Spear/hunting knives

J

JamesofArc

Joined
Apr 19, 2016
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310
This happens every time I go to a history museum.

Yesterday I went to The Western Heritage/Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City and as i look at the art from 100 years ago and before I study the tools they use.

Before quality firearms people still hunted with packs of dogs and spears and big daggers to kill the beast they hunted.

What is a good spear design and what materials would be good to use.

Who on here has studied hunting daggers and swords and what are some of the better designs?. Not military stuff but hunting stuff.
 
leaf shaped blade, since millennia ago have been recognized as excellent for hunting

the wood should be strong, resistant to shock, and tough... best varieties: hickory, ash, ironwoods, oak... ideally with no branches in the length, the grain should also compliment for strength (look into axe haft threads, there is a lot of good info there as to what is strong & how it works)

as far as production models, cold steel assegai is probably the best thing out there, sk5 steel on ash wood, and it's not even expensive

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I know a little bit about old British lots of history when it comes to sheffeild makers and others makers
blades mainly seem to be hunting stilettos and clip or spaire point bowie and dirks and sabers cultess and other swords axes were used a lot before guns took off and you can google a lot but it dose not say too much about the steels other than carbon steel used not much about how thay mixed steels used think they did used arsnic to help the metal mix bond some do tell you a bit but steels and heat treat depended on the person making it and some kept it a secrate some used same steel diffrent methods of heat treat
you need to find some old books and some one who knows more than me best of luck
 
All these had their inception in around the 2nd quarter of the 19th century in England -

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Shakespear -

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Wilkinson RBD -

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These are British style spears for use many times in India and Asia -

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If you needed a cross guard, you usually fashioned your own.
 
The Inuit hunters would go for bear with a carved ivory head and a shade-grown birch shaft that was wrist thick. They would basically irritate the bear, set the butt in a pre-dug hole, and take the charge while staying as low as they could. It wasn't a thing they did lightly or for fun, and when firearms were introduced they traded up pretty quickly. Given the QC on axe hafts I have seen lately, I wouldn't trust my life to any wood that I didn't personally shape or thoroughly test.
 
kaos 13 said:
I know a little bit about old British lots of history when it comes to sheffeild makers and others makers
blades mainly seem to be hunting stilettos and clip or spaire point bowie and dirks and sabers cultess and other swords axes were used a lot before guns took off and you can google a lot but it dose not say too much about the steels other than carbon steel used not much about how thay mixed steels used think they did used arsnic to help the metal mix bond some do tell you a bit but steels and heat treat depended on the person making it and some kept it a secrate some used same steel diffrent methods of heat treat
you need to find some old books and some one who knows more than me best of luck
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:) I believe there are also some very fine books available on the subject of punctuation and sentence structure ! ;)
 
In Germany and France you see stuff close to this -

Hirschfanger type hunting swords -

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And fixed Saufanger -

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That's a modern example, but older ones are similar.

The modern Puma hunting spear -

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Which is close to antique examples -

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kaos 13 said:
lol I'm not very good with this stuff I am dyslexia this is as good as it get takes me long enought to spell it right
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:oops: Sorry ! I thought it was just pure laziness . Glad to have your posts , even if hard to decipher , sometimes . ;)
 
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This is a modern hunting dagger from Spain from the brand Joker. IMO one of the coolest designs out there. It is made by the brand joker and they call them "daga de remate" or "cuchillo de remate". Rematar = finish off.

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This is based on a more traditional design from the brand Cudeman. They call these puntillas and they are used primarily in bullfighting. When they can't finish off the bull quickly enough with a sword they use one of these on the back of the head to put the animal out of their suffering. Instant death.
 
DocJD said:
:oops: Sorry ! I thought it was just pure laziness . Glad to have your posts , even if hard to decipher , sometimes . ;)
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no worries it does help when people point out things I can go back and write it again if it's that bad sometimes it is lol but to me it looks and reads ok at the time but to every one else it hard to work out and does not make much sense
 
Legendary_Jarl said:
cuchillo-cudeman-B.jpg

This is based on a more traditional design from the brand Cudeman. They call these puntillas and they are used primarily in bullfighting. When they can't finish off the bull quickly enough with a sword they use one of these on the back of the head to put the animal out of their suffering. Instant death.
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just an observation; I don't think countries that do bullfighting have any interest in animal suffering... at all. I've had the displeasure of seeing bullfights from start to end, and it's honestly one of the worst displays of cruelty I can imagine. I think they only use these if the bull is no longer providing a 'show'.
 
I understand this more from arrows but the leaf shape works for three reasons. First, it cuts a wider wound track where it flares out. Second, that wider track leaves room when down to the shaft so that blood can escape. Third, it allows the arrow more freedom to bounce around as the creature flees. This action works like a lever on the embedded head, which in turn does more cutting.

This idea can get pushed further with arrow heads and can include barbs to work in more deeply. For spears, I think a lot depends on whether it is primarily used for throwing or not.
 
dirc said:
just an observation; I don't think countries that do bullfighting have any interest in animal suffering... at all. I've had the displeasure of seeing bullfights from start to end, and it's honestly one of the worst displays of cruelty I can imagine. I think they only use these if the bull is no longer providing a 'show'.
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I think most people in Latin America and Spain are actually against bull fighting. More and more prostests are being held in bullfighting arenas and legislation being introduced to ban the practice at local levels. It is mostly popular for wealthy people and conservatives(reason why it hasn't altogether been banned). So, to say that the countries as a whole have no interest in animal suffering is a mistake.

Regarding your second comment, the puntilla is used only if the sword thrust fails to kill the animal "quickly enough". I do understand where you are coming from though.
 
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