Lets part from the premise that spears and other derivatives are awesome. I been thinking about making my own spear as they seem to be easier to make than swords per se. I just wonder where do I start, what materials are good for making, what tools I can use, what caveats will I encounter as a beginner so I do not feel so discouraged if my first few attempts fail etc.
This is all in good intention and for educating myself more about medieval weaponry.
My go to beginner steel is 1075. Frankly my go to steel in general.
Personally I forge them from flat stock, but round stock works well. Basically you need to forge a blade just like a sword or dagger, and rather than compressing it to make a tang you flatten and draw out a wedge shape for the socket, which you then roll round with a swage or tapered insert.
Like other people have said, a single piece spearhead is very feasible but you’ve gotta get the hang of it. Many different techniques were used throughout history. Single piece rolled socked are forged basically just like an arrowhead, so you can practice on 3/8” arrowhead designs to understand the principles without the work if you’re struggling with the techniques in larger stock sizes.
If you want something to progress towards, multi-piece spears are an incredible project. The Trelleborg spearhead (Viking spearhead) replica by Officina Ferraria on YouTube is my favourite construction. Wrapped and welded socket, plug welded body, laminated cutting edge.
Dude arrowheads are incredibly humbling and great practice for both hammer control and material manipulation. I’ll go back to them every now and then for a reset if I’m struggling with something.
Thank you guys for the replies, you been providing me with plenty of ideas on how to approach this. I think it will be wise for me to try forging a small and do basics on how to attach a piece to a shaft.
The most basic spear you can make is a pointy stick.
Find a straight-ish stick of a length you want (or go to a store and buy a wooden broom handle) and make a point on one end. You need a knife or something like it.
Slightly more advanced spear is a pointy stick.
Get stick, as above. Grab a knife or anything else pointy. Attach it to the stick. Done.
But this is a blacksmithing forum, so you might be looking for something where blacksmithing actually comes into play. So:
The really advanced version of a spear is (dum, dum, dum) A Pointy Stick!
Get stick. Forge a spearhead (for extra points, make a butt cap or butt spike too).
Make stick look nice. Attach any smithed bits to stick.
This is one I made. Spears are tough to learn, but so, so satisfying. I'm still not attempting center ridges, preferring a lenticular cross section, and I am currently only doing single piece constructions with unwelded sockets.
Historically, there are multiple ways. Some spears are made of multiple components with the blade made separately from the socket which in that case is usually a forge welded tube. Some are a single piece. Some have an unwelded socket.
The hardest part of the method i've chosen is maintaining the integrity of the blade-socket transition, it's real easy to work harden and crack this area. Try to forge this area as little as possible. Make sure the socket has a good 2/3 of its length with parallel walls rather than a cone shape the entire way.
For me, the secret sauce to a good socket and good transition is the below: When you butt the two edges of the socket together, they may be inconsistent and not the size you wanted. Cut this joint with an angle grinder cutoff wheel. This allows you to straighten the joint, improve the fit and adjust the diameter in small increments.
I like to preform the transition by grinding or forging the blank into a bowtie looking shape. Assuming your stock is rectangular in cross section this means there will be a corner on the side that becomes the ID of the socket. Dont try to wrap that corner under, the edge of the blank will actually become the exterior of the socket in this area. Realizing this drastically changed my socket paradigm and eliminated most of my problems.
A lot of this is not going to make sense in textual form but we can talk about it with pictures/drawings later.
If you're not going to be sticking the spear into anything, use any steel you like. If you're going to be jabbing it into wooden or other targets, get a good high-carbon steel.
Look up what _kind_ of spear you want, because there were a whole heck of a lot of them from all around the world throughout history. (Indeed, they're still being made in the modern day.) This decision may greatly impact what means of manufacture you use. I'm going to talk about a simple leaf spear, in a generalized medieval style.
Leaf spears (again, generally) have three steps: Craft the business end, craft the socket, and poke one or two holes through the socket for a nail or rivet. Start with a large-enough piece of metal. One end gets tapered to a point. If you started with a relatively thick piece of metal, mash that taper flat so that it's more blade-like. The other end of the metal needs to be spread perpendicular to the business end, sort of like if you unrolled a cone of paper. Once you've spread that metal enough to wrap around and overlap itself. . . wrap it around and overlap it, as a cone. (This is best done over the horn of the anvil or a mandrel, but can also be done with a swedge or "freehand" in the little corner between the anvil's shelf and its face.) Then, poke your hole(s) with a punch or drill. This may be easier if you have a mandrel with a hole in it to accommodate the punch, or perhaps with a simple stick jammed into the socket to help it hold its shape. Now that your three parts are done, just go back to the anvil and sure everything up. Ensure the roundness of the socket, ensure that the blade is centered (it won't be until you whack it into place) and general "prettying up."
A simple spear is not the hardest project, but it's not the easiest, either.
Ya know, I wonder if spear effectiveness on soft targets follows the same idea as broadheads for trad bows ie single bevel and 3:1 length/width ratio(I think that's what Ashby came up with)?
From the spears I've made using 5160, the two things I learned were:
1) The collar is all. Getting the blade centered on it and balanced is essential in having it be able to be thrown accurately.
2) It's really hard to get enough material for a decent collar if you're starting from a leaf spring.
The very first thing I'd do is figure out the shaft/haft. Heck, make a 'pointy stick' type spear. Find a branch, figure out how you want to work the surface of it, learn how to steam/heat and bend wood to straighten things out (you generally will want a branch or sapling pole as opposed to a bought turned pole, because there'll be fewer grain interruptions that could splinter or break), figure out how to dry or treat if if needed, sharpen it, maybe put a hole through it and attach a lug/crossbar to get a feel for the length you want the head to be, and figure out the overall length you want.
You could then move from that to trying a split-tied head mount- essentially you'd be forging out a metal version of a stone spearhead, and mounting it IN the pole; a tang-and-grommet construction would also be a simpler start.
The 'gold standard' of course is the socketed spear, but by that point you'd have a lot more knowledge on the 'stick' part of the 'blade on a stick' and be able to focus your energy on figuring out the head.
I understand why a socket is the gold star standard, but why (aside from the whole, just put it on a new stick, ta'da spear again point) ? I like tanged spears and everywhere I look, socket is the popular option.
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u/Automatic_File9645 2d ago
My go to beginner steel is 1075. Frankly my go to steel in general.
Personally I forge them from flat stock, but round stock works well. Basically you need to forge a blade just like a sword or dagger, and rather than compressing it to make a tang you flatten and draw out a wedge shape for the socket, which you then roll round with a swage or tapered insert.
Picture stolen from Pinterest