WIP...Making A socket Spearhead

[David Stifle]

Up at 4am, coffee, eggs, out the door be 5am. 28 degrees, frost, beautiful day to forge! I'm excited, because today I'm starting to forge my first socket spearhead.

I've been a member here a long time, this is my first work in progress. Since I've never made a socket spear, I thought we could share the adventure. I may screw it up, I may not, but I'll be happy to include you guys in this effort.

This won't be a fast WIP, because I have a lot going on right now. But I will religiously update it as I make progress.

First, I guess you guys know that spears, just like knives and swords, can be stunningly beautiful. Here's a couple of examples I particulary like. More soon.

 

[GHEzell]

I'll be watching this...
I've made a few spears with an open wrapped socket, but my one attempt at a solid socket did not go so well.

 

[David Stifle]

I would normally start with round stock and forge it out, easier to get the right shape. However, I'm going to use what I have on hand. I'll use a 5/16's thick, 14" long, 3" wide piece of W2. My first step is to plan out what I want to accomplish, in this case a willow leaf socketed spear. Since I've never done this, I spent a good amount ot time doing research on the internet, and then drew an actual size cutout.. I decided to do the spear in two pieces. Hopefully, I'll be able to successfully forge wield the two together. Later today, if I get the chance, I'll post more as I start forging.

 

[David Stifle]

I'll be watching this...
I've made a few spears with an open wrapped socket, but my one attempt at a solid socket did not go so well.

And mine might not either, but I am going into this with a method that's worked for others. My main concern at the moment is I think I would have been better off if I'd used round stock, easier to get a good transition between the two pieces.

 

[GHEzell]

I can tell you what didn't work... I forged the blade out of mild steel with a 1095 edge wrap, and a round 'tang' about 1" long and 1/2" diameter. The socket was made from 1" thick-walled iron pipe, forged to a taper that fit the tang perfectly. My attempt to fireweld the tang to the pipe did not go well, I could not get it to stick and the more I tried the worse it got. I've since been told that iron pipe doesn't like to fireweld, so when I attempt it again I will use the same mild for the socket that I use for the body of the blade... wrap it around a mandrel, fireweld the seam, and then fireweld it to the tang. This seems to be one of the methods used to make the originals. I'd like to eventually make a nice patternwelded spear, but need to work out the process with less expensive materials first...

 

[David Stifle]

I don''t know which way I'll go. I did think of using black pipe, putting a couple of 1/4" pins through the pipe and tang, and then using my welder. I think I could get a seamless joint that way. I'm also thinking of simply making the socket as you describe, but I'm not confident I can successfully firewweld the seam so it doesn't show.

 

[David Stifle]

After a few hours of forging and grinding, the spearhead is about done. I didn't take a lot of pictures of this process, I was too danged busy. But, here's a few pictures showing some forging using my charcoal forge, and where I'm heading with the spear. When I post again, I'll tackle the hardest part of this process, welding the spearhead and socket together.