Very cool build! I love the history lessons alongside the build process. Slowing down and taking your time is good advice for everything, not just cutting the kerf in your wooden handle or haft!
That was really interesting. I've heard of pilum, but this was the first time I seen one built and demonstrate. Congratulations on an excellent project. I'm sure that the historical craftsmen couldn't have done better.
If I may politely correct without weakening your well-deserved compliment, Tod of Tod's Workshop, is literally a historical craftsman, and has produced pila that are much more historically accurate. That said, anyone in a Roman legion would happily use this pilum, and perhaps even try to recover it specifically for the same reason it's historically inaccurate, and thus massively over-built. It's literally too good to be affordable on a mass scale at that time. This isn't a bad thing, though, and I think Tom would agree when I say that for your approach, your results are good. Having fun while learning some history's a great hobby!
@@EverydayAverageJonathan Just a heads-up. It's pretty much established that the metal shafts weren't designed to bend, it's that they didn't care. Every legion had its own blacksmith, after all, straightening them back out after a battle would essentially be routine maintenance. As I've already said, there's not a damn thing wrong with your project or the result, and your whimsical excursion into history is a great hobby!
What a great comment and conversation this is! I am absolutely no historical accountant. But the research i do is usually based of several sources. Wikipedia has this to say about the Topic "The weapon had a hard pyramidal tip, but the shank was sometimes made of softer iron. The softness could cause the shank to bend after impact, thus rendering the weapon useless to the enemy.[14][15] Some[who?] believe that the pilum was not meant to bend on impact, but instead was meant to break.[16] If a pilum struck a shield, it might embed itself, and the bending of the shank would force the enemy to discard his shield as unusable without removing the pilum, or carry around the shield burdened by the weight of the pilum.[17] "
@@EverydayAverageJonathanThanks for your reply, sir. To reiterate, I wasn't criticizing your project a bit, even your research - there ain't many as into history as much as me. Wikipedia was fine for what you were aiming for. I do want to put my point about the shank a bit differently, though. Look at it this way, after every large battle using them, you're likely going to have bent swords lying around afterward. Does that make you think they were designed to bend in combat? But with bent pila, that conclusion isn't as obvious, so those who didn't understand the whys of the design got to speculating, and pila with bent shanks provided an explanation, at least for those who didn't pause to wonder why there've been so few bent examples discovered. After all, a bent or broken weapon's more likely to be abandoned than a usable one, right? If this is enough on the topic for you, that's fine, though. I just really enjoy intelligent conversation on topics I enjoy. Best to you and yours.
I believe the source that describes the pilum being made to bend, is actually referring to the lower peg for tang being made of wood, which then shatters, which makes the haft fall. However, most (if not all) shields of the time were pretty thin (as you noted), so the haft of the pilum should already be falling towards the ground (serving as the hypotenuse of a triangle with the shield and the ground). Interestingly, the Byzantine/Eastern Roman writer Agathias writes on the equipment of the Franks: "The angons are spears [δόρατα] which are neither very short nor very long; they can be used, if necessary for throwing like a javelin, and also, in hand to hand combat. The greater part of the angon is covered with iron and very little wood is exposed. Above, at the top of the spear, on each side from the socket itself where the staff is fixed, some points are turned back, bent like hooks, and turned toward the handle. In battle, the Frank throws the angon, and if it hits an enemy the spear is caught in the man and neither the wounded man nor anyone else can draw it out. The barbs hold inside the flesh causing great pain and in this way a man whose wound may not be in a vital spot still dies. If the angon strikes a shield, it is fixed there, hanging down with the butt on the ground. The angon cannot be pulled out because the barbs have penetrated the shield, nor can it be cut off with a sword because the wood of the shaft is covered with iron. When the Frank sees the situation, he quickly puts his foot on the butt of the spear, pulling down and the man holding it falls, the head and chest are left unprotected. The unprotected warrior is then killed either by a stroke of the axe or a thrust with another spear [δόρατι] [or sword!]. Such is the equipment of the Frankish warriors..." It is an interesting description, very similar to that of the earlier Romans (and likely even the Iberians and the rest of Italy). (Wikipedia makes the mistake of saying that the angons were rare: in truth, we have no way to tell. Many of the Franks at that time were Christian, following Clovis, and therefore did not have a weapon burial part regarding their religion, and as the centuries went on, fewer and fewer Franks were pagan, so naturally, fewer weapons would show up in burials. Regardless, it was typical of the time for the best armed (aka the most wealthy) to do most of the fighting.) Fun video! I liked the commentary especially.
This is so great! I loved reading this. Felt like i was back in college watching a dissertation. Thank you for adding this to the discovery process for us!
To forge a one piece socket the easiest way is to start with pipe or tube and forge it to a cone that is approximately the correct size and the carefully and slowly for it square while maintaining its taper. Great job man.
Shields of the day were not pure wood/plywood. They had a top layer of rawhide or thin bronze, which increases the resistance at least twice and probably more. Essentially the wood is there as backing. The rawhide lowers the speed and dissipates the energy of the projectile as it tries to pierce the rawhide, giving time for the wood underneath to start flexing and dissipate the energy even more.
There is an historic example of a pilum with wedged shim in the socket to tighten up the tang in the socket. There is a wonderful drawing in M.C. Bishop’s Roman Military Equipment Edited because of typo
Makes you wonder how the ancient romans, with none of the modern tools, made their pila- or any of the other cultures their implements, for that matter.
Like a lot of throwing spears, a one use instrument. Either you miss, or you stick the spear and can't immediately retract it. Have to whip out the sword after that.
Think I would just drop the shield and charge immediately, although my opponent, having just thrown a spear, would probably still have his shield, and a gladius to boot. Ugh.
