There are a couple ways to fabricate blades. The best are old sword blades from junk swords from the QVC or flea markets. Look for blades in the 24-30 inch length, stainless or carbon. Take off the handles. If they are stick tang, a quarter inch bolt, you have to grind a portion of the blade to act as a tang, the bolts are too flimsy. Our wound up with 12-14 inches of blade showing. Leaf shaped long dagger type blades are the best. Try to use a stout blade, 3/16 inch or just a lttle thinner, but wide,
inch and a half anyway. The blade cuts well going in, but we realized that it also cuts
coming back out, sometimes colliding with a tree or brush, you don't want to pick up a broken blade to try to re-use.... :eek:
The tangs need to be drilled through to accept two 1/4 inch cross bolts where they are mounted in the wood. I use Loveless bolts for knifemaking. Grind off excess blades to get that 12" length. Most of these blades are really hard, so you may need to use a belt sander and a grinding wheel. Once you get the shape you want, get out the propane torch and finish them using Birchwood Casey Plum Brown muzzleloader finish. Stainless colors well with this mixture.
For shafts, we started with the idea that we needed 2" oak closet pole and a large welded socket head. That was
way too much. I tried some smaller stuff, oak, but it was still too much because it had to be tapered on both ends to be light and to throw. One our group got the idea of using already shaped tool handles, and they are made of hickory. I went to the hardware store, and got 5 foot hickory garden hoe replacement handles, the ones with the blue painted metal cone on the tool end.
I sawed off the metal cone, and made a saw cut vertically for the blade, I had to widen out the saw cut with a small double cut rasp to make room for the blade. Each blade is drilled for through-bolts, small ones, 1/4x24 that go through the handle in two places. The bolts are recessed into the wood, and the ends of the bolts ground flush.
When mounting the blades, set the whole thing in epoxy for added strength. Then I ground off the butt end "bulb" to finish the taper. I torched the finish to darken it, and to fire-harden the wood, and used a few coats of linseed oil for finish. It doesn't get so slippery when wet or bloody. Some of the added touches include soaking leather lace in epoxy, and wrapping the area of the tang over the bolts for strength, and an old look, I engraved my blade with a Dremel, one of the guys flethched his spear with natural barred tukey feathers, and it flies quite well! Then use an old archery back stop, and practice and practice! We even warmed up our shoulders with a softball and glove, before going hunting.
A lot of people, hunters included can make some harsh judgements about this kind of hunting, but it is really great!!
