Spears, Arrows, Pole arms, Mace/hammer etc.

This is a challenge a from a friend. We each forge a zombie killer weapon and take them to our 2025 fall conference for everyone to vote on. I've settled on a halberd but I've not forged one before. My plan is to do a practice or 2 out of mild to get the steps correct. Any suggestions or considerations I need to take? Looking at 24 inches over all for the blade and ax heads. Maybe 8 inches or so wide. Goal is 4 to 5 pounds total weight for the blade and with a 2 to 3 pound mace for a counter balance.

I have been spending my time at my forge trying to forge out some field point arrow heads, but I cannot seem to find a reliable way to attach these arrow heads to the homemade arrow shafts. My idea was to forge it out thin and create a sort of skirt that I could wrap around the arrow shaft , but I don't know how to attach it from there. Has anybody here ever forged some field point arrows and have some advice for me? Any ideas are appreciated.

Just got back from a great class at the New England School of Metalwork. The guest instructor was Emiliano Carillo, a very talented young smith who has been doing fantastic work in period reconstruction pieces. The project drew inspiration from multi-bar Viking work and all participants developed their own versions. Here is mine: Core and socket are forge welded wrought iron, (4) twist bars are 7 layer 1095 and 15N20, and edge bar is 300 layers of 1095 and 15N20. I went for a fairly simple pattern, as this was my first try at a full forge welded spear and I felt that was enough of a challenge. I also brought some wrought from home for the socket, which unf…

Here is a link to an article re an ancient Greek iron trident found in what is now NW Turkey. Not something you see every day. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68449#respond By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Been big into ice fishing lately and had gotten into pike spearing. So I decided to make my own spear. Season closes this week so I won’t get a chance to use it till next winter but I think it should work well.

....since a decade I wanted to make a javelin for myself,..... I do not fight, I do not hunt, but I absolutely had to have a javelin.... not like a heavy viking spear but more like a light weight African ethnic throwing spear....I have loved african spears since I was a kid. On the last christmas eve I made one for the first time, and it was just as difficult to forge as I imagined. I forged it from a medium carbon pry bar and the shaft I made of a handle of a straight garden hoe which I found at the local hardware store. This wood is hard, elastic, springy and with its mottled tobacco color quite beautiful. with a diameter of 19 mm it is …

I was wondering how, in medieval times, "flanged maces", like the Thames River mace (see below), were forged. All examples, of Smiths making one that i could find, involved using modern Stick welders to attach the flanges to a core tube. But how would you do it without? Would you forge a solid, sizable cilinder/ball at the end, chisel in the general shape of the flanges and then finish using files? Or are the flanges somehow slotted into the socket and then forge weld? Just curious.

Przeworsk Culture, 3 B.C - 4 A.D., Central Europe. Two belts with additions based on finds from the graves of Germanic warriors.

All from start to finish hammered...

Greetings! Some time ago, I had a Guan Dao blade made by a blacksmith, at whose place I helped out, since it was my dream to experience the hammering and the heat of the forge in person. Guan Dao blades are usually mounted on wooden poles. My question is, dear Masters of the Forge- How can I mount this blade on a wooden pole, without having access to a forge, or welding equipment? All advice and comments are highly appreciated. Thank you.

I saw a thread that mentioned bodkins, I was wondering how I would make them. I was thinking about taking a piece of 1/2 inch square stock and forging a taper into it, then using a hardy fuller to indent the faces. The thread here. I will post pictures as soon as I can.

From the longest: 45.5 cm, width 28 mm, hole 19 mm, weight 240 grams. 36.5 cm, width 31 mm, hole 16 mm, weight 190 grams 27 cm, width 38 mm, hole 16 mm, weight 140 grams 27.5 cm, width 25 mm, hole 17 mm, weight 130 grams 24.5 cm, width 32 mm, hole 17 mm, weight 130 grams

Spear with a ball, length 54.5 cm, width 3.5 cm, hole 2 cm, weight 410 grams. Knife, length 41.5 cm, width 4 cm, weight 320 gram. Javelin, length 19 cm, width 2.5 cm, hole 1.8 cm, weight 110 grams. Ax, profiled, eight-wall, 16 cm long, blade width 4 cm, hole 2.5 cmX 3.5 cm, weight 390 grams. Everything is forged by hand, with a hammer. Zero power hammer, zero electric welding!

Asymmetrical spear with central ribs and hexagonal sleeve. Forged based on finds from Nydam, Jutland. Length 45 cm, width 4.5 cm, hole 1.9 cm, weight 445 grams. Knife, 28.5 cm, walnut handle, leather sheath, bone tip. Length in sheath 30 cm (Illerup Adal, Nydam) Spear, length 37.5 cm, width 3.5 cm, hole 1.9 cm, weight 210 grams,hexagonal sleeve (Illerup Adal) Ax, iron welded, length 16.5 cm, hole 3.5 cm X3 cm, weight 450 grams (Nydam). Ax plus spear, . Welded ax, length 17.5 cm, hole 3 cm, blade width 6 cm, profiled blade eight wall, weight 540 grams. Spear, length 31 cm, hole 19 mm, width 3.7 cm, weight 220 grams. Iron Age (Illerup Adal) set.

In the last week several new spears and javelins were made. Mostly it is reproductions of Illerup Adal and Nydam, but also Celtic (the little to javelin). I present them. AAA .... I would like to add that I do not use power tools .... no ... I try ... at least. I try to do as much as possible with a hammer and work with a file or a stone, at the end with sandpaper. None of my spears were, and probably will not, but at least welded electrically ....... I have a welder but until today I have not learned ... hahahaha

Scythians were dominated by a zoomorphic motif, anthropomorphic and geometrical in Celts. As in the Scythians, the most common representations are images of mythical animals, such as Celtic circles, circles and wavy lines. Circle, sphere, etc as a symbol of the life cycle .... etc ... Long spear with a ball, period of La Tene, Germany. Length 50 cm,widest point 3.7 cm, hole 2.1 cm, weight 430 grams. An asymmetrical spear, period of La Tene, France. The length of 37.5 cm,widest point is 4.6 cm, hole 2,3,cm,weight 390 gram. Long knife, Hiebmesser, period of La Tene, Germany. Length 45 cm, widest point 4.5 cm, weight 440 gram. Shorter, engraved knife, type Durrnberg (in germ…

It presents some of my latest works, spears inlaid. Spear 35 cm,widest point of the leaf 4.5 cm, hole 19 mm, weight 310 grams, inlaid with copper. Dagger 36.5 cm, weight 320 grams, hand-decorated. Spear based on boggy finds from the north of Europe, dated to the first centuries of our era. Iron + tin bronze + copper/ Total length 32 cm, widest point 4.7 cm, hole 23 mm, weight 300 gram. Celtic ... or ... Germanic spear, inlaid with tin bronze and copper. Total length 330 mm, width at widest point 57 mm, hole 22 mm, weight 360 grams.

I've been trying to figure out how to forge the adze and pick end of a halligan tool. They are described as one piece drop forgings, but I can not picture how metal is displaced to make the right angle pick. Any Ideas?

How would I go about making throwing darts? Not the bar kind, but something larger for hunting small game. I have tried doing this in the past, but the dart just tumbled in the air.

Hello friends: If this is not the correct location for this, rest assured it was not placed here carelessly. I searched and did not find a thread on point, though I don't doubt there might be one. My uncle lost most all his possessions in Katrina. One of the items was a decorative arrow head that bore the initials of an ancestor. I did not see the arrow head and no photographs exist. I gather from discussions with him that it looks somewhat like the attached image, was a heavy metal probably steel, had a finish that sort of replicated knapped flint. I would like to recreate it for him. I will likely use mild steel but am not set on it. finished …

Hello. I've read comments around the web that brazing was not an unusual historical construction method for blunt weapons. Assuming this is true, it would seem to me that brazing provided acceptable strength, especially for the rigors of combat. My questions are thus: does anyone here have experience with brazed parts on impact tools? And would a copper braze survive hardening? I recently forge-brazed a spike to a small hammer (clean, flush joint, C-clamped together, wound with copper wire, brought to red heat in non-oxidizing fire and fluxed, etc). The clearance is under .005". It's not hardened or hafted yet but I've thrown it against a wall a few times withou…

I am working on a great project. One that is quite a honour. I do not generally make comissions any more but could not turn this one down... The SEAL insignia is an Eagle holding a trident and a flintlock in front of an anchor. I am Making a Trident for US Navy SQT (SEAL Qualification Training) Class 312. It will be a Graduation Gift to NSWBTC (Navy Special Warfare Basic Training Command). US Navy SEALs tradition to give a graduation gift upon completing training required to become SEALs. So I am making a pattern welded Trident, not a fishing trident but a hero piece, Neptune's trident suitable for use against (big)sea monsters …

I'm working out a plant to make a war hammer, but I want it to be triangular (including the back spike). I have everything figured out except how to draw the taper out. Closest I can figure is drawing it square and then trying to angle it with diagonal blows. Is this how to do it or is there a better way?

I have been commissioned to forge some medieval heads, I've made the bodkins, the heavy bodkins and now they want some swallow tail heads, o told them I'd try but absolutely no promises, I'm mind boggled thinking on howbto forge them. I'm thinking they upset the stock and forged the edges then bent them out to make the socket, anyone have experience of can give a tutorial?

A friend and mentor of mine made this tutorial video about forging a javelin head. Starting stock was 20x20 mm 1045/C45 Enjoy and share your opinion! Bests: Gergely