[Craig Peters]

How were spear heads historically attached to wood? What methods did medieval people use to prevent them from falling off the haft?

[Etienne Hamel]

I Think its rivetted to the shaft

[Alex Oster]

Glue has been around for a long time. Pitch, tar, and an extremely close fit will do wonders.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Very good question and I can't really give a " historical " answer, but I wonder how modern reproductions spear heads are secured to the half.

My 12th century A & A spear head seems to not have a rivet to hold it in place and neither does my A & A Viking spear.

Either a pressure fit by itself or using some adhesive " traditional " ( cutler's resin ? ) or modern epoxy ?

Just for the sake of safety on my spears I drilled a small hole through just one side of the socket and used a nail + a little 5 minute epoxy. ( Also, used the same technique to install Windlass butt spikes I got from Kult of Athena ).

With a spear head not already glued on I would put glue just close to the edge of a tight fitting socket so that removing a broken shaft wouldn't be too much of a " pain " should it need replacement later. The nail is more a backup safety retaining device as I think a well fitted aft and just a minimum of adhesive would normally hold by itself the spearhead.

For removing a glued in spear head I would first cut the aft off close to the socket and then drill multiple holes into the wood and chisel out the rest. ( Oh, might be worth trying removing the nail first and see if the aft can be forced loose first before going for plan B ).

Well. I hope someone will answer the question from a historical perspective also and my " modern " approach is still useful as a side issue. ( At least a bit relevant to the topic ).

[Alex Oster]

Theres always leather lashing a head on... and I was just thinking of what the old wooden clothes pins looked like. Maybe a similar cut near the end of the shaft to wedge it in there tighter?
I guess it depends on the era, culture, fasion, and material used in shaft and head construction.
Consider the Yari vs the bronze age spear...

[Elling Polden]

the norwegian laws for the Leidag (shipborne levy) states that "The spear shall be well shaftes, and held in place by a single nail that passes through the socket, or two nails that go half the way each.

Most of the preserved spearheads have rivet holes.

[W. R. Reynolds]

Look in Waldman's "Hafted weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe", it has some wonderful shots of x-ray photos done on halberds. These show both types of nail attachments mentioned in Elling's post. While it is true that these are not spears per se, it would be hard not to imagine that a similar system would be used for most pole weapons.

[Hugh Knight]

These scans aren't really great, but if you look close enough at some good scans of Gladiatoria you can see rivet heads/nails holding the spear heads on:

http://www.thehaca.com/Manuals/Gladiatoria/6.jpg

[Craig Peters]

I have the new translation of Paulus Kal by Christian Tobler. Though I never considered using it to check, it might have nails or rivets on the spear heads.

Thanks for everyone's input.

[Hugh Knight]

[Jared Smith]

I would advocate both.
A good close fit is desirable structurally. Wood by itself, even if carefully seasoned, may change dimensions several thousands of an inch and become loose in winter or tight in summer. The glue or pitch provides an elastic forgiveness of this.

But, the spear sockets are conical and may tend to loosen despite the resins unnoticed. A small nail or spike driven through a hole will help the head stay positioned where there will not be significant play.

[Fabrice Cognot]

As said already, depends a lot on time/area.

But nails, either one or two diametrically opposite have been used since the Bronze Age, from what I have seen. Not always, not everywhere, but frequently enough.

Cheers

Fab