Dirty Bob
Member
I've been meaning to do this for years, so this weekend I finally just took a shot at building a simplified Roman pilum for fun. I started with a 36-inch piece of 3/8-inch round stock, along with a 60-inch hardwood tool handle. Total material cost was just under 13 bucks.
I cold-forged a leaf-shaped point on one end, pounding with a small sledge hammer on a piece of railroad rail that is my "anvil." This took 15-20 minutes. I then cleaned the point up and sharpened it with a file. The forged head is a little under 3/4" in width and lengthened the steel stock by about 1/2".
I cut ten inches off the butt of the spearhead and drilled one end of the tool handle to the full 4-3/4" depth of my 3/8" spade bit. I roughed up the butt end of the spearhead and coated it with J-B Weld epoxy before seating it in the haft.
Cutting the haft to 42" at the butt gave me a total spear length of 65". I coated the forward end of the haft with carpenter's wood glue and wrapped it with twine to prevent splitting and to make a grip area. The rearmost part of it is right at the balance point.
The pilum is a heck of a lot of fun. With a cardboard box as a target, I found that I'm dangerous with my spear out to 10 yards or so at the moment. The point isn't real sharp, but the spear penetrates very well. The classic Roman pilum would have generally been heavier, and I can see how a legionary could launch such a weapon through the shield of an opponent, through his armor, and still have enough length of spearhead and force to make a serious wound.
Considering how easy it was to make and how fun it is to play with, I wish I'd made a spear a long time ago!
All my best,
Dirty Bob
I cold-forged a leaf-shaped point on one end, pounding with a small sledge hammer on a piece of railroad rail that is my "anvil." This took 15-20 minutes. I then cleaned the point up and sharpened it with a file. The forged head is a little under 3/4" in width and lengthened the steel stock by about 1/2".
I cut ten inches off the butt of the spearhead and drilled one end of the tool handle to the full 4-3/4" depth of my 3/8" spade bit. I roughed up the butt end of the spearhead and coated it with J-B Weld epoxy before seating it in the haft.
Cutting the haft to 42" at the butt gave me a total spear length of 65". I coated the forward end of the haft with carpenter's wood glue and wrapped it with twine to prevent splitting and to make a grip area. The rearmost part of it is right at the balance point.
The pilum is a heck of a lot of fun. With a cardboard box as a target, I found that I'm dangerous with my spear out to 10 yards or so at the moment. The point isn't real sharp, but the spear penetrates very well. The classic Roman pilum would have generally been heavier, and I can see how a legionary could launch such a weapon through the shield of an opponent, through his armor, and still have enough length of spearhead and force to make a serious wound.
Considering how easy it was to make and how fun it is to play with, I wish I'd made a spear a long time ago!
All my best,
Dirty Bob