short spear (assegai)

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
Messages
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I just finished this up and throught I would see what you all think, this is a first for one of these for me, and it worked my patience over pretty good. :D

The blade , ferrel and butt cap are all made from the same damascus billet. The handle is fitted down to the bottom of the ferrel and the tang runs through it and into the handle above the ferrel 2". The handle is curly maple, OAL is 32 1/2", the blade is 7 1/2" and the ferrel is 2 3/4", total weight is only about 18 oz. The steel is 60 layers of 1080 & 15n20.

I can tell you this, I wouldn't want to come face to face with this sucker in a lite or dark alley. It is one wick son of a gun.

I'll post a couple pics so you can see the whole thing and then a closeup of the blade.

Thanks,

Bill
 
Very nice. WOuldn't mind trying boar with that myself.

Course, I'd still have an 8" S&W .44mag in a crossdraw, but that's one of only two spears I've seen that I think I'd trust. and this one's much prettier. :)
 
Very nice! I've always been an admirer of the Assegai.
A very practical , and nasty weapon. :eek: ;)
 
way cool, mr. b! always excited to see what you've been working on.
 
That is some really nice work, guy! I really like it. I would think a hog would just fall over dead rather than be stuck with that!
 
How easy is it to throw (I know assegai were primarily thrusting weapons, but I'm curious)? If this one is sold, are you making more?
 
Bill that's awesome! Did you say the tang runs inside the shaft and is supported then by the ferrule? I'm interested because have had a dream of this myself for several years and haven't yet figured out a method that felt strong enough to me.

In some knife book from the mid seventies I recall a pic of one on the cover that was threaded into a fitting in the shaft, and a big wing nut ran down that against the socket to secure it in place. Very cool but way beyond my machinist skills! :D

So I've been trying to think how to make a strong joint that wasn't too big and ugly. Looks like you pulled it off famously as usual. Thanks Bill, you gave me something sweet to dream about. :)
 
Ever since I saw the how to in the ABS news letter on forging a spear I've wanted to try it, just short on time. Your makeing me want to get out there and fire the forge up!

Looks meaner'ell, great damascus, and great fit-up, how did you make the ferrule, fold it over and weld together?
 
Thanks everyone,

Nathan, back ground are 18" square linolium tiles, I got them at Lowes, about $3 each.

Dave, I ground and fit the shaft to the ferrel before I soldered it to the blade, then I cut a slot in the shaft to accommodate the tang and still let the shaft fit tightly into the ferrel, then I drilled and opened up the shaft above the ferrel, like you would a hidden tang knife to accommodate the 2" of tang that slide up above the ferrel into the shaft.
Filled with epoxy to fill any small voids and slide everything together.

Will, I welded up the damascus using 1" squaring dies, I then cut off a 3" piece of that for the ferrel and forged the blade to shape.
I drilled a small hole all the way through from end to end, then useing a 1/2" bit, drilled the center out. I took an old cold chisel I had and ground it down with a slight taper from 1/2" to approx 5/8" over a 3" length to use as a drift, then brought the ferrel back up to welding heat and drifted the taper in, once I had the inside of the ferrel drifted to the right size I went to the grinder and ground off the outside of the ferrel to the finished size. So the ferrel is solid, no seams. I didn't drill all the way through the ferrel with the 1/2" bit, so after I had the ferrel drifted, I file slotted the end like a guard, for a good tight fit on the blade.

Bill
 
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