How to make a spear

[BeastLight]

I need a little help on the design and weight for a quality spear?

[Fish Toys]

What a loaded question. It depends on if it’s for yourself or going to make them to sell. If it’s for yourself you have to determine how many tines, how long of a handle and diameter. Do you like a heavy spear or a light one? Round tines or square and flat. To make a quality spear you also need quality material.

More info on what you are going to do would help.

Dealing with the public they want the best for the least amount of $$$$.

[Gordie]

fish toys is so right.

if your going to make it for yourself go out and check out some at some bait stores to get a feel for what your likes and diss-likes are and goe from there.

[Laska]

Can u use a chipper handle like the wooden handle-quality ones? Cut off if the chipper part and weld on a spear head? Anyone know I thought of that today...

[Gordie]

saturday I saw a spear that was made out of a five tine pitch fork and it was sweet they wanted 75 bucks for it. It had a steel handel and the guy said it was 150 yrs old didnt really look that old but could of been.

my uncle used to be into spearing and at x-mas I asked him about his spear and he got it in stroage but he said he made out of old ford pushrods the long skinny ones he said and used keyways for the barbs and the handle was conduit that was filled with lead about a foot up from the spear head.

just a few ideas for you.

[Pooh]

i used a metal lathe to turn the round stock for the tines to a point. then built a jig for bending them 1 inch round steel handle for the firt 2.5 feet then 2 feet of conduit over that to 4.5 feet i can get a pic for u if u want. but i like the conduit and lead idea. on the left is the chisle i made from a broken leaf spring out of my pickup

[BeastLight]

I have 2ft 3/4" round stock. I am thinking about putting a conduit handle over that 4'- 5'. I plan on making six tines with 3/8' or 5/16" stock. Either bending u shapes through holes on handle or welding tine to a horizontal piece welded to vertical handle. I will weld barbs on every tine. What is a good tine diameter?

[BeastLight]

I forgot to mention I have access to industrial plasma cutting table! I might try to dream up a spear head design and slap a pole on it. FISHTOYS how do you cut your ice saws? You ever think about outsourcing?

[Fish Toys]

BeastLight shoot me an email wbenbo @ gvtel. com

[Gordie]

beastlight I would go with 1/4 inch round stock for the tines very easy to work with

[merkman]

I forgot to mention I have access to industrial plasma cutting table!

Draw it up on cad and cut it out!!!

Remember to make a notch in the top to align the handle into. It also gives you some more "meat" to weld on.

Keep the metal between the top of the tines and the handle to a minimum to avoid the water plane at angles (much like a paddle does when you throw it in the water)

Keep the handle light so it does not "fall" down and push the front of the spear up when you throw at angles

Make sure your tines are close enough together (less than 1" c to c)

Make sure the barbs are large enough that a very large fish will not shake off.

[Fish Toys]

Merk what material would you use?

[merkman]

I used 1/4" plate and a 5/8 inch cold rolled handle

My spear and handle are too heavy to throw at an angle but it works great for straight down spearing.

It hits them and automatically knocks them out.

If I were to do it again I would make the tines closer and the barbs larger but it works good the way it is.

I made 1 batch and sold them to get enough to start spearing.

Then the profits went to buy a fish saw!!!

[merkman]

[merkman]

You can also look for the book ICE FISHING SPEARS by Marcel L. Salive

[Fish Toys]

I did some trading with D ick in MI for the book ICE FISHING SPEARS by Marcel L. Salive and I’ve only paged thru it and it looks like a good book. I can’t put D ick’s name in together being I get the message poor word usage.

[bassNspear]

I am a big fan of the 7. I think it adds alittle weight, and it helps get fish as well.

[silverhair]

The best spear I ever had was one my father helped me make when I was in Junior high and learning to weld (a long time ago). The tines where welded on similarly to the ones in the photo from Pooh. However it had some of the best barbs I've ever seen. not to big, not to small. We made the tines from and old silage fork with the tines worn down. We cut them off and re-wended them because the spacing was wrong, as was length. We heated them with an acetalene torch and beat them straight on an anvil. Then we heated the tine tips and bent them over about and inch from the end so they folded back 180 degrees. Then we heated the bend and pounded that into a new point, thus the tine tip became the barb, and it was narrow and pointed because of being worn down from years of work. So the tines where hammer forged and oil hardened. Then we ground and filed the points and barbs to perfection. The handle was made out of a solid bar about half the legth and hollow tube over than with the top bent shut around a 1/2" nut (for the rope) and welded water tight.

I had two other spears, one very light with dainty tines and small barbs cut into them that was a joy to handle but easy to have fish slide off so never used it in water deeper than I could pin the fish to the bottom in. The other had a wooden handle and was the easiest to grip and hold onto but it floated so used that in 2-3 fow.

I took about a 25 year hiatis from spearing and lost track of my spears as work and family got priority. I now have one of those new plasma cut ones but it cannot compare.... I'll need to build one the old fashoned way again some time, but work is still getting in the way. However my last kid just turned 11 so it would be a fun project some day soon. Maybe this spring after ice out and before open water starts.

[Gordie]

silverhair that sounds like a great way to make barbs on a spear.

I got all the stuff to build another one and I think that I'll start on it tonight I'm going to build a weight forward spear kind of like the Amish ones but in stead of turning down a piece of round stock I found an old plumb bob weight and I think it will work perfect I may use silverhairs technique for the barbs.

[merkman]

I found an old plumb bob weight and I think it will work perfect

Genius.... pure Genius!!

[silverhair]

This is one of the greatest things about spearing and the part we really need to keep alive. Being able to make a chisel out of a leaf spring or a spear out of an old pitckfork and/or a plumb bob, a homemade wood stove just tops it off for me. Of course one needs some basic blacksmithing abilities and tools. Great projects for high school shop classes and what better place to recrute kids into the sport?

[merkman]

That is one aspect I do enjoy also.

[Gordie]

tonight after supper I tinkered in the garage and came up with this

I made the tines out of 1/4 inch round stock and flatened out 1/8 inch welding rod for the barbs and welded and ground them to a point the foward weight is a old brass plumb bob that I had laying around drilled it to fit the tines and the 1/2 round stock handle. I also heat treated the tips of the tines to harden them. I hoping to use it saturday on some gators.Its a little heavier than I'm used to but I think it will work great. I want to build a few more but think that I will use steel plumb bobs or have to turn down some round stock to what I want.

[Peepers]

I like the plumb bob idea - that's a wicked-looking spear. Nice work!

[Laska]

Sweet lookin spear! Bet it'll work like a charm, dont think a fish would shake off that at all!