WIP....It's a start.... or is it startling!? ;)

[AKC]

Hi all,

I don't have much of a shop to speak of, just what I can get away with at work. I do have aspirations though.... I'm limited to mostly the final assembly and finish.

My first project choice however is a bit, er, different shall we say?

I have had the design floating around in my head for years (decades, actually) and I'm finally acting on it.

I grew up in Hawai'i, did a bit of pig hunting in my youth. Didn't use dogs (didn't have any) or guns. Just a spear with a knife as backup and tracking skills, then waited for the opportune moment.

I was moderately sucessful, about 18 kills. Largest I took was about 120 lbs (a sow), most were in the 50-80 lb range. Never had to track any wounded, but I did come back empty handed a lot. Yeah, I know, lolo.

Sooooo, here's what I have so far;

Think of a Zwickey broadhead on steroids - O1 tool steel - .250" thk - 4"x18" OAL w/5" of haft space, 12" sabre ground double edge. Blanks were waterjetted by ArroJet, grinding graciously and expertly performed by James Terrio, HT by Peters. The penetrations are more for balance than bloodletting, but that was a consideration. James said the blanks weighed about 2.5 lbs before grinding, 2.0 lbs after.

Hafting will be done with 36"x1.125" Bocote shafts, split haft with 2 .250" stainless shoulder bolts (basically a Corby) utilizing steelbed, then coxcombed (pattern yet to be determined) at the foregrip, aftgrip and balance grip areas with size 5 Kevlar thread and overcoated with high-strength color textured epoxy. Butt is copper capped on a .250" stainless stud w/a heavy stainless washer and stainless acorn nut. I hadn't really considered a crossbar, never used or needed one before. I don't think a lot of paleopeople had them either.

The haft is short for two reasons - Firstly, you ever try to hump through brush with a 72" to 96" spear? Shorter is better, one of the few instances in life a man can say that. Also, it's not truly for throwing, so the extra length isn't necessary. It will be balanced for thrusting, not throwing. A shorter haft also lessens high-leverage stress on the head. An added benefit is in the event I should try to sell a couple of these (I'm building 6), shipping is easier.

Here's a sketch of the general idea....

I'll try to keep this updated as progress is made, but I'm a working man, so it'll probably be a little slow. Hey, what's a bit more time?

Thanks for looking, I'm looking forward to some comments and suggestions....

 

[Wing-Man]

Looks pretty cool!

 

[JParisi48]

That looks like its going to be awesome. I had a spear that was handmade from etheopia and loved it. I can't wait to see it done. That is going on the bucket list. I want to go hunting with a spear and knife, sounds fun!

 

[AVigil]

You
So
Crazy


That spear looks great

 

[BenR.T.]

Very cool! Its crazy in a good kinda way!! :thumbup:

 

[james terrio]

Startling is a good word for them. AKC had shown me pics and measurements before sending me the blanks, but it's quite another thing to hold one in your hands.

James said the blanks weighed about 2.8 lbs before grinding, 2.0 lbs after.

2# 8 oz. (2.5 lbs) pre-grinding, actually... but who's counting
Pictures really don't convey the sheer mass of these beasts. There is a lot of oomph and a whole lot of edge involved. I suspect someone brave/crazy enough could take down a wooly mammoth with one, or at least make it really mad

 

[elchris123]

im in hawaii myself. big island. You still live in the state? Id love to see this. it looks great!

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Del Raso Knives]

Nice looking head. Have you considered a cross guard or flat plate to stop the pig sliding up the shaft and goring you? I have delt with a lot of pig hunters down here and that is how they have their spears set up. As to the overall weight of the spear, I have been told the heavier the better to punch a hole in some of the monsters we have. The shafts are made of one inch diameter steel water pipe.

 

[AKC]

Looks pretty cool!

Thank you.

That looks like its going to be awesome. I had a spear that was handmade from etheopia and loved it. I can't wait to see it done. That is going on the bucket list. I want to go hunting with a spear and knife, sounds fun!

Thanks, it is a different mindset way of hunting.

You
So
Crazy


That spear looks great

Ayup, lolo is the word.

Very cool! Its crazy in a good kinda way!! :thumbup:

Thank you.

Startling is a good word for them. AKC had shown me pics and measurements before sending me the blanks, but it's quite another thing to hold one in your hands.


2# 8 oz. (2.5 lbs) pre-grinding, actually... but who's counting
Pictures really don't convey the sheer mass of these beasts. There is a lot of oomph and a whole lot of edge involved. I suspect someone brave/crazy enough could take down a wooly mammoth with one, or at least make it really mad

Yeah, I had 2lb 8oz in the head, fingers translated to 2.8. D'oh!

im in hawaii myself. big island. You still live in the state? Id love to see this. it looks great!

Howzit? Nah, went mainland in the '80s, been back a couple times, '95 for my dads funeral, and a 1 day layover in '00 on the way back from Japan. When I got off the plane in '95, it already felt really crowded. My sister keeps bugging me when I going move back, but no goin happen. I tink.... maybe Hilo side if I did.

Wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howzit Phil!, things going OK?

Nice looking head. Have you considered a cross guard or flat plate to stop the pig sliding up the shaft and goring you? I have delt with a lot of pig hunters down here and that is how they have their spears set up. As to the overall weight of the spear, I have been told the heavier the better to punch a hole in some of the monsters we have. The shafts are made of one inch diameter steel water pipe.

Thanks. As I stated, I hadn't really considered a crossbar, never needed one in the past. I had more of a "knock-em senseless with a butt strike, finish-em with the point" kind of style. First time I seriously went out, the little bugger kinda surprised me, I struck with the butt and caught it right in the side of the head, it was stunned and I flipped ends and stuck at the neck/shoulder junction. It was down then. Once my heart stopped jackhammering, I looked over at the way it all went down and sort of took it from there. It's different when you aren't baying with dogs, sort of just you and the pig. And hence the coming back empty a lot. Plus, I knew my limitations and passed on several "Hogzillas", the one big one I got was more of "him or me" situation. Besides, I was out alone and had to pack them home by myself. It was sort of a "provide for the family" thing after our familial unit imploded. Foodstamps didn't go very far, no squirrels in Hawai'i and the thought of eating rats didn't go down too well. I also did a lot more spearfishing than pig hunting, but that would be a few hours only. Going for a pig would be 2-3 days and got me out of the house and away from Mom's "boyfriend". Don't ask...

Yeah, I had an "interesting" adolescence....

Thanks for the comments so far, it's appreciated. :thumbup:

 

[skyhorse]

Very cool!

 

[1066vik]

near as I can tell, the crossbar thing is important for folks using 6-8" long shafts designed to be grounded to stop a significantly larger breed of pig from moving forward on the haft to try and get to the hunter. (i.e. where 120# is a big pig in your hunts, that's almost too small to consider for the mindset of the folks I've known who hog hunted with spears)

that's an interesting design, and I'm looking forward to the finished product.

 

[Mack]

Those will be some kind of serious tool. I'll be watching this closely.:thumbup:

 

[daizee]

OMG, color me startled!