changes a wood floor makes, how the spaces get smaller or larger, seasonally.

This "Homemade Bows and Arrows" (http://www.grandpappy.info/wbow.htm) looks like a helpful site. I did find this, about arrows, but I imagine it would be similar for a spear shaft:

Seasoning: Lay the bow down in a warm dry spot (but not in the sun) and let it dry for 2 days. After 2 days, warm the bow near a fire and rub it down with oil or animal fat. Rub the bow with a cloth for an hour. Then let it dry near the fire and then rub it down with more oil or animal fat. Continue drying and rubbing oil into the bow until the wood is saturated. The bow is now ready for use. In the future, about once a week, rub the bow down with oil (or animal fat) and let it dry. The oil (or fat) will make the wood more flexible and keep it from cracking.

[bacpacker]

MIT, Maybe, make your cut and shape it right away and harden it slowly a good distance to the hottest part of the fire. it'll harden, just more slowly. You got me thinking talking about the old ways of doing things.

I will do trying to find some info on this topic. I can see good things to use this info for.

[mitunnelrat]

All good ideas. Thank you.

[Evolver]

Don't give up on your spear and this is just a suggestion but you could give knapping local found stone for a point and lashing a try. :)

[mitunnelrat]

Oh, I haven't given up on it, but chances are good this one will end up as a short spear before I lash a point to it.

I figured it'd be worth working on the most basic form until I can't get it wrong, and progress in complexity from there. Make sense?

[Evolver]

Oh, I haven't given up on it, but chances are good this one will end up as a short spear before I lash a point to it.

I figured it'd be worth working on the most basic form until I can't get it wrong, and progress in complexity from there. Make sense?

Yup... and I admire that!!!

[Grumpy Old Man]

BTTT. Where are you at now with your efforts MITR? Inquiring minds want to know. And we want more content, I hear tell.

[mitunnelrat]

All I can say is there's been a distinct lack of effort. I have it tucked away in my closet, was OBE at work, and "out of sight, out of mind" came into effect.

[bobbyjoewright]

"Who here's made spears - besides Grumpy, lol ? "
In Response to this question from the original post"

1. Me. I have made many spears for fun and looks (once you make a spear you have to try it out!) If you're not hung up on "traditional" or "rustic" I can tell you about one of the best home made spears by far.
2. Go to your local hardware store and pick up a hoe handle, preferably a straight one, not tapered or bulb-ed on one end. Make sure it is pre-drilled for a hoe head. Take your handle to the nail section and ask about spike nails in the 3/8 to half in range. Find one at least 8-10" long that fits snugly in the end of the hoe handle.
3. When you get it home gently (don't split the handle) drive the nail in until about 1/2" from bottoming out. You can premeasure that depth with a pencil or other small probe and mark your nail so you don't overdrive it. Once in place, using a small drill bit, maybe 1/8", drill 3 holes through the wood, the nail and the wood again, about an inch apart.
4. Using stiff wire, I used electric fence wire, wrap the end of the handle holding the wire tightly. As you get to a pre-drilled hole, thread the wire thru and continue wrapping. The wire keeps the handle from splitting and threading thru the holes keeps the spike from driving deeper. Finish by going through the final hole several times with the wire and snip it off.
5. Use a hack saw cut the head off the spike. Then using a bench grinder taper the cut off end to a point like a pencil.

When using the spear if you find the handle is too heavy (usually not a problem with heavy spike nails but often a problem with a blade) cut off an appropriate amount of handle to ease the problem.

This spear is inexpensive, very sturdy, very deadly and a heck of a lot of fun to throw! It should give hours of fun, especially as you get more accurate. You can make a dart board from 2 sheets of plywood and challenge friends to play giant darts. It's all good fun but it is a deadly serious weapon.

If you're interested I have made more traditional and decorative spears, but these are the best.

As a side note : If you do much outdoor cooking on the ground with cast iron, bending the spear tip into an "L" using a vise turns you spear into an excellent tool for lifting pots and lids with out burning your self.

Bobbyjoewright

[bacpacker]

Excellent first post and idea as well.

Welcome to the forum.

[bobbyjoewright]

Thanks bacpacker

[mitunnelrat]

Hey, thanks for the idea.

Welcome to the forum, and yes, I would be interested in discussion on more rustic spears.

[bacpacker]

I to would welcome further discussion on new or old style spears. I've played around with one and never gotten it finished. Something I need to do.

[bobbyjoewright]

Every since I was a kid we made a lot of spears. We pulled up dry horse weeds, knocked the dirt off of the pointed root and threw them for hours. We also cut down saplings, sharpened the tips and threw those. At 54 I''m still deadly at 20 plus yards.

I made a fancy spear a few years ago as a Christmas present.

I used a sapling about 1" in diameter and removed the bark. I left a ring of bark every 6" about 1/2 wide as decoration. I cut a notch about 4" deep in one end for the blade. My finished stick was about 4' long.

For the blade I used the blade from an Old Hickory butcher knife. Since the blade is only sharp on one side, I shaped the dull side on a grinder to match the other side, being careful not to overheat the blade and lose temper. I also shaped the tang to the width of my sapling.

Using the existing holes in the blade, clipped off some nails that matched the holes, fitted them through holes I drilled in the sapling and bent them over. Yes it looked ugly but it was secure.

To finish the spear, I used rabbit fur to wrap the head (hiding the ugly nails) hung a string of leather fringe half way down the length, and finished it off with owl feathers. I got the feathers from a roadkill owl. I often stop for fresh road kill birds. I have red tail hawk, owl and road runner feathers.

The finished product looked very nice, but my brothers and I couldn't wait to pull off the fringe and feathers to try it out. It threw easily, flew straight and stuck nicely. That spear was made in 1996 and has spent a lot of time outside in the weather since then. I found it neglectfully left in the yard the other day (shame on me) picked it up, tossed at an oak tree and stuck 2 inches.

It was a lot of fun to make and even more to throw.

[Grumpy Old Man]

BJW, Your spear sound like a modified Roman pilum. Handles make a good lance shaft, but I prefer a slimmer shaft for a spear. Ash, Hickory or willow saplings can make good shafts, but willows are soft. If you can find hazel they are good shafts. I'm exploring TX for suitable shaft woods now.

[bobbyjoewright]

I used something people here in East Texas call privet. It's kind of a wild shrub. It worked pretty good.

[Grumpy Old Man]

^^^ Well, what is it? I am in hill country on the northern edge.

[bobbyjoewright]

I may post a pic tomorrow


















"Preparedness may come down to 'What's in your pocket?'"

[Grumpy Old Man]

TY BJW! Pictures are always a help.

[bobbyjoewright]

Sorry no pics of spears, I was referring to the to the shrub

[Grumpy Old Man]

A pic of the shrub would be very helpful. TIA

[Sniper-T]

willow saplings can make good shafts, but willows are soft. .

Depends on the type of willow Grumps... Around here we have a couple varieties of Diamond willow. a nice 1 inch diameter tree may take a dozen or more hacks with a machete to cut/bludgeon through, or will dull a chainsaw blade to useless in mere seconds.

They look amazing, and are commonly used for canes or walking staffs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_willow

[Grumpy Old Man]

That is a great looking piece of wood!! I want one.

[vukic]

Any pics??? I'm always carving spear points out of scrap wood for fun... Will have to make a proper one..

[mitunnelrat]

Might depend on who you're asking. I've got a couple of pics up. Post #20.

[vukic]

Everyone... Lol.. It's.good to see everyones own perspective and idea's..

[mitunnelrat]

Gotcha, and I totally agree.

[bacpacker]

I ran across this video on you tube while looking for some other stuff. I thought it gives a decent explanation on fire hardening different wooden items. It sure gives me something else to try next time I build a fire.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R96y0QK3-U