Spears? No one talks about spears here?

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When trekking, exploring in the mountains with my spear, I always have a "back up". That is usually when the SBH gets to go, but I have faith in the .45 Colt too. !!! I trust the Spear, but if it fails, "you in a heap of trouble boy".

Another problem with something "running up the spear", is that then again you don't have it anymore, or the shaft will snap. I don't have any heads/points with crossbars, I figure for my purposes penetration is good, and that's when I would just release the spear, and hope that I could then pull my pistol. Or whistle Dixie.
 
There's something primal about a spear that's almost built in to our DNA. I can think back to childhood, and almost every time I picked up a stick to play with, it was either a sword, or a spear. Once I had access to a pocket knife, it really was a spear... On my last deployment, the build-up was so rapid we were initially housed in Bedouin tents. (canvas with bamboo poles) Once we were moved out onto better housing those tents were either dumped, or donated to the locals. I managed to salvage a bundle of the bamboo poles and mail them home for my boys. (I was a cub scout den leader back home) Upon my return we made walking sticks with them, and I made (just had to) a spear with one. Always wanted a better, more professionally made one though.
 
ive had a Cold Steel Agassi spear for maybe 20 years, in my younger days i wanted to try to hunt feral pigs with it. I drilled out the butt end and adheasived a large lag bolt that i later used a grinder to round out. it makes a great hard butt-end to hit or hike with. I should have taken time in my youth to do the "cool" things i had wanted to do.
 
borrowedtime69 said:
ive had a Cold Steel Agassi spear for maybe 20 years, in my younger days i wanted to try to hunt feral pigs with it. I drilled out the butt end and adheasived a large lag bolt that i later used a grinder to round out. it makes a great hard butt-end to hit or hike with. I should have taken time in my youth to do the "cool" things i had wanted to do.
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Yep, same thing on one of my spears, I forget which one.
 
To the spear-or-sword: It depends. A sword is like a PDW. You are carrying around say... an MP5 all the time. Fine to a point, and quite flexible, from contact range on out. But still a thing so you don't carry it everywhere (you might keep a dagger on you, as you would a handgun) and you wouldn't issue the whole army these, but rifles, etc. And they did. Armies were largely supplied, outside the movies, with a variety of long-pointy-stick weapons which were extremely effective but only when employed properly.

You can't do much with a 12 ft polearm in a hallway, or if suddenly bad guys come up behind you but as a line of them, properly spaced with flanks protected, you are well-nigh unstoppable for things that want to go through you (vs say arrows, big rocks thrown through the air, etc).

Even man on man, in reasonably open country, with equal skill at their arms a spear will always have reach and power a sword can't bring. The sword can only win when he makes conditions right, like infighting (getting inside the optimum spear distance) and so on.


If I did enough woodsy walking, like I had my own land, I long thought it would be fun to have a walking stick with something like a bayonet mount. Normal stick, no danger to you or threat to others, but if bad things happen, you take a moment to stick a big knife on the end. A smatchet shaped knife on the belt would be pretty fun for this :)
 
shoobe01 said:
If I did enough woodsy walking, like I had my own land, I long thought it would be fun to have a walking stick with something like a bayonet mount. Normal stick, no danger to you or threat to others, but if bad things happen, you take a moment to stick a big knife on the end. A smatchet shaped knife on the belt would be pretty fun for this :)
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I have made spears with a shaft made to take a bayonet, and I used to carry when back packing the Swiss bayonet with hollow handle, which was easy to make/carve a stick/shaft to stick that onto the end. But I found, and maybe it's just me, but the feel and balance was never quite right, didn't really feel good in the hand. Seemed to have a "sluggish" feel. A dedicated spear with the point centered on the shaft, and the butt weighted a little bit to put the balance wherever you want it, feels much better, lighter in the hand, and very "un-sluggish".

With either the Cold Steel "Bushman" or "Zulu" spear points, one can have a nice walking stick with the point or head in one's pack, and not alarm the dog-walkers and city folk. Where I hike/woods-bum/explore/trekk/wander/woodsy walking, the people (of whom there are few) are all packing handguns at least, (as am I) and are not threatened by a spear, and if a total stranger thinks I'm odd for having one...don't bother me none.
 
Speedo66 said:
Be interesting to see what training the Vatican Swiss Guard gets with those things.
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Scuttlebutt is that they drill with the halberds (and the issued pikes and swords) if largely as mere Manual-of-Arms Drill-and-Ceremonies type drills. They are members of the Swiss Army, and they follow the Militia Drill schedule and have to get range time with whatever the current STG in issue is.
 
CapnMac said:
Scuttlebutt is that they drill with the halberds (and the issued pikes and swords) if largely as mere Manual-of-Arms Drill-and-Ceremonies type drills. They are members of the Swiss Army, and they follow the Militia Drill schedule and have to get range time with whatever the current STG in issue is.
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Are they allowed to throw their halberds and pikes?
 
CapnMac said:
They are members of the Swiss Army, and they follow the Militia Drill schedule and have to get range time with whatever the current STG in issue is.
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My understanding is that they are only required to have completed Swiss basic training for qualification to apply for the Papal Guard. Living outside of Switzerland they are exempt from Swiss military service. Their continued weapons training is provided by the Vatican.
 
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shoobe01 said:
To the spear-or-sword: It depends. A sword is like a PDW. You are carrying around say... an MP5 all the time. Fine to a point, and quite flexible, from contact range on out. But still a thing so you don't carry it everywhere (you might keep a dagger on you, as you would a handgun) and you wouldn't issue the whole army these, but rifles, etc. And they did. Armies were largely supplied, outside the movies, with a variety of long-pointy-stick weapons which were extremely effective but only when employed properly.

You can't do much with a 12 ft polearm in a hallway, or if suddenly bad guys come up behind you but as a line of them, properly spaced with flanks protected, you are well-nigh unstoppable for things that want to go through you (vs say arrows, big rocks thrown through the air, etc).

Even man on man, in reasonably open country, with equal skill at their arms a spear will always have reach and power a sword can't bring. The sword can only win when he makes conditions right, like infighting (getting inside the optimum spear distance) and so on.
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I was taught years ago that the optimum spear length for yari (Japanese spear) was 9', but that you could use 8, if you were very good.

One of Oba Nobunaga's innovations as he unified Japan, was a 14' pike, which was 2' longer than other armies were using.

I can teach a reasonably fit person to be very dangerous with a spear in a day. A similar threat level with a sword would probably take 3 months to teach!

John
 
Now that is utterly beautiful, and the duck likes it too. But the raccoon fears it. Fear the spear! And BLEEDERS! I've never thought of that. I have a couple of big chunks of that mahogany obsidian, it is the most beautiful rock. I wish I was a flint napper. (or Knapper?)
 
I'm English but was brought up in Australia until my mid teens, hence a large collection of Aborigine blunt instruments, throwing stuff, and pointy stuff (although there's a few African spears in the mix too).

Let me tell you, nothing says 'sod off' like having your head splashed with an Aborigine wooden club! You ain't getting up again in this lifetime.
The club on the left with the shrunken heads dangling next to it feels like a bowling ball on a stick. Seriously dense wood. photo_2022-02-04_15-45-50.jpg
 
Charlie Martinez said:
I think a spear is a great tool to have when hiking and an effective weapon if used properly especially against dangerous animals. In Africa the spear seems to be considered an effective weapon by people that live in lion country like the Masai. I would not go as far as to say it's better than a firearm but to keep a dangerous animal at bay it is definitely superior to an ax , a knife or a bow.

A book called "Tigrero" was written by a fellow named Sasha Simiel who migrated to Brazil from Europe in the early 1900's. Simiel and his brother were running away from the law and ended up living deep in the Brazilian jungle where they met an indian that taught them to hunt and kill jaguars with a spear.

The jaguar was chased by dogs until cornered then the hunter would approach and incite a charge which would be stopped with the point of the spear. The jaguar would basically impale himself in the chest. The book includes photos of Simiel killing a jaguar that weighed 350 lbs. Ironically there's also a photo of the skull of the same indian that taught him to hunt this way. Simiel found it in the jungle near the man's home. The spear lay broken near the skull that had four holes made by the jaguar's canines. It appears that the old indian's reflexes were not what they once were & he lost his last battle.
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Many years ago I knew a guy who had lived near Mr. Siemel when he was a young boy and Siemel was an old man in Pennsylvania, he had quite a few stories about him. The spears he used on the jaguars had a crosspiece on it to keep the animal far enough away that it couldn't reach him after he speared it, he claimed that it was much safer than trying to use a firearm in the thick brush. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Siemel
 
Yep, never underestimate the spear. It's far more lethal than most people realize. Not sure if I could go toe-to-toe with a big cat though. !!!!!!!
 
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