Spear Making

Part of Hunting and Trapping

The spear is humanity’s oldest hunting weapon — a sharpened stick that extends your reach and multiplies your force. Fire-hardening and stone tips transform a crude pole into a lethal tool.

Why the Spear Comes First

Before bows, before slings, before any other projectile weapon, there was the spear. It requires the least skill to build, the least practice to use effectively, and works for both hunting and defense. A simple sharpened stick can kill a deer. A fire-hardened spear with a stone tip can take down anything on the continent.

The spear is also your most versatile tool. It doubles as a walking stick on rough terrain, a probe for testing ice thickness or water depth, a pole for carrying game, and a defensive barrier against predators. In a survival situation, build a spear before anything else.

Selecting Your Shaft

The shaft is the foundation. A poor shaft means a spear that breaks at the worst moment.

Ideal Wood Properties

Property	What to Look For	What to Avoid
Straightness	Naturally straight growth, minimal curve	S-curves, spiral grain
Diameter	2.5-4 cm (1-1.5 inches) for throwing; 3-5 cm for thrusting	Too thin snaps; too thick is slow
Length	1.5-2.5 m (5-8 feet) depending on use	Shorter than your shoulder height
Weight	Dense enough to carry momentum	So heavy you can’t thrust quickly
Flexibility	Slight flex without breaking	Brittle wood that snaps under pressure

Best Wood Species

Hardwoods (preferred):

• Ash — strong, straight-grained, excellent shock resistance. The best all-around spear wood.
• Hickory — extremely tough, slightly heavier than ash. Superb for thrusting spears.
• Oak — heavy and strong but harder to work. Better for thrusting than throwing.
• Maple — good balance of weight and strength.

Softwoods (acceptable):

• Yew — tough for a softwood, historically used for weapons across cultures.
• Pine — widely available. Straight saplings work for quick spears but won’t last.
• Spruce — lightweight, reasonably straight. Good for temporary spears.

Avoid These Woods

Willow bends too easily. Elm splits unpredictably. Poplar is too soft. Birch is decent but rots quickly when wet. Never use dead, dry wood from the ground — it’s brittle and will shatter on impact.

Harvesting and Initial Preparation

1. Select a live sapling or straight branch at least 15 cm longer than your target length
2. Cut cleanly at the base with a knife, hatchet, or sharp stone tool — don’t snap or twist
3. Remove all side branches flush with the shaft using a knife or by carefully breaking and cutting
4. Strip the bark if desired — bark left on provides grip but can harbor moisture and rot
5. Straighten by heating gently over coals and bending, holding in position until cool

Fire-Hardening the Tip

Fire-hardening is the simplest way to dramatically improve a wooden spear point. The heat drives out moisture and causes chemical changes in the cellulose and lignin, making the surface significantly harder.

Step-by-Step Process

1. Carve the tip first. Shape a point with a knife or sharp stone. For thrusting spears, make the point 10-15 cm long with a gradual taper. For throwing spears, a shorter 7-10 cm point reduces air resistance.

2. Build a bed of coals. You need steady, moderate heat — not open flames. Let a hardwood fire burn down until you have a thick bed of glowing coals with no active flames.

3. Rotate the tip slowly 10-15 cm above the coals. Keep it moving constantly, like a rotisserie. The wood should darken to a deep brown or light tan, never black.

4. Listen and watch. You’ll hear a faint hissing as moisture escapes. The surface will change color gradually. A properly hardened tip looks toasted, not charred.

5. Test with a fingernail. Press your nail into the treated surface. A properly hardened tip will resist indentation noticeably more than untreated wood.

6. Scrape off any char. Charcoal is soft and fragile. If any surface has blackened, scrape it away with a stone edge to reveal the hardened wood beneath.

Critical Mistakes

• Don’t rush it. Holding the tip in flames chars the outside while leaving the inside wet. The tip will crumble on impact.
• Don’t overheat. If the wood catches fire, you’ve destroyed the structural integrity. Start over with a new tip.
• Rotate constantly. Uneven heating creates weak spots that crack under stress.

How Fire-Hardening Works

Raw wood is roughly 60% cellulose, 25% lignin, and 15% water plus other compounds. Gentle heating between 150-250°C (300-480°F) drives out water and begins cross-linking the cellulose polymers. The result is a surface that’s 2-3 times harder than the original wood. It won’t match stone or metal, but it’s enough to penetrate animal hide.

Stone-Tipped Spears

A stone tip transforms your spear from a poking tool into a cutting weapon that can cause fatal hemorrhaging.

Making a Stone Spear Point

Detailed knapping is covered in other articles, but for spear points specifically:

Point Type	Shape	Best For	Difficulty
Simple flake	Irregular sharp edge	Quick field expedient	Easy
Leaf-shaped	Symmetrical oval	General hunting	Moderate
Triangular	Wide base, narrow tip	Large game penetration	Moderate
Lanceolate	Long, narrow	Deep thrust wounds	Hard

Best stones: Flint, chert, obsidian, jasper, quartzite. Any fine-grained stone that fractures with sharp edges.

Hafting the Stone Point

Attaching the point securely is more important than the point’s sharpness. A point that falls off mid-thrust is worse than no point at all.

Split-shaft method (strongest):

1. Split the shaft end 8-12 cm deep using a knife or wedge stone
2. Insert the point base into the split, centered and aligned with the shaft
3. Bind tightly with wet sinew, rawhide strips, or strong cordage, wrapping from below the split to above the point base
4. Apply pine pitch or tree resin over the binding as adhesive and waterproofing
5. Let dry completely — sinew shrinks as it dries, tightening the bond further

Socket method (simpler):

1. Hollow out the shaft end by burning and scraping a socket 5-7 cm deep
2. Shape the point base to fit the socket snugly
3. Glue with pine pitch — heat pine resin with crushed charcoal (3:1 ratio) for a strong adhesive
4. Bind over the joint for insurance

Sinew is Superior

Animal sinew (tendons from legs or back) makes the strongest natural binding. Soak it in water until pliable, wrap tightly, and it shrinks to a rock-hard grip as it dries. Second best: wet rawhide strips. Third: plant cordage from nettle, dogbane, or inner bark fibers.

Spear Types by Function

Thrusting Spear

• Length: 1.8-2.5 m (6-8 feet)
• Heavier shaft, 3-5 cm diameter
• Longer, narrower point for deep penetration
• Used from ambush positions, blinds, or defensive situations
• Two-handed grip, thrust with full body weight

Throwing Spear (Javelin)

• Length: 1.5-2 m (5-6.5 feet)
• Lighter shaft, 2-2.5 cm diameter
• Balance point should be 40-45% from the tip
• Effective range: 10-20 m for an experienced thrower
• Carry 2-3 at minimum — you’ll miss more than you hit

Fishing Spear (Gig)

• Length: 2-3 m (7-10 feet) for reach into water
• Split the tip into 2-4 prongs, spread with a small wedge
• Sharpen each prong and fire-harden
• Add backward-facing barbs carved into each prong to prevent fish from sliding off

Maintenance and Field Repairs

• Re-sharpen by scraping the tip against a rough stone in one direction
• Re-harden the tip over coals after resharpening — it only takes a few minutes
• Check bindings daily if using a stone tip. Retighten or re-wrap at the first sign of looseness
• Keep the shaft oiled with rendered animal fat to prevent drying and cracking
• Store vertically or hanging horizontally — don’t lean it where it will warp

Key Takeaways

• Start with the shaft. Straight, live hardwood (ash, hickory) in the right diameter matters more than a fancy tip.
• Fire-harden correctly. Slow rotation over coals, never flames. Brown is good, black is ruined.
• Hafting is critical. A stone tip must be bound with sinew or rawhide and sealed with pine pitch. Test the joint before relying on it.
• Match spear to purpose. Heavy thrusting spears for ambush, light javelins for throwing, multi-prong gigs for fish.
• Carry multiples. Throwing spears miss. Always have a backup, ideally a thrusting spear as your last-resort weapon.