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Message started by Sons of benjamin on Aug 20th, 2011 at 11:33pm

Title: Metal spear heads?
Post by Sons of benjamin on Aug 20th, 2011 at 11:33pm
How can I make a good metal spear head?  I want one that is relatively blade shaped, not just a tip.  I have an idea that involves bending sheet metal, heating it, and then hammering it into one piece, but I want to know if there is anything easier.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Knaight on Aug 21st, 2011 at 12:33am

Sons of benjamin wrote on Aug 20th, 2011 at 11:33pm:
How can I make a good metal spear head?  I want one that is relatively blade shaped, not just a tip.  I have an idea that involves bending sheet metal, heating it, and then hammering it into one piece, but I want to know if there is anything easier.

The easiest way to get one is to buy one, otherwise work will be involved. Bending sheet metal could work, but it won't work well, as there is a reason spear heads were forged and hammered. I'd start with something stronger and used for heavier work already, such as  the blade of a spade, or if available a knife of some sort. Sharpen, attach (weld and forge as needed), and call it a day.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by greencheapsk8 on Aug 21st, 2011 at 3:06am
Ideally, you would have a large casting furnace, a forge and an arc welder.
I'm assuming you don't!

Get a rod, ram that into the arrow shaft.
Cut a slot in the rod.
Glue/weld/attach a piece of 2mm sheet steel, cut/filed/forged to your desired shape.

And done :)
Not exactly refined craftmanship, but you will get the look you want!

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Mauro Fiorentini on Aug 21st, 2011 at 7:23am
As greencheapsk8 said, a forge is needed for making spear heads.
I don't have made one yet, but I've made a javelin head, and I did it wrongly, because I heated and hammered a flat bar of iron.
For a spear head, I'd use a bigger ingot, and proceed as follows:

Heat one end, then hammer it to flatten and stretch it.
Heat the other end, to lenghten it and stretch its sides, thus making the point and the blades still mantaining a central rib.
Heat the first end, to bend it and make its sides touch each other.
Put a steel round ingot inside, then heat the cylinder until you can weld its sides toghether, and with the rib of the blade (this is optional, you can just hammer these parts until they are flattened, and if you fix the spear heads with rivets to its pole, this will prevent the cylinder to split).
Heat the whole thing and then temper it.
Once tempered, when the iron is cold, hammer the cylinder to make it aligned with the spear head, and then polish and sharpen it.

The whole work may last from a couple of hour, to a maximum of even a couple of days, depending on the forge, on your experience and on the dimension of the object.
It's a funny thing to make, but I suggest you to buy one, if you don't want to get involved in blacksmithing  :)
I'm going to make a spear head too, but only after I've done a war hammer and a short sword, the first for fantasy purpose, and the second for my archaeological experimentations.
Greetings,
Mauro.  

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by bigkahuna on Aug 21st, 2011 at 7:45am
You could make a long javalin type spear by taking a long steel rod and heating the end and bang out a spear point not unlike those used by the Maasi in Africa.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Bikewer on Aug 21st, 2011 at 1:54pm
Another effective if not elegant method is to use an existing blade, something like a typical double-edged throwing knife:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ6JOb_DkrMuz3sB3bdhLdVEp4dyFWsl2RGJvh3W-3rupb5YCVrmQ

You cut an appropriate slot in your spear shaft to accept the hilt, then use rivets to hold it in place.
The whole thing can then be wire-wrapped for additional strength.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by fattybones on Aug 22nd, 2011 at 9:49pm
http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1312401074  Today, I am the weaver. Connecting threads with links.  You could hammer flat, cut, and then sharpen a piece of cutlery without a forge.  Or gardening equipment.  Or make an Aztec style head out of razorblades like a macahuital (a little scary this).

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Kjev on Sep 2nd, 2011 at 5:46pm
If you have access to a forge, or at least someone with a blowtorch, hammer, and anvil,  you can use rebar. There would be two methods of shaping the bar once it's heated.
Method One:
  • Taper one end to a point.
  • Beat the whole thing flat.
  • Beat edges onto the spearhead.
  • Wrap the butt end into a cone shape (like the butt end of a bodkin-style arrowhead)
  • Drill a hole through the one end to pin it to the shaft.


Method Two:
  • Follow steps 1-2 of Method One.
  • Shape the tail end like you would for an arrowhead.
  • Notch your shaft to fit the spearhead like you would for an arrowhead. Mane your notch perpendicular to the grain of the shaft. This will help prevent the shaft from splitting.
  • Lash and glue it into place. Especially wrap behind the notch in the shaft to prevent it from splitting further.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Thunder Chief on Sep 2nd, 2011 at 7:25pm
That'd have to be some heavy duty re-bar.  I'm not so sure the second method would be strong enough for anything serious.  Maybe if you found a pipe with an inside diameter the same as your shaft and slotted it over the slit and pinned it, accomplishing essentailly the same thing as the lashing but on a much stronger scale.  I hope that makes some semblance of sense.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Kjev on Sep 2nd, 2011 at 11:33pm
1/2 inch rebar works well. You don't get a very broad head, but you can make long ones, which will give you deep penetration. I'll see if I can get a picture of mine tomorrow and post it.

I've also seen one hammered out of a railroad spike. You want to find the hard steel spikes (they have an "H" on the head) for the best quality.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by jlasud on Nov 26th, 2011 at 4:49am
Here's one i'm currently working on.This will be cast in bronze and in the picture you can see the ceramic core and the beeswax positive on it.The beeswax has been reused so that's why it's so dark in color.
This form will be covered with clay mixed with a lot of sand in it and left to dry,then fired and when the wax is out of the form and the mould is pre heated,the molten bronze can be poured in it.
I plan to make a two part mould around it so i might get to use it more than once.
Originally i wanted to make a lost wax mould,but then thought that i should try to make it two parts.
Landzsa_viasz_.jpg (35 KB | )

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Mauro Fiorentini on Nov 26th, 2011 at 6:09am
That look REALLY good jlasud!
Add wax lines to grant the emission of gas during wax melting and bronze casting  ;)
I have not well understood your speech about two parts mould: if it is a lost wax project, how are you supposed to use again these moulds?
It's a great work indeed!!
Greetings,
Mauro.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by jlasud on Nov 26th, 2011 at 1:03pm
Mauro,i was thinking on using the object on the photo to make the two negative impressions in clay blocks.After that,i could take the wax of,and put the ceramic core in it's place between the two halfs. This way it would be a 3 part mould,and after casting,i could take it apart(hopefully) and maybe reuse it.With lost wax casting as you know,it would have to be broken to pieces.But as i'm a bit against destroying my own creation,i thought of making it more lasting.

Also the process you wrote about,when you hammer a soft metal in the grooves of another harder metal is something i'm interested in,and thought about it before.So in case you guys do some photos,i would be glad to see them.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by greencheapsk8 on Nov 27th, 2011 at 4:43am
You could make a flexible silicon mold perhaps?
Pour the wax in, bend the rubber stuff, take it out, pour another lot of wax, etc etc.

just something to think about 8-)

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Mauro Fiorentini on Nov 27th, 2011 at 3:46pm
Jlasud, you're going to have a PM about your spear head  :)

About that decoration, we MANAGED TO MAKE IT!
It's amazing, we never tried it out, and in just the 2nd attempt, we made it!
My friend's gf made a lot of picture and a video of us working, so they're on the way in a week or some more  ;)
There's just ONE other person in the whole Region who has been able to do that kind of decoration!
(hey, we didn't do nothing aestethic, just a simple attempt to get an idea about the technique, so don't expect a work of art  ;D )
Greetings,
Mauro.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by jlasud on Nov 27th, 2011 at 4:07pm
That's good news Mauro! Looking forward to your work of art :D!

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by PingHansen on Nov 28th, 2011 at 5:18am

greencheapsk8 wrote on Nov 27th, 2011 at 4:43am:
You could make a flexible silicon mold perhaps?
Pour the wax in, bend the rubber stuff, take it out, pour another lot of wax, etc etc.


That's actually a rather good idea. I have been thinking about how to make some moulds for different objects that are rather awkwardly shaped, and that approach would quite likely solve most of the problems. Some of the more complex Peruvian star maces are positively screaming to be cast in bronze, using that method.

A mould for a schytian arrowhead, like the one below, might require some creative thinking ...

Nasty little sucker, ain't it?

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by Masiakasaurus on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:18am
Just make a regular 2 piece mold, and have a cone shaped plug that fits into the base of the mold so the socket won't fill with bronze. The plug would have to have 2 tines at it's base to keep i from falling into the mold.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by PingHansen on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:53am

Masiakasaurus wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:18am:
Just make a regular 2 piece mold, and have a cone shaped plug that fits into the base of the mold so the socket won't fill with bronze. The plug would have to have 2 tines at it's base to keep i from falling into the mold.


Would be a bit hard to make, as the arrowhead is triangular (has three vanes). The barbs could be made with a file, making the mould simpler.

Or, are you thinking something like this?
piteraq.dk/images/pilform.png

A triangular arrowhead like this, makes some real nasty wounds, that take a looooooooooooooooooong time healing. The Scythians compounded that by smearing them with poison and a bacteria soup (Clostridium tetani, C. perfringens, etc.) made from rotting flesh and other unhealthy stuff. Very likable fellows  :o

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by jlasud on Nov 28th, 2011 at 3:34pm
My first thought about greencheapsk8's idea was that it would be useful for casting a bunch of wax arrowheads and connect them in a tree fashion and make a lost wax arrowhead mold.Of course it could be a glandes tree as well.

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by greencheapsk8 on Dec 3rd, 2011 at 2:03am
My suggestion. Two part mold:


So they go together, pour the wax in, take it out, etc.
Or use the arrowhead and directly sand cast it, no wax to mess with! 8-)

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by greencheapsk8 on Dec 4th, 2011 at 3:11am
Hey, i hope this is okay with the admins, but this site here has those 3 vaned suckers.
http://www.bronze-age-swords.com/aegean_swords.htm
These are simpler, having the whole blade done in one tapered pull, and the cone piece as a core.
Towards the bottom.
You could buy them, but wheres the fun in that? ::)

Title: Re: Metal spear heads?
Post by PingHansen on Dec 4th, 2011 at 5:18am
Interesting site

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