Not exactly a sword...

C

Charlie_K

Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,067
... but I don't know where else to put this topic.

I find myself wanting a spear, but looking over everything available at the Athena site from so many manufacturers, in so many styles, I'm having trouble determining which one I want to get. At the moment hunting really isn't an application I'm thinking about for it, nor is learning how to throw it. Historical reenactment really isn't on my list of things to do since there are no such organizations close by.

I'm thinking something that's more European rather than oriental in terms of style and build, which helps narrow down the selection considerably, but it's still a wide open field to select from.
 
Cold Steel has several offerings I own the Assegai short spear. I wish I went for the long shaft instead. Great home defense tool though for tight spaces.
 
Some of the Cold Steel line definitely has my consideration. The boar spear, european, classic leaf, and even the lance point are all being considered as options. I really like the boar spear because of the look of the head from the front, although it loses some points when looking at it from the back. The other three all have a far more traditional look about them.
 
IoJust don't do what I did... I saw a living room chair sitting by the dumpster and naturally (I just recieved it via mail) I threw it at the bottom of the chair. It bounced off a hard piece of wood and it skipped across the pavement. Yea I just came home from the bar..... I sharpened out the damage and enjoy it to this day!
 
Check out Arms and Armor of Minneapolis MN offerings for not just spears but all sorts of pole arms.
 
The search for a spear continues. The Cold Steel MAA line is getting a lot of consideration, but I'm also thinking about the prospect of simply assembling my own. I'm looking over the available offerings from different manufacturers, and the offerings by Windlass Steelcrafts have caught my eye.

The European head appeals to me because of that nice central ridge, but I like the Greek head more because of it's shape, it's larger blade, only marginal increased weight, and again that central ridge. The Viking head is alright, but no central ridge so it doesn't look as durable. The Hewing and Long Bladed Hewing are definitely very nice because of their size.

Unfortunately it's been a really long time since I've researched Windlass and I don't know if they've experienced any recent QC issues within recent years. Does anyone know if any of their spear heads should be avoided?
 
I only have one Windlass spear head, the Hero spear, and I don't know if they make it anymore. It's a comically large leaf blade spear the size of a short sword, and boy does it shoot through things. It's survived about 15 years of abuse just fine. Over the last two years I have been ordering the Windlass butt caps to make walking sticks with a bit of authority, and they have all been of good quality. They are a little long and heavy, so I cut them in half and use the ring section as a ferrule for another stick. The walls are thick and they cut like high carbon steel, so I feel comfortable giving them a thumbs up. Windlass has always been a bit hit and miss, but at their price it's worth trying. On a side note, the Greek Butt Cap is unbelievably robust, the socket is twice as long as they show in the pictures, and it feels like a mace all by itself. I haven't rigged it yet because it would make for one hell of a heavy walking stick, but if you want a counterbalance on your spear this thing is a weapon.
 
Windlass heads are pretty solid , can't see how you could ruin one , unless you do something silly with one . Mine has been sharpened and is on it's second haft , no issues at all.
 
LEGION 12 said:
Windlass heads are pretty solid , can't see how you could ruin one , unless you do something silly with one . Mine has been sharpened and is on it's second haft , no issues at all.
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Well Skallagrim over on youtube managed to bend a Windlass spear head on their Zulu Iklwa short spear right at the transition between socket and blade by performing a test cut. That doesn't build confidence in that particular design.
 
Charlie_K said:
Well Skallagrim over on youtube managed to bend a Windlass spear head on their Zulu Iklwa short spear right at the transition between socket and blade by performing a test cut. That doesn't build confidence in that particular design.
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With Windlass, every now and then you get a bad one. It's just the roll of the dice, but fortunately the odds are pretty low. The only time I got snake-eyed was with a Ghost Head saber in the early 90's. It was straight when I started to do some chopping, but the last 10 inches or so took a set a few degrees off to the right. I was pretty annoyed at the time, but I bought it as a beater, and I beat it even harder after that. It's hanging in my garage right now, I still pull it out to blast branches that are too big for one-shotting with a smaller blade. If you buy from them, take it out and give it a reasonable test before you decide to keep it. At their prices, I think it's going to be tough to get 100% QC.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
With Windlass, every now and then you get a bad one. It's just the roll of the dice, but fortunately the odds are pretty low. The only time I got snake-eyed was with a Ghost Head saber in the early 90's. It was straight when I started to do some chopping, but the last 10 inches or so took a set a few degrees off to the right. I was pretty annoyed at the time, but I bought it as a beater, and I beat it even harder after that. It's hanging in my garage right now, I still pull it out to blast branches that are too big for one-shotting with a smaller blade. If you buy from them, take it out and give it a reasonable test before you decide to keep it. At their prices, I think it's going to be tough to get 100% QC.
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So what would actually count as a reasonable test for a thrusting weapon rather than a cutting or chopping weapon?
 
Charlie_K said:
So what would actually count as a reasonable test for a thrusting weapon rather than a cutting or chopping weapon?
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The easy thing that comes to mind is stacked cardboard, since it is easy to acquire and with duck tape you can as many layers as you want. I actually would be surprised if it failed on a thrust, but the torque on a slash is huge thanks to the long lever arm. If the blade is welded to a socket instead of being one-piece, folded over construction, I would always suspect that as a failure point. Japanese yari and naginata had a tang inserted into the shaft to distribute the force, and it worked well--just a lot harder to set the haft.

I had a neighbor for a while who used to glare at me from his front yard whenever he saw me. I didn't care much for yardwork in those days, so my lawn and trees were always untidy. One day after I was done mowing he was out there giving me the Evil Eye, so I decided to trim the trees with the Hero spear. The edges are only semi-sharp, but with 2 pounds of steel on a six foot oak staff it sailed through 3/4 inch branches like they weren't there. There would have been an issue if I went after tree trunks or something that wouldn't break on contact, but it works fine for small stuff. Never saw the neighbor mad-dogging me after that day, too.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
The easy thing that comes to mind is stacked cardboard, since it is easy to acquire and with duck tape you can as many layers as you want. I actually would be surprised if it failed on a thrust, but the torque on a slash is huge thanks to the long lever arm. If the blade is welded to a socket instead of being one-piece, folded over construction, I would always suspect that as a failure point. Japanese yari and naginata had a tang inserted into the shaft to distribute the force, and it worked well--just a lot harder to set the haft.

I had a neighbor for a while who used to glare at me from his front yard whenever he saw me. I didn't care much for yardwork in those days, so my lawn and trees were always untidy. One day after I was done mowing he was out there giving me the Evil Eye, so I decided to trim the trees with the Hero spear. The edges are only semi-sharp, but with 2 pounds of steel on a six foot oak staff it sailed through 3/4 inch branches like they weren't there. There would have been an issue if I went after tree trunks or something that wouldn't break on contact, but it works fine for small stuff. Never saw the neighbor mad-dogging me after that day, too.
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I haven't even been able to find any pictures of the Hero spear on google. Even if it's out of production it should still exist, so the absence of pictures is a mystery.

The more I look into the matter, the more I'm torn between the European and Greek head styles since it has that nice thick central rib in its design. Or the Cold Steel equivalents of such.
 
I was thinking back, and I sort of remember playing with it in college, and that was back before the internet when we ordered stuff out of catalogs. I doubt Atlanta Cutlery even had a website then. So this is my first shot at using imgur to post a photo, not sure if it's going to work the first time. If it does, then that is a BK 9 next to it, with a teeny little Kahr Delica holding the measuring tape down to a better position.
xOXP9QB.jpg
 
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Yeah they definitely don't make that model anymore. The closest they produce is the large leaf blade spear, coming in at 19.5" and weighing 19 ounces.
 
I'm going to go out on a weird limb here.... I REALLY wanted a spear, and ordered the Cold Steel Boar spear, and love it for what it is... BUT....

I've got this itch it just doesn't scratch...

I'm going to make another, myself this time, but I have to get a blade from somewhere cause I don't have the tools to forge one up myself, best I can do is modify an existing project to fit my wants...

To that end, I have ordered a 16 inch Cold Steel Shanghai Warrior knife to convert into a spear blade... I'd post a link, but I think that's a no no.... they are cheap, look like an Al Mar Smatchette have a flat tang with holes pre drilled for screws.... simply work up the handle to suit you, remove the screwed on handle slabs from the knife, fit tang into pole, reattach with longer bolts and bingo... you've got one of the nastiest spear shaped objects that can be made on the cheap...

depends on what you are wanting to end up with... but wrapping the pole tip to dress it up can go a long way toward changing up the looks, and the finished product should be suitable for field finishing wild hog or anything else you can imagine....

I can speak from experience that the blade itself is.... a nasty bit of work.... VERY sharp.... wide enough to make UGLY wounds, and long enough to reach vitals on anything short of big game in Africa.

meh....YMMV, but its my next project
 
Hawgsnawt said:
I'm going to go out on a weird limb here.... I REALLY wanted a spear, and ordered the Cold Steel Boar spear, and love it for what it is... BUT....

I've got this itch it just doesn't scratch...

I'm going to make another, myself this time, but I have to get a blade from somewhere cause I don't have the tools to forge one up myself, best I can do is modify an existing project to fit my wants...

To that end, I have ordered a 16 inch Cold Steel Shanghai Warrior knife to convert into a spear blade... I'd post a link, but I think that's a no no.... they are cheap, look like an Al Mar Smatchette have a flat tang with holes pre drilled for screws.... simply work up the handle to suit you, remove the screwed on handle slabs from the knife, fit tang into pole, reattach with longer bolts and bingo... you've got one of the nastiest spear shaped objects that can be made on the cheap...

depends on what you are wanting to end up with... but wrapping the pole tip to dress it up can go a long way toward changing up the looks, and the finished product should be suitable for field finishing wild hog or anything else you can imagine....

I can speak from experience that the blade itself is.... a nasty bit of work.... VERY sharp.... wide enough to make UGLY wounds, and long enough to reach vitals on anything short of big game in Africa.

meh....YMMV, but its my next project
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I had a similar approach in mind, but I was going to use one of their Pro Flight Sport or Pro Balance throwing knives.
 
Most, if not all, cold steel polearms (aside from the axes) are cut out of sheet steel. This leaves an asymmetrical profile, with the socket wrapping around. Strong enough but may be a downer if expecting a historical aesthetic.

Cheers

GC
 
horseclover said:
Most, if not all, cold steel polearms (aside from the axes) are cut out of sheet steel. This leaves an asymmetrical profile, with the socket wrapping around. Strong enough but may be a downer if expecting a historical aesthetic.

Cheers

GC
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Really? I'm not seeing the asymmetrical profile in the Oso Grande videos, and they're showing the spear heads from all different angles.



But then again it could just be the fact that I don't know what you're talking about.
 
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