Making a spear.

I'm going to make a spear. I've studied the dagorhir page on making a spear with a 6-7 foot PVC core. That's what I planned on doing, however, money is starting to get tight again. I remember seeing in the dagorhir handbook that Rattan can be used for cores. I have lots of rattan from my SCA days. I have an old Glaive that I think is 6-7 feet and is 3/8 inches in diameter. I'm thinking of stripping it and rebuilding it as a dagorhir spear with a nerf football head. Maybe a few extra layers of closed cell between the shaft and the spearhead. Would there be any problems with using the rattan instead of PVC? Any suggestions?

Konradrb

i've never used rattan but i think pvc would bend to much.

Ive seen some pretty effective pvc spears, and ive seen people use the bend to get around defenses, its crazy. Its not much of a bend though from what i remember.

theres a rule in dagorhir that fails weapons for bending to much. a spear that long would bend to much.

Ive only ever heard of pvc spears i think, im not that experienced with fiber glass cores.

most people use band shop poles i believe. that's what k'urn and i used for ours.

So would it be a nay or ye to the rattan spear? I'm out of cash to order a bandshoppe pole. Or should I just make it and bring it for a weapons check?

Other projects I'm putting off include a bigger shield and taking my old plastic body armour and putting some of that vinyl that looks like leather over it to make it look like leather body armour. I've always wanted to portray an armoured spearman.

I've made a small barrel mace (or club) with a wrist lanyard as a spearman's best friend. It's about 19" or 20" long. Too small for a primary weapon but fine (I think) for a spearman's secondary.

Spear is done. Finished all my weapons projects for this week. Now, materials permitting, I will see about the shield and body armour tomorrow.

What is a band shop pole? I wish i had the set up to make my own weapons...

your armor won't count as armor unless its the appropriate thickness of leather. even with the plastic in it. i believe leather armor to count as armor must be 3/16 of an inch thick. 8 oz leather i think. i would say bring the rattan spear and i'll check it out.

The rattan spear...if made well, should pass. Be sure to wrap any exposed wood with tape. I know rattan is very sturdy and rarely splinters. However, to be legal, it has to be protected against splintering and skewering someone (for real). lol.
K-

Ouch that sounds painful, is that the same stuff that is used in Thai stick fighting or what ever?

Rattan is used in Phillipino 'escrima' or stick fighting. I'm sure its used for the same purpose by other southeast asian countries as well.

The SCA uses it in their weapons because it is more flexible than wood.

I left the original strapping tape around the wood where the head is and when I finished with the padding, I used grip tape to cover the exposed lower part. I removed the tennis ball pommel I had for the SCA glaive and replaced strictly with foam. Feels a little too top heavy for me without the counter balance of the pommel. I'm thinking of a little more foam and duct tape to add some weight to that end.

I once had an armour grade leather curaiss, but chopped it up for other armoring needs. Still have half that I let my daughter wear the one time we all went paintballing together. The plastic is the white kind from an industrial 55 gallon drum. The proper name is poly something or other. That and ABS are suppose to be impact resistant. It is thick, maybe a half inch or close to it. I will do it up when I get time and let you decide its fate. I was going to do that tomorrow, but I'm feeling like taking the day to rest before Saturday's workout.

See ya then.

Oh thats right, i tried to study escrima for some Florentine tips for my sword technique but it was all membership crap to a dojo. What exactly is SCA anyway?

Society for Creative Anachronism.

Try wrapping a portion of the lower half (nearest the pommel) with lead tape. You may also use washers sandwiched in Duct tape, just be sure the weights don't 'stick out' to far, and are sufficiently secured.

K-