Well, almost here ! The tracking on Friday has the spear in Montréal and it has cleared Canada Customs, it just didn't make it to the postal truck for shipping on Friday. :cry: . Delivery should be Monday unless the post office workers drag their collective feet ! :p ;)
Michael: Glad that these spears all sold since it must have helped pay the bills. :D :cool:
At least I can look at the nice pic of mine while I wait and I have a red oak haft to mount it on: A red oak BO staff that I have already finished treating with boiled linseed oil !
Well, it just arrived minutes ago and my first impressions as I opened the wooden box in came in was : WOW
What Michael's pics don't show is how substantial this spear head feels like and one could almost use it as a knife if one didn't mount it on a haft: In fact someone wanting to collect spears could be very content just getting these and displaying them in the handmade wooden box it comes in ! Or one might want to mount it in a way that it could be dismounted easily i.e. a tight fit and using two small nails to secure it.
I will probably put just a little epoxy for the first half inch of the socket so that if one wanted to change a broken haft one would only have to drill a few holes in the cut off wood inside the socket and chisel it out and then push out the small nails.
Well, anyone who bought one of this series of spears should consider himself or herself very lucky as it's way underpriced at this time and easily worth 2X or 3X the asking price.
The grind lines are tremendous, the finish a nice satin and all bevel lines nice and sharp and symmetrical.
It is sharpened as a convex appleseed edge with no more than the slightest secondary bevel almost paper cutting sharp and would need only a very light touch to make very very sharp.
Anyone wanting a spear this is the best I have ever seen and one could call it an " Albion " level of quality in a spear and at the prices that Michael is asking currently ( He should charge more. ;) :D ) it's in a class of it's own.
The socket walls are also robust and not a thin walled tube.
I'm also looking forward to my " custom " Partisan/Winged spear he is making for me as this one inspires more than a little confidence in Michael's skills both as a smith and aesthetically: Very much an art object to admire as well as a spear head one would take along back to the past if one could just find that elusive time machine. :D :cool:
What Michael's pics don't show is how substantial this spear head feels like and one could almost use it as a knife if one didn't mount it on a haft: In fact someone wanting to collect spears could be very content just getting these and displaying them in the handmade wooden box it comes in ! Or one might want to mount it in a way that it could be dismounted easily i.e. a tight fit and using two small nails to secure it.
I will probably put just a little epoxy for the first half inch of the socket so that if one wanted to change a broken haft one would only have to drill a few holes in the cut off wood inside the socket and chisel it out and then push out the small nails.
Well, anyone who bought one of this series of spears should consider himself or herself very lucky as it's way underpriced at this time and easily worth 2X or 3X the asking price.
The grind lines are tremendous, the finish a nice satin and all bevel lines nice and sharp and symmetrical.
It is sharpened as a convex appleseed edge with no more than the slightest secondary bevel almost paper cutting sharp and would need only a very light touch to make very very sharp.
Anyone wanting a spear this is the best I have ever seen and one could call it an " Albion " level of quality in a spear and at the prices that Michael is asking currently ( He should charge more. ;) :D ) it's in a class of it's own.
The socket walls are also robust and not a thin walled tube.
I'm also looking forward to my " custom " Partisan/Winged spear he is making for me as this one inspires more than a little confidence in Michael's skills both as a smith and aesthetically: Very much an art object to admire as well as a spear head one would take along back to the past if one could just find that elusive time machine. :D :cool:
Oh, Michael should confirm this but when we where discussing my custom spear that because of the dimensions of the wing will be made using W2 but this spear and the others in this series where made of L6 which makes for an " Huber " strong spear head: Just thought it would be useful to mention it as it's a real plus functionally for me and almost certainly stronger than anything done in period. ( Personally I don't mind better mechanical properties than period as long as the look is close to period unless one is going totally fantasy design ).
Had fun mounting it and it feels like it would be a very good slashing spear as well as it's primary use in thrusting.
Had fun mounting it and it feels like it would be a very good slashing spear as well as it's primary use in thrusting.
Did you receive your custom spear? if yes can you do a little review? and congratulation for your buys.
| Etienne Hamel wrote: |
| Did you receive your custom spear? if yes can you do a little review? and congratulation for your buys. |
No not yet, it's a much more challenging project for Michael and there is no rush to finish as far as I'm concerned and I think the spear is at the stage where Michael wants to heat treat before finishing the head and then moving on to making and mounting the aft which will have an octagonal aft, languettes and a butt cap.
I estimate an another month or two at least.
Michael should be taking some pics of the finished spear for the " Topic " dedicated to the making of the spear:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=16789
Oh, again if someone is looking for a premium quality spear made from the best/strongest materials with perfect grind lines they can't go wrong getting one from Michael ! Lots of cheap spears out there and at least decent quality ones by A & A but these are really in a class of their own. ;) :D
( In case the above didn't make it obvious enough: I couldn't be happier with my spear from Michael and my custom one should be awesome ! ).
Jean,
Speaking of the spear you have already received from Michael, Have you mounted it to it's haft yet? If so, any chance of seeing some pictures of it?
Scott
Speaking of the spear you have already received from Michael, Have you mounted it to it's haft yet? If so, any chance of seeing some pictures of it?
Scott
| Scott Kowalski wrote: |
| Jean,
Speaking of the spear you have already received from Michael, Have you mounted it to it's haft yet? If so, any chance of seeing some pictures of it? Scott |
Mounted yes but no camera ..... sorry. :cry:
It did take about a few hours to slowly carve the end of an oak " BO " of uniform thickness a little more than 1 1/8", the now conical end was about 3" long and cut so as to leave the aft at full diameter behind the socket.
On the aft behind the socket I wound some strong but light white rope for a length of about 2" to reinforce the aft at this point on the theory that the sudden change of diameter, 1 1/8" reduced to approximatively 15/16", at the mouth of the socket internal diameter: The theory being that this might create the equivalent of a stressriser where the wood grain might be liable to split if the head was put under a lot of lateral pressure. The rope binding the end of the aft at this point and preventing this theoretical splitting. ( Note: The rope was coated with white Weldbond glue as I wound it tightly around the aft and with an extra coat of glue over the cord with the excess wiped away so that only the glue soaked into the cord would remain so as to not have a skin of glue over the rope. Once the glue had completely dried the aft and the cord got a coating of boiled linseed oil to water proof the white glue. This glue does seem to n ot be water soluble after it dries but other white wood glues might be water soluble after they have dried ..... so the linseed oil is there to make sure as well as my regular maintenance for wood afts or shafts ).
Now imagine a " broken " shaft one could hold it together by binding it with rope so the binding on an unbroken aft keeps the whole thing from splitting in the first place and would keep things together should a spilt occur or even keep it from getting worse.
Where spears bound this way historically I don't know but it makes sense design wise I think. Reinforcing a shaft with cord or rope at stress points or over the entire length of the aft seems like something " logical " to do. :!: :?:
Now some pole arms seem to have had fabric coverings at least as a decorative feature on the more decorative parade or " richly decorated " parade weapons or the weapons of royal or other body guards.
Anyway, the 2" of cord on the aft below the socket does a nice job aesthetically as a decorative band in my opinion even if it's just something I like. ;) :D
| Jean Thibodeau wrote: |
|
Where spears bound this way historically I don't know but it makes sense design wise I think. Reinforcing a shaft with cord or rope at stress points or over the entire length of the aft seems like something " logical " to do. :!: :?: Now some pole arms seem to have had fabric coverings at least as a decorative feature on the more decorative parade or " richly decorated " parade weapons or the weapons of royal or other body guards. Anyway, the 2" of cord on the aft below the socket does a nice job aesthetically as a decorative band in my opinion even if it's just something I like. ;) :D |
From Knutsen, Japanese Polearms, on the shafts of the 33 spears in the Shoso-in (basically, a museum collection dating back to the 700s),
22: covered with bamboo strips and wound with cord, lacquered.
1: covered with birchbark strips, lacquered.
4: covered with leather, lacquered
1: covered with wire, lacquered
1: covered with hemp, lacquered
4: lacquered, otherwise plain.
On the more normal run of Japanese polearms and spears, cord bindings to reinforce the head end of the shaft are standard (metal sleeves and rings are also standard). Wire, rattan, cloth etc also to be found. Of course, these are tanged heads (unlike the Shoso-in spears, which are all socketed), and AFAIK the end is not that different in construction from a Japanese sword handle, so it's more in need of such reinforcement than a socketed spear.
I'm - in the current version of the plan, anyway - intending to completely cloth cover a polearm shaft, but that's partly to cover the sins to be committed in its construction, which is likely to involve aluminium or plastic, or both.
For a spear, overall cord wrapping can make the pool cue shot more difficult; I don't see this being as big an issue for other polearms.
Well Jean, I hate to say this but it just might be time to layoff buying weapons long enough to get a digital camera. So you can take pictures of all the toys you are buying! :D
As to binding the head to the shaft with with cord or rope. I asked that question last year here and had a number of responses. I will see what I can do about finding that thread and link it here for you.
Scott
In fact Jean, you were the last person to respond to the thread I was talking about above!
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...highlight=
Edited to add link.
As to binding the head to the shaft with with cord or rope. I asked that question last year here and had a number of responses. I will see what I can do about finding that thread and link it here for you.
Scott
In fact Jean, you were the last person to respond to the thread I was talking about above!
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...highlight=
Edited to add link.
put me on that list too
Lee
Lee
Thank you for all of the interest and all of the feedback. The current batch is all sold out and I won't be able to work on another set for a couple of months until I finish up a couple of other projects that I have started. I can make similar spears on a commission basis, just PM me with your thoughts and needs and I'll do my best to help you out.
Thank you once again!
Thank you once again!
I just received my spearhead (#1) from Michael today, and it is wonderful. The finish is a nice satin finish (it's pretty much the same as my Albions). It came paper-cutting sharp, with no secondary bevel that I can see. It also came in a neat box which is great for storage.
My only nitpick is that I can see the traces of a couple cross-pien hammer marks on two flatst towards the base of the blade. Also, the spine isn't perfectly symmetrical (it's really close though). For me these are very minor flaws (I wouldn't really call them that, but I can't think of a different word), and don't bother me at all. It's nice to have a little reminder that it is really handmade. Michael has offered to fix the problems for me, and split the shipping costs to get the spear back to his studio and returned to me, but as I said these are very minor issues (for me at least), and I'm not going to bother. I do appreciate the offer though.
Overall, 5 out of 5; and very under-priced. I'm sure the next batch will sell out very quickly :D
My only nitpick is that I can see the traces of a couple cross-pien hammer marks on two flatst towards the base of the blade. Also, the spine isn't perfectly symmetrical (it's really close though). For me these are very minor flaws (I wouldn't really call them that, but I can't think of a different word), and don't bother me at all. It's nice to have a little reminder that it is really handmade. Michael has offered to fix the problems for me, and split the shipping costs to get the spear back to his studio and returned to me, but as I said these are very minor issues (for me at least), and I'm not going to bother. I do appreciate the offer though.
Overall, 5 out of 5; and very under-priced. I'm sure the next batch will sell out very quickly :D
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