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.


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.

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.


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