I bought a couple of old large spear heads and am looking to make a pig sticker out of one...other than a shaft from a shovel or hoe, where do you think I can get a hopefully authentic looking shaft of tough, bendable material about 6 feet long and 1/2 inch thick?

Cold Steel or the forest. No, seriously. Cold steel sells shafts and you CAN always make it yourself.

Thanks...great site!

My new pig sticker...





And slicer!

A stainless steel shaft is heavier but more resistant



This one comes in two parts, and is easy to transport (you can take it on plane to Africa for instance )

Nice spear Bruz btw, how long is your blade?

[ 02-12-2003, 12:24: Message edited by: King Baboon ]

Wow King, did you use the spear to finish em off or ? Nice looking set up, much more refined than my "knife spear". My longest blade was hand made in Africa in 1957 by natives and is almost 2 feet long. The Waxwood shaft is 6 feet long, so I should have 8 feet of distance between me and razor sharp tusks...that is exciting enough for me!

Bruz,

I shoot them first, and if they ask for some more, I poke them. I' love one day to do a spear-only hunt though, with dogs, on wild boars or bushpigs, or feral pigs in Oz...

Let me know when your ready King, I'd feel better having 2 8 foot spears between me and their tusks!

Guys
Get a pvc pipe, glue one end up and fill it full of kerosene. Soak your spear handle in it for at least 9 months perferable a year. That thing will hold up under what ever stress you put it up too. It will flex instead of break. This is a very old method of making shafting better. I also did my ramrod of my muzzleloader that way. That little hickory rod will flex 60-80 degrees and not break.
jf

Get a pvc pipe, glue one end up and fill it full of kerosene

That is smart about the PVC pipe for soaking...why kerosene? And won't the spear stink forever? I guess the wood absorbs the oils out of the kerosene, does it make it slippery?

naw. Set it out for a month then apply to spear head.
I know ole Larry Harley up in TN takes guys hunting hogs all time with knives or spears. If with a spear he will not let them use spear unless handle has been soaked for 1 year. He says that way they can do circus acts with the pig stuck on the end of it and it not break. Good luck with it.
I am going to make a spear head myself to use. I have used an atl atl and have taken hog with knife. Got to go spear next.

Hey,
Has anyone used a bayonette. I have a 98 mauser in .308 with a 19 inch barrel and a the military stock cut off and the hardware re-inlet so that I can mount a bayonette on my little jungle mauser. I've been thinking that it might be fun to stick a pig with it.
Jeff

Might be fun, yes, but the ba�onnette system is forbidden in France. Some do use old ba�onnette blades though, to build spears or daggers : affordable weapons out of good quality steel.

Bruz

Nice looking blades you have there.

One thing, if using a spear as a boar spear it should have a cross-guard on it - look at King Baboons spear. Also have a look at the boar spear on the Cold Steel website. Puma also makes boar spears - more as ceremonial gifts than for real use - especially considering the price - they also have cross-guards.

If you get charged by a boar and you use your spear to stop the charge, the boar will literally run up the blade and the shaft to your injury. The cross-guard is meant to stop this "walking up the shaft".

Harold Wolfe of the magazine "Hatari Times" also made up a boar spear and hunted bushpig in South Africa with it and dogs. He also commented on the necessity of having the cross-bar or guard. If you can get hold of a copy, great hunting story and the hunt sounded very exciting, especially his battle with the pig at the end of the blade.

Put a small piece of antler bound very well and notched into the shaft to the shaft under the blade.

I wouldn't spoil the long bladed stabbing spear but the knife style one would be perfect.

The long bladed stabbing spear I think is more of a fighting spear than a hunting spear.

Boar spears have been made this way since antiquity and the boars got a lot of hunters of old in any case.

PS Where did you get them?

[ 03-11-2003, 16:57: Message edited by: NitroX ]

I'd like to contribute.

First, kerosene used to be called "coal oil". Probably less highly refined. And this works!

Second, you do need that cross bar below the blade, I think on anything you intend to stick. When I was 11 I went groundhog hunting. Stood over a groundhog hole like Nanook of the north over a seal hole. I was using a bamboo shaft (old fishing pole with tip broken off) with an angle iron point on ground on Grandpa's bench grinder. Even that old whistle pig tried to come up the shaft at me. I thought that the shaft was plenty long as the point was above my head, probably 5'! When he died he was only 1 foot away from me and I was holding the butt of the shaft with my fingertips. I should have known better, all the hunting spears from the middle ages had cross bars.

Wish we had pigs around here.

Hobie,
Hell, man, just do what some deranged sports back in the 1900's did out this way. Go live trap some in the Carolinas and let them go. Suckers breed so fast that you'll be up to your armpits in piggies within 10 years. Better yet, come on out and kill off a few of ours. Season runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31 and the limit is "How many can you fit in a pickup bed?"

Oldsarge,

I'm another old sarge. I was stationed at Fort Hunter-Liggett at Jolon, CA in the late '70s. Did a bit of hog huntin' and saw a few checked in on post. My office was right next to the game station. There are some BIG hogs on that post.

As to your suggestion, somebody tried that around here. Hogs are not game animals in VA and the State Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and U.S. Forest Service put everyone else on to all the free ribs you can eat. Those hogs were shot out in less than 6 months AND they fined those who brought them in.

You'd think we'd have a lot as they were once allowed to range free and forage in the oak forests for their chow. At least a few would have gotten lost. But, apparently Virginians are better at huntin' up that last ham than those fellows in TN.

PS Where did you get them?

Found them on a forum for sale...one almost 2 feet long, two at 18 inches long, also two old arrows with handmade tips, and two knives with Ebony and Ivory handles. The Black one is just a Cold Steel hollow handled high carbon knife and one of their replacement spear handles. The blade is guaranteed not to break for 3 years. Would be great to gut out an elephant!

I wouldn't spoil the long bladed stabbing spear but the knife style one would be perfect.

Been thinking of a way to get a better temporary attachment of the knife...by drilling a hole through the handle a blade handle I could pound a metal dowell through both to hold them together and have it act as a stop. Have to do some thinking on the real spear though, do not want to put any holes in it...maybe some sort of collar...

i

I broke my shaft!

No it is not a personal problem...I wittled down my Waxwood, unbreakable shaft from Cold Steel and put the 2 foot spearhead on it. I noticed as I was shaping it there was a fine powder and holes that is a sure sign of "worms", wood eating larvae. The first time I threw it at my 3-D deer it snapped. Upon inspection the intire core was near hollow, just a maze of holes and powder. I acually saw the little suckers eating away...back to the drawing board.

Does anyone use fiberglass ?

Fiberglass would probably work very well...I was kinda going for a natural, old native style. A plastic filled fiberglass or aluminum shaft would probably be more practical.

Fiberglass would be great but very heavy (you'd better choose a thick one - one inch at least) to ensure a good grip and good resistance to lateral constraints, without too much flexibility).
Wood or metal pipe is the way to go in fact, but I do not suggest the use of aluminium, which will twist too easily upon impact. Although wood do look a lot better, I strongly advice the use of stainless steel for the shaft, especially if you want something that can be unscrewed for easy packing.