Spearman

[Aratus]

Suggestions on building a spear, I want to turn 1 of the glaives we have into one.

What works, what doesn't? Suggestions.

[Xavier]

I built a spear using online plans. For the tip I cut a poof football in half and then cut the tip off it to make it flat. I am not a spear man by any means but thats how I made mine. The core is 1"dia fiberglass tube.

[debuenzo]

Look for small profile spears. The tech is new, materials a little more costly, but the result is nicer.

[Azgarehta (Bard)]

I've built a couple of spears, and Landon has as well. The core guidelines are found here on Geddon:

Normal Spears: geddon.org/index.php/Constructing_a_Spear
Low Profile: geddon.org/index.php/Low_Profile_Spear

I build mine on Bandshoppe poles, because I bought a dozen last year, and you can't beat the flex and durability on them. They're normally $25-30 apiece including shipping, but I bought them in mass with some other guys, and we got them down to $15 apiece. If you have a McMaster-Carr in the area, they also have great cores, but shipping is expensive.

Following the tutorials, I've found that the most important thing is to make sure your cylindar wrap for the head of your spear is solid, but not too tight. Too tight and you'll have the foam already stretched and unable to transfer force through the core, too lose and it'll hit too hard. With a solid wrap, you'll be able to feel the spear shots all the way to your back hand. You'll want this tactile feedback so that you can "feel" whether the spear hits solidly or not. On the standard spear, if you get the cylinder right, the rest is a cakewalk.

Low Profile Spears are a whole different beast entirely. They are built to exacting specifications because the smaller dimensions make it easier to mess up, and because of the way the cylinder is built, you could get folding over issues (which we had with the St. Louis Low Pro Spear). If you can make it, the Low Profile spears are lighter and faster than traditional ones. Ours failed at OctFest for our open cell breaking down, we went through 2 different taping methods before we found one that works. I'm certain that on rebuild we can make it last the season.

Good Luck, and have fun!