Making a spear

Madoc

All spears used must be blunted.

If you order a spear from a reenactment supplier then it is usually enough to state that you need a 'blunted reenactment' one, as the standards are pretty similar across the spectrum.
The only bit of bloodymindedness you may find is with regard to 'ball-ended' and 'rounded' spears. 'Ball-ended' spears are generally exclusive to the smaller dark age society, Regia Anglorum, and everyone else uses the 'rounded' ones and, of course, each considers the other type dangerous. This is not the case and they are as safe or as dangerous as the each other, so if offered a choice then it doesn't matter which you acquire !
Make sure, though, that your supplier understands that your spear is for single handed use and thus you need it as small and as light as possible.



If you are going to make your own then here are some rough guidelines:
  • For single handed use the ideal weight of the head should not really exceed 300g
  • The point of the spearhead must be tipped with a flattened swelling 10mm in diameter. It is immaterial whether this means it is ball ended or otherwise.
  • The edges must be not less than 2 mm and no greater than 4mm.
  • The head may be made of mild steel or any other similar material. DO NOT make spears of aluminium, stainless, aircraft alloy or other similar modern materials.

The shafts on spears must be hardwood.
Ideally, they should be a period British hardwood (ash, hazel, beech, field maple (although sycamore is part of the same family of trees, it is quite different in appearance and wasn't introduced in this country until the 16th century)) but we recognise that this can be sometimes difficult and expensive to obtain and thus any suitable hardwood will do.

Theoretically a single hand spear could be any length, in practice though there is a limit of about 8 feet, after which it becomes less usable.


The How's

Spears are very easy to assemble. You will need :

 

  • rasp, plane or drawknife OR electric planer
  • hacksaw
  • A saw
  • A nail that is longer than the width of the spear shaft
  • electric drill and bit the same thickness as your nail
  • ball peen hammer
  • Linseed Oil (optional)
     


The first thing that needs to be done is shaping the shaft to a roughly round section.  In reality, an eight sided shape with the corners roughly taken down is perfectly good. Just spend a little extra time on the section you will hold. You can do this from the standard Vicus ash shaft square "blank" in about 5 minutes with an electric planer.

Then taper one to fit the spear socket. As the socket will be cone shaped, then the end of the spear needs to be carefully 'sharpened' to fit into it snugly. This can be done with a variety of tools, like planes, rasps or drawknife.
The spearhead could also be burnt on which ensures a perfect fit. To burn on a spear head, then shape the end of the shaft roughly while the spearhead is heated up (usually on the gas stove or in a fire). Once the spearhead is red hot, then pick it up with pincers and then jam it onto the shaft and hammer it on as far as possible Accompanied by loads of smoke, the spearhead should now fit perfectly. You may have to do this twice, if the shaft was too thick to be burnt perfectly the first time around.

Once you have the spearhead on snug, then knock it back off with a hammer and examine the shaft where you have planed it into a point. If the shaft is thick and the gradient is steep then you may want to make it a little more gradual by shaving off more wood. This has the added benefit of lightening the end and making it more usable, but there is a fine line to be drawn between losing some weight and making it too thin and thus prone to breakage.

One the shaft is to you liking then knock the spearhead back on using a hammer.
Take the drill bit and drill ALL THE WAY THROUGH the spear and shaft.
Knock the nail through the hole.
Cut the pointy end of the nail quite close the socket of the spearshaft and the rivet it over with your ball peen hammer. This will ensure that your spearhead will never fall off.

If you try and hammer a nail through the spearshaft without pre drilling the hole then you run the risk of splitting the shaft.
If you try and put a screw in and then file the slot off afterwards, then you'll never get it off easily.

The beauty with spearheads is that they last forever and with this method of fixing, it can be knocked out dead easily by simply filing the nail head off and reused - A spearhead is for life and not just for Christmas !

Finally, measure the overall length of your spear and cut off the excess.