The spear

[Steven Blakely]

are their many armanites that activly practice the spear?
It seems so funny that the weapon used most commonly on the battle field seem to get forgotten in this return to western martail arts.

[Jaron Bernstein]

are their many armanites that activly practice the spear?
It seems so funny that the weapon used most commonly on the battle field seem to get forgotten in this return to western martail arts.

The staff (the basis of all pole weapons, spear included) is alive and well. Brian Hunt and David Knight just published a book on that very topic.

[Mike Cartier]

certainly, we study Joachim Meyer ourselves and that means longsword, dusack, rappier, dagger/wrestling and Polearms staff/ spear and halberd.

the techniues in meyer staff too are clearly useful and appicable to a pointy staff.

[Benjamin Smith]

Absolutely.

[Steven Blakely]

where should i buy a battle ready spear at

[Benjamin Smith]

Arms & armor has plenty of spearheads and sells them hafted, but these don't necessarily correspond to historical spear lengths. Between studying museum collections and staffs and spears in manuals we can conclude that there were spears 6-9' long depending on your height build and the specific style you're looking at.

But to train you'll want a staff of proper length and tip it with something to soften the blows.

[Andy Spalding]

If looking for a battle ready spear, just buy the spear head, the shipping for a 9 foot pole is huge.

If your lookin for something to spar with, Glue 2 flip-flops together, trim to the desired shape, and attach to a pole. It has a tip that wont push though a mask, and has a bit of give to it so it wont mess up your opponent when you jab them.

[Stewart Sackett]

If looking for a battle ready spear, just buy the spear head, the shipping for a 9 foot pole is huge.

If your lookin for something to spar with, Glue 2 flip-flops together, trim to the desired shape, and attach to a pole. It has a tip that wont push though a mask, and has a bit of give to it so it wont mess up your opponent when you jab them.

Any suggestions about where to get a good pole for spear/staff work. You're absolutely right about the unreasonable expense in trying to order one but, just cruising Home Depot, I haven't seen anything that looked the right scale, reasonably sturdy & sufficiently splinter free.

[Will Adamson]

I've heard that the place to go for long hardwood is a cabinetmaker. I haven't done it myself though.

[Byron Doyle]

I've been working deeper myself with Meyer quarterstaff. To start out I just went to Home Depot and found a 12 foot closet pole (pine - not the best wood but it will do to start) and had them cut it in half. Grab some sandpaper on the way out (fine grit) and sand the things out when you get home. Make sure to oil them with tung oil or linseed oil regularly to make them go the distance. As for the good hardwoods, ordering from a cabinet maker is probably the way to go, but you probably will have to call around town to find a supplier, and don't expect the wood to be as cheap as the pine. ;D

[LafayetteCCurtis]

Not an ARMA member myself, but I can help assure you that there are people studying martial techniques of the spear. I've been studying the German spear techniques on and off--right now I'm trying to save to get Brian&David's book on Mair's polearms just for that purpose--and have also been doing some extrapolative work on spear-and-shield fighting (especially on more "open" single combat forms as opposed to the "closed" shieldwall forms of formation fighting), borrowing bits and pieces of technique from what little I've learned about sword-and-shield (or sword-and-target) fighting. It's been great fun for me than my friends, as much for the mistakes as for the things that we got (possibly) "right."

[Benjamin Smith]

It's hard to find good hardwood poles. The only online waster maker that sold them got blacklisted a long time ago. A&A only sell them up to 7' and that's pretty common throughout most of the martial arts community and on the short side for most European staffs and spears. 5-7' works great for shorter polearms though, and those are readily available. You might be able to special order some from the guys who sell these.

[Stacy Clifford]

Also study the English staff sources, particularly Swetnam, who emphasizes thrusting over striking. If you look closely at this picture from George Silver's Paradoxes of Defence you'll notice that the staff in the picture has sharp pointed butt caps on both ends. Silver has a bit more striking in his instruction, but a spear is still just a staff with a knife on one end, and if somebody gets inside your spear point you'll need to use it like a staff to defend yourself.

[Cooper Braun]

While we are on the topic, does anyone know or has anyone done the research, as to the length of historical spears?

I personally sort of go by the rule that short spear should be about the height of the user, and long spear should be the height to the user's fingertips when his arm is held straight upwards. This however is just what feels comfortable to me.

[Brent Lambell]

Most of the information I have seen on spears has ranged them from about six to nine feet depending on where, when and for what purpose. I can imagine, however, spears shorter and longer than that being used as necessary. Think of the pike - its basically a really long spear that measured out over twenty feet on some weapons.