Making a simple spear

[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.

[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.

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" thick
.