I'm forging a Zulu style spear. A fearsome weapon that spans history and culture, the double edged spear makes a great forging project. firecreekforge... / firecreekforge #zulu #spear #blacksmithing
The iklwa that you have forged has the incorrect shaft shape. The longer throwing spears had the tapered shaft like the one you produced and this ensured no disruption as it left the hand when throwing. However the short stabbing iklwa had the opposite taper with the shaft getting wider towards the end. Many of them would also have a “knob” at the end. This was required because the stabbing spear would become slippery from all the blood and the thickening shaft or knob at the end would help the warrior hold on to the spear as he pulled it out of the body and became bloody and slippery.
The spear head also looks a bit smaller than differently shaped than the ones I've familiar with. The short fighting ones I've seen tend to have a much larger balade on them, almost the size of a small short sword, not that little thing that was made in the video.
Hi, I stay in South Africa, where the Zulus are also situated. If I remember my history classes correctly, the black tribes of Southern Africa at first used throwing spears in their wars, keeping the fighting at a bit of a distance. The leader of the Zulus, I can't remember his name now, decided to make a stabbing spear, which was more dangerous, but much more accurate. His warriors also took to wearing sandals, which protected their feet in rough and thorny terrain. They approached their enemy in a pincer movement, thus encircling them and killing them off.
SHAKA was the name of fierce warrior leader of various African tribes that created this very affective short spear for face-to face combat, that even made British troops have a very hard time in combat, to say the least.
And I think he forced his guys not to wear sandals. From what I recall he forced them to walk over thorns to harden their feet because bare feet were quieter than shoes.
More spears! Boar spear for sure, has the socket, 2 lugs on it to keep the boars from running up the shaft at you which can be decorative as well and a longish spearhead on them. Side note, what were the dimensions of the spear head? Might be worth looking into selling just the spear heads. Avoids the length penalty the mail system and handles are easy enough to make yourself
Awesome spear and I loved that you had the kid in the backpack while wrapping the raw hide. I can relate to dad life getting mixed in to bladesmith life.
I'm glad someone mentioned "dad life" and mixing that with your passion! Well done and great craftsmanship. I will be making one of these with my 17yr old son as my garage gets cooler! 😁
Spears and Axes were dominant in ancient wars for 2 simple reasons. 1: Less metal material. (most important). 2: You could use them when not in war... Spears for hunting, axes for forest/woodwork. Nice little spear. =)
I think they are also just pretty good weapons. Like you can smack people pretty frickin hard with spears and longer axes and they are fairly versatile. Especially spears imo.
I love how the light black color contrasts with the clear shine of the edges, on the blade, and the work on the handle, all great detail. Excellent work as always, thank you very much for sharing, I send you greetings from southern Argentina.
@6:35, after leveling out your handle with a bubble level, put a keyring on your drill bit. When you drill and the ring stays put, it means your level is true. You can then focus on the horizontal alignment.
I believe I could hunt with that beautiful spear. I waisted too much of my life playing with stupid computers. This is a skill I'd so enjoy having. Fantastic work yet again. So impressing.
The spear was king of the battlefield for a very long time, not just because of the low cost and ease of training, but also because it gives great reach advantage over other weapon types, can punch through armor, and can also be a ranged weapon.
A beautiful bit of work! I've forged a dozen or so spears of different types. I read somewhere that many traditional spears were made of Iron rather than steel. Warriors often preferred that the point bend rather than break if it struck something hard, such as a rock. A broken point is useless but a bent point can be straightened in the fork of a tree or hammered straight with a rock. Of course that might not be so of a short spear wielded like a sword.
Pine pitch works amazingly well I'm saying really really well.... a lot better than one might think.... not as good as epoxy but it does pretty close to it... believe it or not... I did not realize how good it worked till I tried it.. and boy howdy it holds up extremely well... the best thing about it is I have a piece of property that r slammed full of Pine trees... so it's there pretty much when ever I need it....
Hay brother it looks great good job it's always a good day when I get to watch one of your videos u have just a great attitude in what u do ty u and can't wait to see what you come up with next till then stay safe
Thats wicked cool. Ive done martial arts for a long time and spears are underated they can be brutal effective in the right hands. Thats a boar killer right there.
You do not need a forge to make a fun little spear, (or knife or sword or what ever fun). an old sawblade works fine if you cut it into shape. I put bolts through mine, but you can fasten the spearhead in many different ways.
It was invented by Shaka Zulu, who pioneered the design to be a more aggressive weapon of war than the previously used long throwing spears. It is the assegai that Shaka and his zulu impis used to expand the zulu empire. VERY formidable weapon !
He actually said “ why throw your best weapon at the enemy? What use is it to you then?” He told his impis to wait until the opposition threw theirs at them, then go ahead and march up to them and stab away! All they had left were their knopkieries, a stick with a bulge at the end, no good if your opponent has a spear! Shaka actually made them REMOVE their sandals, as he said it made their feet soft and if they were to come off in battle, that impi would be of no use, so they trained without.
Great! Some accounts say that the spear was named for the sound it made when being, ...uhhh..., "introduced" into an enemy and then quickly withdrawn. Everybody can try to imitate the sound once, but don't obsess! 😵💫
I did research project in high school and have seen paintings of examples of the Ikiwas where the bolster turns more into fins than tapering like you had. I hand carved the spear head from wood and painted it silver when I presented the project going with the fin design.
The Zulu spear was the Assegai! The Assegai was a short thrusting spear used in close combat. It was used with great effect by the Zulu Impi, their marching formation. The Assegai formed an integral part with their cowhide shields. An Impi of Zulu was 10 men wide and 1000 warriors long. Their march was a run, and they could do it all day. The British had great respect for the Assegai, the Impi, and the Zulu warriors as a whole. The battle at Roarkes Rift was biblical. 100,000 Zulu faced off against a brigade of British soldiers, modern weapons held the day, but not by much. Shaka, the Zulu king who held his court in Bulawayo, surrendered to the British and was going to be hung by them for the warriors disemboweling dead British soldiers. When the British found out that this was the highest form of military honor a Zulu warrior could bestow on a vanquished enemy, releasing his soul to paradise, the British spared him. A very interesting time in Africa to be sure! Both of the Assegai I own are attached to the shaft by a rolled tang covering approximately 2 feet of the five foot or so shaft. Not to criticize, the Assegai has a large leaf shape at the back, or widest part of the blade, the edges were not angled, but rounded. The rolled tang protected the ironwood haft from chopping attacks by your enemy. The prelude to a Zulu attack was signaled by the thrumming of Assegai against the cowhide shields, all 6 foot of it, and in an instant, 100,000 warriors stopped instantly, the commander coming forward, and with all of his will and lung, would scream “BAYETE ZULU!” You knew you were in for a fight as the attack formation of several Impi was called the “Bulls Head”, one Impi to the right, one Impi to the left, the Bulls Forehead in the middle. The right and left Impi would flank the enemy forcing, or crushing, them on the Bulls Forehead. And always, the ASSEGAI the killing weapon!
The ikwla was the hand to hand spear and the assegai was the throwing javelin. The Zulus tactic was very much like the Roman legionaries. First, they would throw their pila/assegai to encumber the enemy's shields and or break up their formation. Then the Roman/Zulus would close to hand to hand range and the gladius/ikwla would be employed to savage effect. Also your information on the Battle of Rourke's Drift is slightly off. Earlier that day, 20,000 Zulus had pretty much destroyed 1600 British regulars at the Battle of Isandlwana. About 4,000 Zulus had been held in reserve and decided to bloody their spears by attacking 140 British soldiers and 350 Natal irregulars guarding a mission at Rourke's Drift. The 500 Brits and native auxiliaries were warned of the Zulu's impending attack and were able to fortify their position. When the Zulus did finally attack, the Brits held them off for hours until a final Zulu charge was repelled by volley fire. The Zulus retreated with an estimated 800 casualties while the Brits sustained 32 casualties.
Put a largish washer on your drill bit. Right in the middle. That will help with your up/down centering as it'll float forward/backward if not level. Left/right is easier to eyeball down the length of the staff.
Pitch glue was the primitive answer to epoxy. It served the exact same function of "molding" the arrow/spearhead into the slot. Then they'd wrap it in sinew and bake it over over a fire to dry it out. The heat would keep the pitch malleable as the sinew began to contract, and the glue cooled under compression after the heat was removed, making for an extremly stout bond. This was the way it was done for tens of thousands of years before modern science allowed us to engineer better materials. Our neolithic ancestors were every bit as smart as we are, they just didn't have the broader base of cumulative knowledge that modern technology is based on.
Shaka Zulu also introduced much bigger shield and taught his warriors to get in close lock shields lift the opponents shield so they could then stab the enemy, by the way the Iklwa pronounced Ischlwa was so named as it was believed that was the sound the spier made when withdrawn from a body.
Yo he vivido muchos años en Sudáfrica, en Durban en Kwazulu-Natal. Por mi trabajo visito mucho las comunidades zulúes y he visto esa arma. Creo que la hiciste bastante bien aunque las que yo ví eran de hoja un poco más corta y hecha en hierro. Por supuesto ya no se usan las ikwla para la guerra aunque es normal ver que se usan para la caza. La historia del Iklwa es antigua, de la época de Shaka quien organizó a sus impis (escuadrones militares) y los dotó de esta arma apta para la lucha corta y era acompañada de un escudo de cuero llamado isihlangu. Buen video, me gustó.
Very nice work! I've never been able to get that center ridge so crisp and clean!! If I might suggest - for wood preservation, you'll find nothing better and more traditional than good ol' Pine Tar. I buy the Tenda brand from tractor supply because it has a nice consistency already. Thinned with turpentine, it really does a number on the wood. And because it has natural anti-microbial stuff in it, you don't have to worry about boring bugs or mold growing on it. You can make your own, but buying a tin is just a lot easier. In the olden days, it was called Stockholm Tar and was used by the sailors to keep everything waterproof and water tight. Sailors use it still, often mixing it with boiled linseed oil (yuck) to stretch it out since the pine tar can be pricey in the quantities they use. The stuff gives your white woods a very nice coloration and protects it against the elements. I use it on all my tool handles whether they're for the yard or smithy.
On a trip to South Africa, I bought a spear at a Green Market Square in Cape Town. It was an antique, and it had a rolled socket for attachment, as did the spike on the butt of the spear. So, no primitive African spears do not use a tang for attachment, not in my experience.
Assegai my vriend . That is what they call the short handled spear. Was brought into use by the great Zulu leader and king Chaka .Come visit us in Africa . 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦 . The blade would be much braoder . Exelent weapon you made.
The word Iklwa is really only the sound of the weapon being withdrawn Rom the wound it has created. They then called this weapon by the sound it makes.
Best freehand axial bore alignment method I've found: lay the shaft on a bench, have a long bit started centered, lay a shim between the drill shank and the benchtop so the drill runs level.Looking down on the arrangement from the top for alignment, feed the wood shaft onto the running drill.
THE STEEL ONLY DIFFERS. .BECAUSE. IN THE. OLD DAYS..IRON ORE.WAS. USED..THE STEEL WAS.EXTRACTED FROM.RAW.IRON.ORE..AND. THE HARDENING OF THE STEEL WAS VERY UNIQUE. .THIS GAVE THE BLADE UNBELIEVABLE STRENGTH
Very nice reproduction of this spear.(Assegai) Shaka Zulu would have been very chuffed with that. Short powerful weapon... Very hard to deal with something like that close up. Especially in times past... Look forward to your next video....
When I worked in Africa, I was told anecdotally that the name was due to the sound it made when thrust into and then pulled out of an enemy...IKH, LWA. I have no idea if they were having me on, but I do posses two beautiful, longer thrusting spears that were made in the village I worked in and used for hunting. Too bad we can't upload pictures here. Later in your video, you discuss mounting methods. Both of my spears are cone mounts on both ends which can be secured with a nail. One end is the business end, the other is a maybe 1/8th" flared digging or chipping tool for harvesting roots etc. The wooden shaft is maybe 3' long.
@@FireCreekForge I'll send you some photos of them. I assure you that they are real tools, they look identical to the ones the locals carried. Keep in mind that the smith lives in a grass hut and works with a clay forge. People that carry rifles there are considered poachers and shot on sight.
Greetings!! to drill exactly horizontally, insert the shank of the drill into the scissors, if they are in one place, then exactly, and if they move forward or backward, then they have left the horizon!!!! Greetings from Russia, the product is super!!!
I want to build something similar to this but with a longer blade. And slightly shorter handle. So it could be use as a sword or for thrusting. Very nice build and would definitely do well on a hog hunt. Never thought of using the lower carbon steels for this. I was thinking of going the 5160 route. I’ll have to keep this steel choice in mind.
The assagai was a spear shaped blade about as large as a Roman sword, with a short wooden shaft and was used in the same way as the Romans soldiers behind a large shield. It was not used for threwing. The threwing spear had a small head and a long thin shaft.
I would love to have an example of the Zulu short stabbing spear made with a Damascus pattern. I hope the dimensions of this forging were given by the client, because it seems to me that the blade didn't seem long or wide enough. Also, I vaguely remember an original having something of a 'pommel'
Are you not thinking of a metal end to the spear or a flared end? I can't recall ever seeing a metal pommel on any assegai, though I do recall them on Lion Spears from Kenya.
Yep, the correct shaft is one that widens out towards the end or has a “knob” at the end. This is to ensure that the warrior does not loose the weapon as it become slippery from all the blood while he is stabbing. Some just had the shaft widening towards the end - none would ever taper towards the end as the warrior would easy loose grip as it became bloody and slippery.
Nice work for your first I wonder did you do a Rockwell hardness test on your spear head . Another question you used 1045 is that steel used mainly for railway lines ? .
A boar spear needs a cross piece, because without one a tusker will run right up the shaft of a spear, impaling itself, to carve a chunk out of you with its teeth.
WOW- you are an ingenious type of guy! Personally I would imagine that the Real Zulu's wouldn't have had such a thick and heavy wooden handle- but something 'lighter'- as they fought and stabbed seemingly with One arm (Of which they were probably strong and in great shape for the 'use' of this close-in type of speer??) Anyway- Kool weapon- only what do you tell the Cop's when they pull you over for anything and see your Zulu 'spear' ?????????
Awesome job. Great work. One question. Why didn't you use a hypereutectic (spring) steel for the task? As far as characteristics, that would have been my choice. But, i am unfamiliar with 1045. So basically, why 1045 over spring steel?
The most well known spring steel 5160 is a medium carbon steel as well (hyper-eutectiod is >.8% carbon content) and that would be a fine choice too. One reason I used the 1045 is the stock dimensions I had it in were much better suited for this project; I only had 5160 in .250" thick stock.
@@FireCreekForge I bought a piece of it. Then reality set in. I have no forge or belt grinder. I want something like a Sansibar sword from the Phillipines.
