Anyone good at spear making?

I've really taken a shine to throwing spears, and I'd like to be able to make some of my own, it'd just be cooler.
I've done the basic stuff like taking straight branches and whittling them to a point and smooth and all that but I'd like to see if anyone has some tips for anything a little more advanced... Things like how to balance it perfectly, how to possibly strongly attach stronger tips, things like that.
For the most part, I'd like the actual spear to be made out of natural resources like tree branches and stone. I might settle for metal to tip the spear off with though, if I end up favouring a more javelin like spear.

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Make an >atlatl< Cool

I've seen one used before, and it's pretty neat. The concepts of leverage are pretty cool to come from more primitive times. Surprised

www.atlatl.com

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17

if you hollow the tip of your spear out, then you can make bone plugs and make a repeating spear. You carry many bone points and stab and replace quickly. Technique was commonly used during the ice age. If you want to do fishing spears, make the head so it is socketed an comes out, but is tethered to the stock. This way if you get a fish, it wont break your spear because it detaches from the solid stock after sticking...much more flexible. I don't have much experience with manufacturing, but these are ones that I have been taught. I will be practicing more of the skills over the summer. Once school is done Smile

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We only have one Earth, take care of her and she will take care of you. ~ probably someone else

	flashlightfreak9 wrote:
	Make an >atlatl< I've seen one used before, and it's pretty neat. The concepts of leverage are pretty cool to come from more primitive times. www.atlatl.com

> Its not a spear, he was asking about tips/ideas for spear making. Think before you post...

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Last edited by Drummer Dave on Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

Brian wrote:

if you hollow the tip of your spear out, then you can make bone plugs and make a repeating spear. You carry many bone points and stab and replace quickly. Technique was commonly used during the ice age. If you want to do fishing spears, make the head so it is socketed an comes out, but is tethered to the stock. This way if you get a fish, it wont break your spear because it detaches from the solid stock after sticking...much more flexible. I don't have much experience with manufacturing, but these are ones that I have been taught. I will be practicing more of the skills over the summer. Once school is done Smile

> Great idea's Brain good stuff. Cool

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Brian wrote:

if you hollow the tip of your spear out, then you can make bone plugs and make a repeating spear. You carry many bone points and stab and replace quickly. Technique was commonly used during the ice age. If you want to do fishing spears, make the head so it is socketed an comes out, but is tethered to the stock. This way if you get a fish, it wont break your spear because it detaches from the solid stock after sticking...much more flexible. I don't have much experience with manufacturing, but these are ones that I have been taught. I will be practicing more of the skills over the summer. Once school is done Smile

^Just like a sturgeon spear. Cool

My advice for making and attaching the tips would be to look at how to make traditional arrows. Same concept, just bigger scale.

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Sounds cool Brian, I'm going to try both of those things if my skills permit it... plus believe it or not I'm finding it hard just to find straight branches around here... Every branch is either bend or full of knots Sad

And flashlightfreak, that does look like a really neat gizmo, but it looks far beyond my capabilities right now. I'm just getting into actually trying to craft permanent bits of gear as of about 2 weeks ago, so I'm about as basic as you can get as far as skills go.
So far my "spears" are straight sticks with the bark shaved off, tapered points, filed smooth and oil rubbed on them to finish. I don't even know the ideal balance for throwing. Should the back or front be heavier? Are there any important throwing techniques I should know about? I've looked up a few things but I trust what you guys write more than random websites.

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^ I hear ya trevor when your saying how hard it is to find a strait stick. I am always on the look out for Walking sticks. They dont have to be strait but somewhat. I find birch saplings to be the most consistant for straitness.
As well as Alder saplings. Hazel is also pretty good, if you can find a nice big patch you usually can find 1 thats pretty strait. And saplings have little to no knots. Maple is the best, but hard to find any strait, well, at least i haven't.

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Go Ironwood Laughing

If you can shape it, that would make one heck of a spear...a bit on the heavy side though. When you shape a spear, you want it to be balanced if possible, no side heavier than the other, but knowing how trees grow, this is impractical, especially in survival situations. In this case, make the tip the heavier end. This gives more material to be shaped as well as a more desirable arc when thrown properly. As for throwing technique, I am still refining this myself. All I know is that you want the balance to be either in your hand or in front of it, if its behind your hand, you get no acceleration or arc because you are dragging the weight behind your hand.

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We only have one Earth, take care of her and she will take care of you. ~ probably someone else

Drummer Dave wrote:

	flashlightfreak9 wrote:
	Make an >atlatl< I've seen one used before, and it's pretty neat. The concepts of leverage are pretty cool to come from more primitive times. www.atlatl.com

> Its not a spear, he was asking about tips/ideas for spear making. Think before you post...

It is a spear, just a little more complicated. Smile

Good luck, Trevor. Cool

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17

flashlightfreak9 wrote:

Drummer Dave wrote:

	flashlightfreak9 wrote:
	Make an >atlatl< I've seen one used before, and it's pretty neat. The concepts of leverage are pretty cool to come from more primitive times. www.atlatl.com

> Its not a spear, he was asking about tips/ideas for spear making. Think before you post...

It is a spear, just a little more complicated. Smile

Good luck, Trevor. Cool

> Its a " Atlatl " not a " Spear ". 2 differant weapons. You use mechnical leverage to launch a Atlatl. You only use your arm in throwing a spear. Atlatl have fletching, spears do not. If anything, its like a massive Arrow.

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Isn't an atlatl a device used to aid in throwing a spear?

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

	BushRat wrote:
	Isn't an atlatl a device used to aid in throwing a spear?

> well it is a " device " but the projectile has fletching like an arrow. So its made to fly more than like a javelin would be throwen.
I just see them as 2 differant throwing weapons. The atlatl isnt just that device, its that & the type of massive arrow it throws. If you have seen a Spear, which im pretty sure we all know what it looks like, & if youve seen a atlatl its differant. I dont think im splitting hairs here, they are 2 differant types of throwing weapons. Cool

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

First pic; Spear
Second pic; Atlatl

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Well first of all the Atlatl a "Dart" not a spear lol look it up if you want Razz

and the Atlatl is rather easy to make it just looks hard i guess i have made a few and they are pretty cool lol

second i have made lots of spears. i normally make mine out of a Hard wood so that they dont break or get chewed up as easy. for tips i have use stone that i smashed with another bigger stone to break some sharp pieces off, but im not very good at knapping so i just get it to a shape that is spearlike lol. i wrap cord tight a few inchs down on one end (the thicker or more heavy end) i find it keeps the wood from splitting to far. then i split the wood down the middle to just before the cord so only a few inchs i then put in the piece of rock or what ever you are using for a tip in the slit. when its in the slit i wrap from the top closer to the head because if you wrap it from the cord up you will squeez out the head that you just put in. so start from the head and work down the shaft and i would wrap it like 6 inchs down then tie it off and make sure its tight.

you can shave the bark off the branch or leave it on. i normally take the bark off though and make sure the branch is as straight as possible and as little knots as you can get. for the tip you can use stone,bone ect... but i find bone is harder to come by for alot of ppl that dont hunt and what not and if your like me the rocks around here suck for knapping and making points but thats prob just me lol so alot of times i take another piece of wood, again a hard wood and then carve a nice head out of that and shape it how everyou you want then fire harden it and put it on your shaft i find thats the easier way. hope that helps Very Happy

but im not spear expert by the way lol

Good info NorthernHunter, I would just like to point out that until you get good at throwing spears, practice with just wood ones, you don't want to put all the hard work into a stone or bone tip just to have it bust on a log or the ground when you throw it. Practice first to make sure you won't miss when the time comes to use it Very Happy

Thats just my opinion, I don't like it when one of my knapped heads explode into oblivion, not a nice feeling

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We only have one Earth, take care of her and she will take care of you. ~ probably someone else

Thanks for clarifying, Drummer and Hunter

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

Well its not like he can really hunt with it anyway. here in canada your not allowed to hunt with stuff like that unless your like spear fishing or something like that but even then i believe you have to get a special license for that. so pretty much hunting with a spear is just for survival use as far as i know. but if you keep breaking your head and have to keep making new ones you will get better at knapping the more you do it Very Happy

Here in Alabama you can hunt deer and hogs with an atlatl or a hand-thrown spear. Smile

I don't know if anybody does(most use guns or bows), but it is legal. Cool

I'd love to see somebody stalk a deer and land their spear right in the heart, but I've only seen somebody throw them at a target. Sad

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17

The atl-atl dart is more of a large arrow, I agree.

One way to use a shorter piece of wood is that you have one good long straight piece, with a socket for the shorter head like a harpoon. You put the detachable head on your one good long piece and throw. The head is imbedded in the game, the shaft falls out, you pick it up and put another short headpiece on and you are ready to go again. These have been found in the Paleo indian records and were used by the Folsom people.

Neandertals used a heavy spear for thrusting, but it couldn't be thrown well. Cro Magnon used a lighter javilin type spear for throwing, but the Austrailian Aboriginies use a long slender spear, and a spear thrower to aid in distance.

A thrower is basically a paddle with a cup the butt of the spear sits in, but it increases the length of your arm so you get better distance.

The atl-atl uses a fleched shaft, but the end of the shaft is hollowed out similar to nocking an arrow so a small nub on the thrower can fit.

One way to balance a spear is to remember that like an arrow, you want the weight forward as that pulls the projectile in a straighter line. If both ends weigh the same, you get fishtailing, (side to side motion) or porposing (up and down). Same as archery, just slower and heavier.

In more modern times, Russian Boar were hunted with heavy spears with a crosspiece so that the charging boar would't run up the shaft and maul the hunter. Those spears were fairly long and heavy so the wood could withstand the animal thrashing around on it without breaking.

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