Fire hardening wood

K

Kevin the grey

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Aug 26, 2005
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As we got onto the subject of spear making could we look at hardening of its wooden point? I have never had success at it.

I would presume that hardwood is necessary. Is seasoned wood easier to harden than green?

Even If you have the resources available to have a metal or bone point. If it is dark, you are P:O:ed , alone for the night and the duration you may have other things on your mind.

You can always add your metal point when you have the available time. You can harden a piece of wood while feeding the fire to keep warm enough to survive.
 
Good thread.
Found this on line.

Harden the point by a process known as fire hardening. If a fire is possible, dry the blade portion over the fire slowly until lightly charred. The drier the wood, the harder the point. After lightly charring the blade portion, sharpen it on a coarse stone.

Fire Hardening is the process of removing moisture from wood by slowly and lightly charring it over a fire. This makes a point, like that of a spear, or an edge, like that of a knife, more durable and dangerous.

I am now to understand, that once you have fire hardened the end, you can "burnish it" in a rock , yielding even more of a sharp point.

So part of the process is to harden the tip for durability, but, also so that you can give the final burnish to the tip make it that much more deadly.
 
I've tried it once before on a 4 foot long piece of dowling which I was using to make a dart for an Atlatl (School Project). I held the roughly shaped point under a butane lighter until it was charred I would then shape the edge a little more with my SAK I did this about three or 4 times and when I was finished I polished the tip with some 600 grit sandpaper.
 
i have read that in order to fire harden the stick you do not want to char it over the fire. you instead want to bury it in the ground beneath the fire so that it is dried but the outside layers of the wood, because this will just weaken the point.
 
RubberJohnny said:
I've tried it once before on a 4 foot long piece of dowling which I was using to make a dart for an Atlatl (School Project). I held the roughly shaped point under a butane lighter until it was charred I would then shape the edge a little more with my SAK I did this about three or 4 times and when I was finished I polished the tip with some 600 grit sandpaper.
Click to expand...

So, did it seem to harden it, and make it more durable, with greater ability to sharpen it??

In short, did it seem to help?
 
SkunkWerX said:
So, did it seem to harden it, and make it more durable, with greater ability to sharpen it??
Click to expand...

It did seem to make the point significantly harder. I pushed it into a 2x4 which made a large dent in the lumber but caused no discernible damage to the point.

I had tried sharpening another piece of dowling before without the "heat treat" and the point cracked against the wood.
 
Firehardening definitely works. I don't know about seasoned vs. green wood, that's an interesting question.
 
When you fire harden a piece of wood you are making the original material more dense by removing moisture and closing the cellulose cells. I have found that when making digging tools it is better to use green hardwood. For a spear point Oak makes a satisfactory point but green Ash makes a great point. I have never any great luck with dry wood.
Oldman/Marty
 
Good to know and good to try. I myself heard that you want no oxygen getting to the heating wood. If there is less oxygen there is less burning and more hardening . Green ash seems to be the way to go. I might try elm as well. Its tough cause I'm not allowed to light fires. (Damn Judges order!) L:O:L

I guess there is always the B:B:Q
 
Here's how I do it. I cut a nice straight hardwood sapling about as thick as I can circle with my thumb and index finger. I make the shaft a little taller than my head.

Note: Short spears are dangerous as they will often put the point below your body where you could fall on it, especially if you are using the spear as a walking stick. Impaling myself isn't in the cards.

I usually clean up the end of the point with my knife so it is even all te way around, but I don't carve a point, just leave it sort of blunt. I strip off all the bark.

I build a decent sized fire and wait until I have a solid, deep bed of coals. Evening is perfect for this. Bank up the coals and shove the thick end into them for about 8 inches to a foot. Slowly turn the shaft on its axis to evenly burn the shaft down.

Periodically remove the shaft and rub off the char with a coarse stone. Repeat ther process until you have a fire sharpened, fire hardened point.

The worst that can happen is that sometimes you will develop small cracks in the wood. It doesn't affect functioning. I find these points far more durable and dangerous than a knife cut point. Mac

3dayspearab4.jpg
 
Hey guys,
One thing I forgot to mention is that a lot of folks like to rough out the point, then cover with clay (about 1/4" thick) and then put it into the coals. This prevents any air from reaching the wood and it only chars.
Oldman/Marty
 
I made a miniature 'hawk and showed it to a friend in the lumber business.He asked how did you get the wood so hard ?? I explained that it had been firehardened [mostly to add a little color] - an old caveman trick !! You heat it but don't char it , or at least scrape off the char. It certainly works.
 
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