Spearhead?

B

barber oregon

Joined
Nov 19, 2000
Messages
234
There are two holes on the finger guard of the Pilot Survival Knife that are supposed to be used for tieing the blade onto a staff and using it as a spear; but for the life of me I can't figure out how to tie it so that it works this way.

Can anyone tell me how it should be done?
 
I have always wondered how that was supposed to work myself. I would think the guard would prevent much penetration. It actually sounds like a good way to break the knife.

Scott
 
First, if you are in a survival situation cut a sapling and fire harden a wicked point on the end by charring the end in your fire and rubbing it to a point with a rock. The result will be much better than ruining your knife.

To answer your question, take the leg tie-down off oyur sheath and loop it through the two holes so that both ends hang evenly towards the handle end. Place the squared off end of the pole along the topside of the handle, butting up against the handguard. Wrap the cord right and left cris-crossing around the pole and handle. Tie tightly at the base of the knife.

What you wind up with is a knife tied to a pole. It is only as good as your lashing and whatever pole you selected. I suppose such a thing would be good to spear an alligator or something. If I were in this situation I would make a fire hardened spear and save my knife for other tasks.

Here in Brazil there was a German man in the early part of the last century who made his living killing jaguars for ranchers. He had taken over 30 of them with a spear that limited penetration to the length of the blade, about 18 inches. He would frustrate the cat into charging him and then bring the point up and into the animal. He then had to hold the cat pinned to the ground so it wouldn't kill him while it was dying.

Once and animal has been pierced to the vitals it is better to leave the blade in where it will continue to cut. Arrows work better that way too. My brother once hit a deer through the shoulder blade. The arrow only penetrated to the center of the chest but the running deer shredded his own lungs and dropped in about 40 meters. Mac
 
The only way I would do this is to use it as a last ditch weapon. I have played with the idea many times with different knives. The best way of attatching a knife that I have found, is to flatten one side of the stick for the knife to sit against, then use 2 or 3 long zip ties to strap it on there (Notch the wood so the zip ties can't slide around). Firehardening a stout piece of wood, or attaching a bone or stone tip would still be the best way to go. You definitely don't wanna throw away your knife.
 
I can't remember the source, but years ago I think I read somewhere that the holes in the issue survival knife guard were for a wrist loop to prevent losing the knife, not for making a spear. Col Burton Miller maybe?
 
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