Talerwin Forge in Australia has a very unique spear head on their website. They say that the consensus is still out as to if it is a tool or weapon. Has anyone any knowledge of this? It doesn't appear in any of my books. Of course it is impossible to contact Talerwin Forge as I have been trying to ask them to make a copy for me for over three years with no reply.

Just wondering if there has been any progress made on its research as to what it is for sure.

Regards
Robert

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Not like any Anglo Saxon spearhead I've seen.
I wonder if they've seen a picture of a billhook or other agricultural implement and based it on that?

That's obviously a pic of the repro, any pics of the original? Looks like a large butter knife to me....and I'd be suspicious of anything without a point on it anywhere . Most bills and scythes that do get used for military purposes end up with a fluke of spike being added.

there are some interesting Saxon spear heads out there, during the migration era i believe some of their styles included broad fullered spear heads which look out of the ordinary.

like Matthew states, i look at it and think of a bill hook.

Hi, thanks for the comments. I don't have any photos of the original, that is in part what I am searching for. The reproduction seems to have been made as a "blunt" so that may not have been the exact contour. I agree that it does look for like a large pole mounted cutting tool, that my grandfather had when I was a mere youth!

I think I might have found the source; the Buckland Anglo Saxon cemetery near Dover, Kent.

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That's amazing Matthew. Well if anyone could find it......

That surely must be it. So the original discoverers did take it to be a weapon.

Anyway thanks for solving my puzzle.

Robert

A few weeks ago I was trying to find information on a very unique spear head. Matthew Bunker was nice enough to do some searching and came up with a drawing from the Anglo Saxon Cemetery at Buckland.

Well, I had come across a newer smith in Slovakia by the name of Peter Szabo http://szaboweaponsmith.wix.com/szabo

I asked him to make a copy of this strange single edged spear head. I requested it to made as a lower status weapon. It is all hammer raised. with the tool marks left in. Note that the two sides do not converge at the same angle as on the original. Of course he can do better finishes as I have had him do in my next two pieces.

Completion time was less than a week, even on the better finished piece. I was very happy with his work and in dealing with him.
This has been a great opportunity to add some really unusual Anglo Saxon spear heads to my collection at a good value.

Regards
Robert

Can someone enlighten me why they would make a segmented spear shaft of maple and ash? If the shaft was broken, why not replace the whole thing, or was there some benefit to making it in two pieces of two types of wood?

Is there any evidence that the spearhead was warped or damaged to the condition of the drawing; or has initial analysis or handling concluded that it was likely forged that way?

Anything is possible, but it is described as single edged by the archeologists.

Robert

I think the replika in the first post looks like a cheese knife, but the second one could be as effective like a simmetric one.
I saw a large curved one (ottoman) in a Museum in Eger, Hungary.

I've never tried to make such a piece, but it looks interesting. I like the normal ones :D I know, they aren't of high quality, but I like them :)

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Hmm, single edged? Oh ho, maybe just maybe we have ourselves one of the 'hewing-spears' mentioned in Viking Age sagas.
I know its Anglo-Saxon, but am I in the ballpark, wasn't those cultures Viking Age, at least just before it?

Bears a striking resemblance to a basic clip-point bowie knife blade, doesn't it?

Something like that would end up decent for cutting or stabbing, and even be a useful tool off the pole.