This guide will show you how to make a spear with a knife. This is a great easy project for beginners and intermediate woodworkers.

There are a few ways to Make a Spear With a Knife, but the common thing is that you’ll have fun no matter which method or what kind of materials you choose. You need a sharp knife, a quite smooth, long, and straight branch (you can use metal as well), and a piece of stone (in case you use a limb). Now there are advantages and disadvantages for both long and short spears.

Long spears are more accurate at longer distances, while short ones are lighter, faster, and better for short distances. Let’s remember that in the past, the Roman army used to have a long spear – the famous pilum – yet they were always carrying a short sword for called semispathium, for close combat.

How to Make a Spear With a Knife

I think if you want to test your woodcraft skills you should try both the longer and the shorter spear; you will definitely have a special feeling seeing the difference between them. And after you finish the spears why not try another ancient weapon? I’ve once learned about someone who had built Roman, Spartan, and Persian weaponry ( helmets, coats of mail, shields, swords, knives, and even carts; he used metal and wood).

At first use the knife to sharpen the top of the limb. You can let the top of the limb be unsharpened if you intend to attach a piercing piece of stone. But in this case, you should make one notch within the stone that should be tied. You can use wood glue too. There is another method of building the top of a spear by using a sharpened piece of metal well bonded.

Some say that is easier to use the blade of a resistant knife attached to the limb. It is true but I think the fun is diminished if we use such materials. I for one, prefer two models of spearhead: the one that has a sharp stone in front of it and the other one with a sharpened wood head and with two little pieces of metal attached on each side of the top of the limb.

For the later model, you can use a long branch (about 1 m. or 1.5 m); sharpen its head with a knife and tie two pieces of metal on each side of it. The metal pieces give the spear an extra weight right where it should be. Be careful to tie these metal pieces at no more than three to five centimeters distance from the top of the spear. Your spear will reach a longer distance if it has an extra weight attached to its head and less to its tail. It is the same thing with the stone, which invariably adds a surplus of weight.

Remember to “play” very carefully with such an object and always keep it out of reach of children. Never throw a spear (even a homemade spear), toward anybody. Only adults should use spears, bows, and arrows. Have a nice time!

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