I really like the mirror finish. Gil-galad apparently agreed: His sword was long, his lance was keen. His shining helm afar was seen; the countless stars of heaven's field were mirrored in his silver shield.
Clearly you have never seen a grinding wheel accident in person. Its not trolling. Its genuine concern for somebody you like and dont want yo see get hurt.
My favourite part is baby Easton ultrasounds and picture on the right! I didn't even know Matt was a parent some weeks ago, let alone the type who hangs child pictures around
i know you mentioned no safety yadda yadda, but something i will say to you, having the bench grinder not bolted down is another issue, if it did come to a full stop for any reason (jammed item) the axle speed will have it leap up off the bench .
You overestimate the energy stored in the wheels of those little grinders. If you jam them, they just stop. Not having it bolted down is just a nuisance, since they tend to wander around. I usually mount mine on a board,which I clamp down to the bench with a g cramp in use. Then when I'm not using it I can shove it out the way at the back, which is what he probably does.
@@qwadratix the small ones you can just clamp them to the edge of the table, bolted in is better. it may not flip but that thing is walking all over the table and looks sketchy
"The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses." - Nahum 3:3
I also have used various grinders for decades. I have never seen a grinder under 10 inches dia., (or 3 HP) explode except when using the guards and tool rests. A 6" grinder with a 1/2 hp motor, @1725 rpm is very unlikely to explode, unless a newbie gets a tool jammed between the tool rest and the wheel. That is when things blow up. The big grinders with the big, high rpm motors, have to be monitored, and shrouded more carefully, because sintered carborundum stones larger than 10 inches build up huge centrifugal forces, and can rip apart if they have voids in them, or become unbalanced even a little bit. Just sayin'
@@RAkers-tu1ey Aluminium clogs up the wheel's pores and then it expands cracking it apart. There are discs that are built to grind non-ferrous metals use then instead.
@@SuperFunkmachine Good info, thanks. I have always used abrasive discs, or belt grinders (or toothed equipment, burrs etc) on non ferrous metals. I do not remember hearing this explanation as to why I was trained that way, but this makes sense.
Matt, I think that the bench grinder being loose on your work table may help you control the cutting technique as the wheel yields to your inputs so as not to cause unwanted material removal.
On another note, you really should instate and follow a better safety protocol. The problem is that you can get away with a lot of things for a long time, but when things go wrong they will go *horribly* wrong. And other things won't hurt you today, but they might very well in the future. So yeah: - no hearing protection - no dust protection/management - sparks flying everywhere including (possibly oily) rags - grinding with the side of the wheel - wheel guard taken off - machine not fixed to table - etc
It would be interesting to see you compare the "modern" or "tactical" versions of bladed weapons, swords, spears, and axes to Medieval types that match them as close as possible, how they might have worked if a warrior of that time somehow, for entertainment's sake, picked one up used it on a period battlefield, and if "battle ready reproduction" versions of period pieces would be a better choice over these modern versions.
Great information! You could attach a small board to the bottom of the grinder and clamp the board down, maybe? As for wheels exploding, a grinding wheel about the size of a car tire exploded at a place that I worked at. I was out that day, but there was dust everywhere for weeks. They also banned the throwing of rags at each other as a rag got thrown into the machine right before the wheel went.
Some of the very best and most realistic illustrations of spearheads of this type can be found in the "Gladiatoria" manuscript from around 1430 or so. This is the treatise where it is suggested to "End him rightly" by removing your sword's pommel and throwing it at your opponent. Little known fact: It doesn't actually say "End him rightly", but rather "End him swiftly" in that particular German dialect.
I'm glad to see talk about the risk of ruining the temper of the steel. When I see people use high speed grinding for sharpening, especially when sparks are thrown consistently, the first thing I think about is "Watch the temperature...". Novice sharpeners don't realize that using abrasives at high speed gets the sharpening material hot enough to change/ruin the temper.
Awesome and informative as usual. Especially given that most spears sold are sold unsharpened! A note: Matt (and others) be careful with grinding wheels. I lost a fingertip to one while trying to bevel an edge (it grew back but it hurt). Make sure if you are wearing safety gloves they have a good grip and aren't slippery. and if you wear a dust mask make sure it won't fog your safety glasses and obscure vision! You only get ten fingers.
Just a tip, if you polish the edge after a coarse belt it will only bring out the grindmarks. Polishing should be done after you sharpened with a very fine belt/sandpaper. And I agree, nothing beats hand sharpening but, as you pointed out, it's more time consuming.
After wanting one since I was in high school (late 1980s- early 1990s), I recently purchased a long-bladed hewing spearhead from Windlass, and one of their flat-ended buttcaps. I got a sufficient ash pole from the hardware store that was sold as a replacement shovel haft, and attached them, and the overall project is almost exactly what I wanted. I say almost, because I would have preferred the head to have had lugs or wings, but they apparently don’t make one. I considered the boar spear from Cold Steel, but I really don’t like that there isn’t a true socket for attachment, just some flanges that bend around the shaft on one side and leave it exposed there. I also found that even though other companies make long bladed winged spears, the cost difference between a head with and a head without lugs is about $100- so about $45-50 for a plain one, and $145-150 for a winged version. Anyway- my main point was that even though I’m quite happy to have the spearhead that I got, it’s not sharpened at all. It’s fine for thrusting, but I wanted a hewing spear, well, for hewing. I used to have a grinding wheel like the one you used here, and plan on replacing it, as they’re relatively inexpensive here (in the US). The only problem is that I have already permanently attached the head to the shaft, so it makes it that much harder to maneuver the shaft around to get it properly situated against the grinding wheel. I guess I should mount the new grinder to the end of the workbench next to the window, so that the shaft can just stick out when grinding the other side😆. Thanks for another great video!
Another Schola video watched en garde. I've used these to put a lot of false edges on machetes or repair edge damage (a friend chopped at a random tree that had a large railroad spike embedded in it several times before realizing what happened!). When you started grinding, I could smell the steel. Sound historical and martial information (to the best of my knowledge), as always One trick I learned was to plunge the blade into cold water (preferably, the snow outside!) before grinding and periodically. Keeping the steel at a lower temperature made it less likely to "burn" and ruin the temper with those nasty heat marks, what I called as kid "poisoning the metal" The Ken Onion edition worksharp is a lot better IMO. I've never overheated an edge, and I got all the belt options, a few of them very fine and a few more coarse. The machete and arming sword I sharpened held edges as well or better than any other I've ever put on a blade. Granted, I've spent several hours several days in a row on a single blade before lol, extra time input makes a big difference
Matt, advice from an amateur bladesmith. You might have better luck with the belt sharpener if you use the edge with the belt direction rather than against it, and rest the flat against the black plastic bit. That will help you keep a steadier angle. It will leave a larger burr that way, but that is not too hard to remove in the buffing step. Also I'd recommend using the buffer across the edge (with it, NEVER against).
Biggest reason i see to move away from a mirror polish is to hide imperfections in the smoothness of the finish. With a satin/bead blasted/brushed finish if the surface isn't perfectly smooth it's more difficult to tell. Once you go for a mirror polish any slight dip or rise in the finish will distort the reflection. We as a species seem to notice imperfections quite easily, therefore I would assume that for most of the time they would settle with the satin finish for this reason unless it was for a very prestigious client
An open-weave non-skid rubber mat (often found where shelf paper is sold) would do a lot toward keeping the grinder from moving about. It can also dampen some of the vibration through the table when place under a grinder that is bolted down.
Beautifully done! Since you mentioned having quite a lot of spear heads, have you considered recording a video about shaft making (and getting the whole spear mounted, of course). Would love that! Cheers!
Last time I sharpened something (an axe in an entrenching tool set) I used a concrete block that's topping the divider between a flower bed and the driveway, it worked good enough to get the blunt factory edge into workable sharpness and .5mm thick paint off.
You can grind a tin can open on concrete, just grind away the lip crimp. And the unfinished porcelain bottom of a coffee (tea?) cup is an ersatz porcelain sharpening stone. We get so focused on "definitions," that we forget characteristics are what matter.
Picked up a fast and dirty ozito bench grinder a few years ago for somewhere between $30 and $50 AUD, the stone wheel was horribly aggressive for sharpening, good enough for shaping stock into knives, (if slightly soft), but I got some better quality belts for the belt sanding side and it has made my life so much easier. So a cheap tool with a "getter done" business end can get you into the hobby for years if you can spare the cost of a pack of smokes.
As someone who uses grinders all the time (I sharpen and fit scissors commercially) I feel like someone needs to point out that using the side of a wheel like this is potentially very dangerous. It can cause the wheel to blow out and could cause really serious injuries. You can get wheels or discs with flat faces for grinding if you need them but if you're going to do this with a stone wheel you could at least keep your body out of the 'line of fire,' as it were. That said the wheels/discs for flat grinding are usually brazed or electroplated diamond and move metal much faster and with less heat so there is an added bonus to using them.
There are many videos on youtube showing you how to use the WorkSharp models. There is a speed control for the belt speed and you can tilt the head of the sander to use it as a free hand belt grinder while locking the work piece in a vise
Would appreciate if you would make a video about fitting the shaft and turning this into a finished spear! And then of course a test video with different types of armor/shield.
I sold my grinding wheel after discovering the Ken Onion Edition of the Worksharp. Not exactly cheap, but capable of many edge angles and producing a razor edge on lots of things, all the way up to rough edges on garden tools like hoes and shovels. My kitchen knives are now so much better, as are my pocket knives. The tip on checking heat could perhaps be better emphasized. Power tools can really mess up the temper of a blade quickly. Don't ask how I know this. I did own a grinding wheel...
I had a Sunday school teacher years ago who fought in the Korean War as an infantryman. He gave me advice when he heard I was going to be a paratrooper. He said when you bayonet a man, the suction sometimes holds the blade in. He said to just pull the trigger. Comes out easy then.
Attach a board to your grinder, clamp it in your work mate bench. No more wandering and you can hang it up when not in use. As for grinding wheels exploding, yeah they can. Saw it once, long ago. Apparently, someone had been grinding copper and aluminum on a standard wheel. He came along began grinding some steel and ended up with a fist sized chunk of wheel in his gut.
Matt, as a matter of interest, I have found a handy gadget for roughing out edges on spears, swords etc which on ebay is marketed as "Lawn Mower Blade Sharpener Grinding Power Drill Tools For Rotary FW" ? and consists of a couple of circular small stones on a shaft with angled surfaces between them, giving an equal bevel on each side of the object being sharpened. Can be used on Dremel, drill or die grinder, and costs about Au$7.50 (under4 GBP)
PRO-TIP Bolt the grinder, or vise, or whatever, to a flat piece of 1" x 12" and then you can clamp it to the bench in use, but put it on a shelf to store it.
‘That Works’. I think it’s a play on Iron Works, or Joe Blogg’s works, something like that. They are always making swords n stuff- they do a lot of fuller grinding with sanding wheels but Ilya (Slavic is best) likes to mix old ways and new. He does a fair bit of fullering with a tool, like the medieval illustration you used, and it has a metal blade. Metal cutting/scraping metal.
Oh god I'm glad your family is safe and sound. Was sharpening a 1855 pattern cutlass this afternoon alongside cleaning a 1855 Italian/ Savoy-Piemont-Sardinia horse artillery sabre cause everybody loves 1855- and Crimea, first thing popping to my mind- I suppose. Beyond the anecdote nice tutorial though I feel sad for my Ballistol when I see your W40, plus I hate machines, only trusting (wet) stones. But anyway take care see you. Cheers!
Speaking about the issue of bayonets getting stuck in the target, a friend told me that the body has like a sort of defense mechanism to prevent objects from entring deeper in the flesh, it seems like the muscles contract to stop the object. I guess in the case of a bayonet this causes the steel to get stuck if it posses no sharp edges.
I think that scalding with hot water is (some of the time) worse than touching hot iron is not due to inherently more energy being stored in water. The Leidenfrost effect lets you touch hot metal surfaces for a short instance without getting burned. That being said, I've hurt myself worse on hot metal than I ever did with hot water.
Take the guard off and turn your grinder around so the wheel rotated away from you. Use the top of the wheel. If the wheel bites and throws the knife, spear head etc. it’ll throw it into the wall and not into you.
Just a theory; what about only sharpening the first few centimeters of the tip since it is a stabbing weapon to injure and not meant really to penetrate too deeply and therefor left blunt further back. making it easier and quicker to pull out again. That mass of steel is more there to support and strengthen the tip I think. If you for instance take the 1916 belgium bajonet hollow ground triangle blade with only a sharpened first few centimeters.
A trick for dealing with the metal slivers keep some liquid skin around paint your fingers with the liquid skin and the slivers will come out when the liquid skin gets peeled off and again like I was saying you don't want to mess with the temper and the liquid skin will not cause you to not feel how hot that blade is if it gets too hot for your fingers it's close enough you might want to dip it
NO gloves with rotary tools! If the tool hooks on to your glove it can rip out a finger or two and grind into your hand. And don't think you will be faster than the tool. Thousands of people thought so too.
I worked in glass and aluminium window factory years ago. A young fella got a job with us and one of his first jobs was to drill drain holes in some aluminium extrusion. Unbeknownst to us he decided to wear gloves because it was a cold morning. Anyways, glove got caught in the drill press and did quite significant damage to his fingers. Anything turning or spinning i will not wear gloves while holding the part (of course some machines use clamps etc and im fine with that, chips and swarf can be sharp)
Were originals sharp on both edges? Because arrowheads of that shape work better with just one sharp edge. That may sound counter intuitive, but it makes perfect sense: if both edges are sharp and you hit the ribcage, then both edges cut into a different rib and you must have enough momentum to overcome a lot of friction and cut them both. Otherwise you end up with both edges stuck half way through the bones. With only one sharp edge the blunt side slides along the rib's surface, which doesn't cause much friction, and presses the sharp side into the opposite rib and you only need to cut through that one bone. That maybe the same when splitting chain maille rings and that's probably also the reason why hunting swords and knives were single edged. Would be interesting to test which gives deeper penetration.
I used to work as a carpenter and another reason i never used gloves with the many dangerous powertools Was more psychological: Gloves give you a false sense of protection that simply isnt there. When you get caught in something spinning at a few thousand revs a second it will mess you up, gloves or not, so better to have that in your mind at all Times than to get sloppy Because your brain goes "oh i got gloves, im good"
Now that i think about it, i know work as a grip/electric/gaffer on movies and i still rarely use gloves (more for electrical reason than mechanical). The first year i pinched the f out of my hands all the time, now i simply know exactly where to put my hands so i dont get hurt. I just feel like people with gloves get hurt more Because they never really learn how to handle their gear without doing so
I was fiddling around trying my hand at chainmail making (using a 1/4 inch steel rod chucked into a powerdrill as a mandrel) and i managed to get my index finger bound to the rod when the 18ga wire i was using grabbed my glove and yanked it into the coil. Fractured the bone and had to cut the wire off (it was to tightly tangled to unwind). Never again.
Wait..........are the HEMA people who hit each other with swords, axes and spears actually complaining about the dangers here? Sometimes I have to wonder......
@@coreys2686 The uncovered grindwheel: true. But i cringe mostly over the way he grinds and the the risk of catching the blade. I would, strongly, recommend him to learn to grind on the lower part of the wheel and to grind from him instead of towards him. And don´t get me started on buffing sharp objects....Frightening.
I would always youse a grinding wheel with water cooling for this type of sharpening, while you are not geting it hot enough to mess up the hardening of the whole spearhead, I would be worried that the edge will have received damage by this, and as a little note, I have worked with both in the past
Call me dumb but why is there such a big hole in the socket? Is that for fitting the head to the shaft? If so, why is it so unshapely and why only on one side? I'd imagine this doesn't hold a nail very well. I understand that the metal was folded around here and this is just where the two sides meet but I'd have imagined they'd be connected somehow or at least shaped more elegantly?
It is just where the two sides meet. It could be made prettier, but that would likely raise the price too. Some people would be willing to pay for that, some just want budget functional.
Not having your bench grinder bolted down is frightening itself. Loose hoodie and gloves on with spinning free floating bench grinder is outright madness.
The 21st century version of the potters wheel? I am showing my age! A question, would the edge be sharpened with a narrow grind? I am thinking if the whole flat side would be ground flat giving a much sharper edge, although this may result in the edge being dull quicker with use. Your thoughts on this.
I use an edgepro (a cheapo from china) for my sharpning of the knifes i make, it's nice and precies. not quicker than freehanding, but repeateble and precies. and overheating with beltgrinders is a big thing for sure, literaly 0.5 sec to long and the temper on the tip can be ruined. ( i have a big 2x72inch 2hp grinder) and it does magictricks with your fingertips and nails. tadaaaaah you now have a hole in your fingernail.
As for polishing; Do you think that any soldier in a triumph would not have polished everything they could have and looked as good as possible? Another interesting note, there's a phrase "campaign season" which denotes a time of year when wars were fought. I wonder if a good polish at the end of the season would make the weapon easier to maintain and sharpen at the beginning of the next season. I think with the right polishing compound a weapon could possibly be set aside and then picked up when it was needed. Please feel free to enlighten me.
if i may make a reccomendation ive been using a belt and disc sander for knifemaking and sharpening for ages now and the disc sander on it can put a perfect edge on real fast i usually go from 100 to 320 then hit the stones 320 for a touch up and ive never burnt an edge i always find grinding wheels too aggressive however it could be due to me surfacing the disc dead flat as i think the regular ones have a bit of a convex shape to them but its an easy fix with a good chisel and eye protection
While everyone was scared about the virus Matt was busy polishing his spear.
All of it, even the shaft...
Everyone: Quarantined and panicking
Matt: Starts sharpening spearheads
Let the Apocalypse begin!
The Night of the Living Dead ahead.
Yeah but Matt now has a sharp spear and knows how to use it.
You never know when you might find yourself in need of a spear...
"How eccentric!" I say, while carving a haft for a billhook.
@@CSGraves HAH, I did that a week or so ago and am now letting the linseed oil cure on the handle while getting the screws for firm attachment
This goes to all the lusty argonian maids
Plenty of time, my sweet
But it's already nice and polished
You embarrass me, sir!
I love all your videos. More SPEARS please!
Best wishes to Lucy, hope she recovers quickly and the kids are OK. I spy the baby photos and ultrasounds on the wall!
I really like the mirror finish. Gil-galad apparently agreed:
His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.
Matt, place your grinder on an anti slip mat, it won't move about so much they're sold in B&M bargain shops as drawer liners.
Good idea!
@@scholagladiatoria and maybe run a couple of bolts through the holes cast into the foot for the purpose ;)
Craft foam also works.
That reminds me, I have to put an edge on my scottish claymore. For, you know, living history.
Original title: 'Making a spear to battle for the final toilet rolls during the Apocalypse'
Hi
Or just get a bidet like a civilised person
My country's toilet design always has a tap near toilet bowl. With a hose we don't need bidet. In addition, it makes cleaning toilet a lot easier.
I hope that I don't need to take My Norman sword, with Me to the store.
Very enjoyable, good tips.
A neat workbench is an *unused* workbench, Matt.
When I heard Matt was going to be grinding I didn't think it would be like this
Did you consider sharpening the rear straight edges, to facilitate removal from deep wounds? Or to cut on the pull?
I do on my arrow heads, but that isn't necessarily applicable to a spear, nor is it specifically historically influenced.
I agree, I would have at least have sharpened the shoulders
Modern UA-cam protocol, spend 5 minutes explaining to the trolls that you already understand what they will whine about.
Clearly you have never seen a grinding wheel accident in person. Its not trolling. Its genuine concern for somebody you like and dont want yo see get hurt.
Sharpening the arsenal in preparation for defending the loo rolls?
My favourite part is baby Easton ultrasounds and picture on the right! I didn't even know Matt was a parent some weeks ago, let alone the type who hangs child pictures around
Never knew genes included hairstyles!
Their second. They have form.
Makes it look easy. I'm sure if I try to sharpen a blunt spear like this I would mess it up.
i know you mentioned no safety yadda yadda, but something i will say to you, having the bench grinder not bolted down is another issue, if it did come to a full stop for any reason (jammed item) the axle speed will have it leap up off the bench .
You overestimate the energy stored in the wheels of those little grinders. If you jam them, they just stop. Not having it bolted down is just a nuisance, since they tend to wander around. I usually mount mine on a board,which I clamp down to the bench with a g cramp in use. Then when I'm not using it I can shove it out the way at the back, which is what he probably does.
@@qwadratix the small ones you can just clamp them to the edge of the table, bolted in is better. it may not flip but that thing is walking all over the table and looks sketchy
"The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses."
- Nahum 3:3
"And one of the dying foes sayeth "I have corona ACHOO!"."
Mr Easton glad you and your wife are doing better. Your videos are always entertaining. Wish you and your family the best. Cheers
I also have used various grinders for decades. I have never seen a grinder under 10 inches dia., (or 3 HP) explode except when using the guards and tool rests. A 6" grinder with a 1/2 hp motor, @1725 rpm is very unlikely to explode, unless a newbie gets a tool jammed between the tool rest and the wheel. That is when things blow up.
The big grinders with the big, high rpm motors, have to be monitored, and shrouded more carefully, because sintered carborundum stones larger than 10 inches build up huge centrifugal forces, and can rip apart if they have voids in them, or become unbalanced even a little bit. Just sayin'
Smaller grinders do explode if misused, like grinding aluminium or grinding on the sides enough to weaken the wheel.
@@SuperFunkmachine Hmmm, I have never done that... thanks for the input.
I wonder if the aluminum is an imbalance thing ?
@@RAkers-tu1ey Aluminium clogs up the wheel's pores and then it expands cracking it apart.
There are discs that are built to grind non-ferrous metals use then instead.
@@SuperFunkmachine Good info, thanks. I have always used abrasive discs, or belt grinders (or toothed equipment, burrs etc) on non ferrous metals. I do not remember hearing this explanation as to why I was trained that way, but this makes sense.
@@SuperFunkmachine That's good to know! Thanks!
Matt, I think that the bench grinder being loose on your work table may help you control the cutting technique as the wheel yields to your inputs so as not to cause unwanted material removal.
Interesting take on it.
On another note, you really should instate and follow a better safety protocol. The problem is that you can get away with a lot of things for a long time, but when things go wrong they will go *horribly* wrong. And other things won't hurt you today, but they might very well in the future. So yeah:
- no hearing protection
- no dust protection/management
- sparks flying everywhere including (possibly oily) rags
- grinding with the side of the wheel
- wheel guard taken off
- machine not fixed to table
- etc
It would be interesting to see you compare the "modern" or "tactical" versions of bladed weapons, swords, spears, and axes to Medieval types that match them as close as possible, how they might have worked if a warrior of that time somehow, for entertainment's sake, picked one up used it on a period battlefield, and if "battle ready reproduction" versions of period pieces would be a better choice over these modern versions.
You may want to think of hearing protection. Even the foam earplugs are better than nothing.
EeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEeeeeeeee
Great information! You could attach a small board to the bottom of the grinder and clamp the board down, maybe?
As for wheels exploding, a grinding wheel about the size of a car tire exploded at a place that I worked at. I was out that day, but there was dust everywhere for weeks. They also banned the throwing of rags at each other as a rag got thrown into the machine right before the wheel went.
Some of the very best and most realistic illustrations of spearheads of this type can be found in the "Gladiatoria" manuscript from around 1430 or so. This is the treatise where it is suggested to "End him rightly" by removing your sword's pommel and throwing it at your opponent. Little known fact: It doesn't actually say "End him rightly", but rather "End him swiftly" in that particular German dialect.
I'm glad to see talk about the risk of ruining the temper of the steel. When I see people use high speed grinding for sharpening, especially when sparks are thrown consistently, the first thing I think about is "Watch the temperature...".
Novice sharpeners don't realize that using abrasives at high speed gets the sharpening material hot enough to change/ruin the temper.
Awesome and informative as usual. Especially given that most spears sold are sold unsharpened!
A note: Matt (and others) be careful with grinding wheels. I lost a fingertip to one while trying to bevel an edge (it grew back but it hurt). Make sure if you are wearing safety gloves they have a good grip and aren't slippery. and if you wear a dust mask make sure it won't fog your safety glasses and obscure vision! You only get ten fingers.
Just a tip, if you polish the edge after a coarse belt it will only bring out the grindmarks.
Polishing should be done after you sharpened with a very fine belt/sandpaper.
And I agree, nothing beats hand sharpening but, as you pointed out, it's more time consuming.
After wanting one since I was in high school (late 1980s- early 1990s), I recently purchased a long-bladed hewing spearhead from Windlass, and one of their flat-ended buttcaps. I got a sufficient ash pole from the hardware store that was sold as a replacement shovel haft, and attached them, and the overall project is almost exactly what I wanted. I say almost, because I would have preferred the head to have had lugs or wings, but they apparently don’t make one. I considered the boar spear from Cold Steel, but I really don’t like that there isn’t a true socket for attachment, just some flanges that bend around the shaft on one side and leave it exposed there. I also found that even though other companies make long bladed winged spears, the cost difference between a head with and a head without lugs is about $100- so about $45-50 for a plain one, and $145-150 for a winged version. Anyway- my main point was that even though I’m quite happy to have the spearhead that I got, it’s not sharpened at all. It’s fine for thrusting, but I wanted a hewing spear, well, for hewing. I used to have a grinding wheel like the one you used here, and plan on replacing it, as they’re relatively inexpensive here (in the US). The only problem is that I have already permanently attached the head to the shaft, so it makes it that much harder to maneuver the shaft around to get it properly situated against the grinding wheel. I guess I should mount the new grinder to the end of the workbench next to the window, so that the shaft can just stick out when grinding the other side😆. Thanks for another great video!
lately Ive been into sharpening and seeibg these sharpening videos are just up my ally lately.
Another Schola video watched en garde. I've used these to put a lot of false edges on machetes or repair edge damage (a friend chopped at a random tree that had a large railroad spike embedded in it several times before realizing what happened!). When you started grinding, I could smell the steel. Sound historical and martial information (to the best of my knowledge), as always
One trick I learned was to plunge the blade into cold water (preferably, the snow outside!) before grinding and periodically. Keeping the steel at a lower temperature made it less likely to "burn" and ruin the temper with those nasty heat marks, what I called as kid "poisoning the metal"
The Ken Onion edition worksharp is a lot better IMO. I've never overheated an edge, and I got all the belt options, a few of them very fine and a few more coarse. The machete and arming sword I sharpened held edges as well or better than any other I've ever put on a blade. Granted, I've spent several hours several days in a row on a single blade before lol, extra time input makes a big difference
Matt, my son calls you "Swordon Ramsay".
Matt, advice from an amateur bladesmith. You might have better luck with the belt sharpener if you use the edge with the belt direction rather than against it, and rest the flat against the black plastic bit. That will help you keep a steadier angle. It will leave a larger burr that way, but that is not too hard to remove in the buffing step. Also I'd recommend using the buffer across the edge (with it, NEVER against).
Biggest reason i see to move away from a mirror polish is to hide imperfections in the smoothness of the finish. With a satin/bead blasted/brushed finish if the surface isn't perfectly smooth it's more difficult to tell. Once you go for a mirror polish any slight dip or rise in the finish will distort the reflection. We as a species seem to notice imperfections quite easily, therefore I would assume that for most of the time they would settle with the satin finish for this reason unless it was for a very prestigious client
An open-weave non-skid rubber mat (often found where shelf paper is sold) would do a lot toward keeping the grinder from moving about. It can also dampen some of the vibration through the table when place under a grinder that is bolted down.
Beautifully done!
Since you mentioned having quite a lot of spear heads, have you considered recording a video about shaft making (and getting the whole spear mounted, of course). Would love that! Cheers!
2:27 Matt becomes french for half a second.
I was looking for this comment. Now to wait and see if Lindybeige shows up.
"quite a fat shaft" And the facade drops!
The "Hahaha" part?
you have a very cool and british family history.
7:40, damit Matt's got moves! A great advantage in HEMA i guess.
Last time I sharpened something (an axe in an entrenching tool set)
I used a concrete block that's topping the divider between a flower bed and the driveway, it worked good enough to get the blunt factory edge into workable sharpness and .5mm thick paint off.
You can grind a tin can open on concrete, just grind away the lip crimp. And the unfinished porcelain bottom of a coffee (tea?) cup is an ersatz porcelain sharpening stone. We get so focused on "definitions," that we forget characteristics are what matter.
Matt: There are many ways to skin a cat...
Catt Easton: ?!!!
Matt: ... so to speak.
Catt Easton: Now watch your mouth there, young man.
So upset this comment isn't higher.
No cats were skinned in the making of this video.
That happened after.
@@interdictr3657 Nooooo! Cat Easton can defend themselves. Probably has custom wootz claws.
@@pseudomonad I'm getting this image of Matt rubbing back his claws to check if its wootz LUL
@@interdictr3657 😂
The amount that I have learned from you over the years is incredible. You are one sh*t hot teacher. Thank you Matt.
Picked up a fast and dirty ozito bench grinder a few years ago for somewhere between $30 and $50 AUD, the stone wheel was horribly aggressive for sharpening, good enough for shaping stock into knives, (if slightly soft), but I got some better quality belts for the belt sanding side and it has made my life so much easier.
So a cheap tool with a "getter done" business end can get you into the hobby for years if you can spare the cost of a pack of smokes.
As someone who uses grinders all the time (I sharpen and fit scissors commercially) I feel like someone needs to point out that using the side of a wheel like this is potentially very dangerous. It can cause the wheel to blow out and could cause really serious injuries. You can get wheels or discs with flat faces for grinding if you need them but if you're going to do this with a stone wheel you could at least keep your body out of the 'line of fire,' as it were. That said the wheels/discs for flat grinding are usually brazed or electroplated diamond and move metal much faster and with less heat so there is an added bonus to using them.
I would love more of this kind of content, cheers!
Oh, great! How nice to see this spear :-). It is one of my first :-). Great video!
There are many videos on youtube showing you how to use the WorkSharp models. There is a speed control for the belt speed and you can tilt the head of the sander to use it as a free hand belt grinder while locking the work piece in a vise
Would appreciate if you would make a video about fitting the shaft and turning this into a finished spear! And then of course a test video with different types of armor/shield.
I sold my grinding wheel after discovering the Ken Onion Edition of the Worksharp. Not exactly cheap, but capable of many edge angles and producing a razor edge on lots of things, all the way up to rough edges on garden tools like hoes and shovels.
My kitchen knives are now so much better, as are my pocket knives.
The tip on checking heat could perhaps be better emphasized. Power tools can really mess up the temper of a blade quickly. Don't ask how I know this. I did own a grinding wheel...
This was fascinating, thanks so much for sharing Matt!
I had a Sunday school teacher years ago who fought in the Korean War as an infantryman. He gave me advice when he heard I was going to be a paratrooper. He said when you bayonet a man, the suction sometimes holds the blade in. He said to just pull the trigger. Comes out easy then.
Fun stuff. I was sitting her watching you while using a stone on my Windlass American Revolution Saber. Seemed appropriate :D
Can you do a video on edge geometry, function , and uses, please?
Attach a board to your grinder, clamp it in your work mate bench. No more wandering and you can hang it up when not in use. As for grinding wheels exploding, yeah they can. Saw it once, long ago. Apparently, someone had been grinding copper and aluminum on a standard wheel. He came along began grinding some steel and ended up with a fist sized chunk of wheel in his gut.
Speedy recovery to you and Miss Lucy.
And... you haven't changed. :) Hope the fam is well, and recovery is swift.
Juggling kids:
Its just a figure of speach in the beginning of the quarantine.
but after a few weeks? ......
I think a video about how to shave with a spear head, sounds like a brilliant idea. I'll be looking forward to it Matt.
Matt, as a matter of interest, I have found a handy gadget for roughing out edges on spears, swords etc which on ebay is marketed as "Lawn Mower Blade Sharpener Grinding Power Drill Tools For Rotary FW" ? and consists of a couple of circular small stones on a shaft with angled surfaces between them, giving an equal bevel on each side of the object being sharpened. Can be used on Dremel, drill or die grinder, and costs about Au$7.50 (under4 GBP)
PRO-TIP Bolt the grinder, or vise, or whatever, to a flat piece of 1" x 12" and then you can clamp it to the bench in use, but put it on a shelf to store it.
I hope you stay well matt, good thing that your family is well too.
Wish you and the family well during the roller coaster ride
‘That Works’. I think it’s a play on Iron Works, or Joe Blogg’s works, something like that. They are always making swords n stuff- they do a lot of fuller grinding with sanding wheels but Ilya (Slavic is best) likes to mix old ways and new. He does a fair bit of fullering with a tool, like the medieval illustration you used, and it has a metal blade. Metal cutting/scraping metal.
Oh god I'm glad your family is safe and sound. Was sharpening a 1855 pattern cutlass this afternoon alongside cleaning a 1855 Italian/ Savoy-Piemont-Sardinia horse artillery sabre cause everybody loves 1855- and Crimea, first thing popping to my mind- I suppose.
Beyond the anecdote nice tutorial though I feel sad for my Ballistol when I see your W40, plus I hate machines, only trusting (wet) stones. But anyway take care see you. Cheers!
Speaking about the issue of bayonets getting stuck in the target, a friend told me that the body has like a sort of defense mechanism to prevent objects from entring deeper in the flesh, it seems like the muscles contract to stop the object. I guess in the case of a bayonet this causes the steel to get stuck if it posses no sharp edges.
I think that scalding with hot water is (some of the time) worse than touching hot iron is not due to inherently more energy being stored in water. The Leidenfrost effect lets you touch hot metal surfaces for a short instance without getting burned. That being said, I've hurt myself worse on hot metal than I ever did with hot water.
Take the guard off and turn your grinder around so the wheel rotated away from you. Use the top of the wheel. If the wheel bites and throws the knife, spear head etc. it’ll throw it into the wall and not into you.
Just a theory; what about only sharpening the first few centimeters of the tip since it is a stabbing weapon to injure and not meant really to penetrate too deeply and therefor left blunt further back. making it easier and quicker to pull out again.
That mass of steel is more there to support and strengthen the tip I think. If you for instance take the 1916 belgium bajonet hollow ground triangle blade with only a sharpened first few centimeters.
A trick for dealing with the metal slivers keep some liquid skin around paint your fingers with the liquid skin and the slivers will come out when the liquid skin gets peeled off and again like I was saying you don't want to mess with the temper and the liquid skin will not cause you to not feel how hot that blade is if it gets too hot for your fingers it's close enough you might want to dip it
NO gloves with rotary tools! If the tool hooks on to your glove it can rip out a finger or two and grind into your hand. And don't think you will be faster than the tool. Thousands of people thought so too.
yeeaaah. damian made 2 lovely swords for me. I recomend him
I worked in glass and aluminium window factory years ago. A young fella got a job with us and one of his first jobs was to drill drain holes in some aluminium extrusion. Unbeknownst to us he decided to wear gloves because it was a cold morning. Anyways, glove got caught in the drill press and did quite significant damage to his fingers. Anything turning or spinning i will not wear gloves while holding the part (of course some machines use clamps etc and im fine with that, chips and swarf can be sharp)
Were originals sharp on both edges? Because arrowheads of that shape work better with just one sharp edge. That may sound counter intuitive, but it makes perfect sense: if both edges are sharp and you hit the ribcage, then both edges cut into a different rib and you must have enough momentum to overcome a lot of friction and cut them both. Otherwise you end up with both edges stuck half way through the bones. With only one sharp edge the blunt side slides along the rib's surface, which doesn't cause much friction, and presses the sharp side into the opposite rib and you only need to cut through that one bone. That maybe the same when splitting chain maille rings and that's probably also the reason why hunting swords and knives were single edged. Would be interesting to test which gives deeper penetration.
When I saw that spearhead, I first thought it was an Iron Age Celtic spearhead. Had no idea it was a 14th century one!
I used to work as a carpenter and another reason i never used gloves with the many dangerous powertools Was more psychological:
Gloves give you a false sense of protection that simply isnt there.
When you get caught in something spinning at a few thousand revs a second it will mess you up, gloves or not, so better to have that in your mind at all Times than to get sloppy Because your brain goes "oh i got gloves, im good"
Now that i think about it, i know work as a grip/electric/gaffer on movies and i still rarely use gloves (more for electrical reason than mechanical). The first year i pinched the f out of my hands all the time, now i simply know exactly where to put my hands so i dont get hurt. I just feel like people with gloves get hurt more Because they never really learn how to handle their gear without doing so
I was fiddling around trying my hand at chainmail making (using a 1/4 inch steel rod chucked into a powerdrill as a mandrel) and i managed to get my index finger bound to the rod when the 18ga wire i was using grabbed my glove and yanked it into the coil. Fractured the bone and had to cut the wire off (it was to tightly tangled to unwind). Never again.
Grinding and polishing my tip, juggling babies, skinning cats what are you getting me into?
Important advice with this grinding wheel .. don't ever try grinding against an edge of anything :)
Excellent! All the polearm heads, please...
Safety tip: bench grinder should be bolted to the bench.
I like to use files and a stone. I am always afraid of heating the metal up. Super safe and easy to pack
this is exactly what I need at the moment :) have several blunt ones..
The safety minded bench jeweler i am is cringing. Please be safe with that unsecured grinder. 😳
It's like watching my uncle work :-)
I agree, this is painful to watch. So much unessesary risktaking.
@@RiderOftheNorth1968 not much of a risk. Its a low consequence type of thing anyway.
Wait..........are the HEMA people who hit each other with swords, axes and spears actually complaining about the dangers here? Sometimes I have to wonder......
@@coreys2686 The uncovered grindwheel: true. But i cringe mostly over the way he grinds and the the risk of catching the blade. I would, strongly, recommend him to learn to grind on the lower part of the wheel and to grind from him instead of towards him. And don´t get me started on buffing sharp objects....Frightening.
Oh no! I never saw him using a safety t-shirt. Better call Sprave so he can send him one
I would always youse a grinding wheel with water cooling for this type of sharpening, while you are not geting it hot enough to mess up the hardening of the whole spearhead, I would be worried that the edge will have received damage by this, and as a little note, I have worked with both in the past
Call me dumb but why is there such a big hole in the socket? Is that for fitting the head to the shaft? If so, why is it so unshapely and why only on one side? I'd imagine this doesn't hold a nail very well. I understand that the metal was folded around here and this is just where the two sides meet but I'd have imagined they'd be connected somehow or at least shaped more elegantly?
It is just where the two sides meet. It could be made prettier, but that would likely raise the price too. Some people would be willing to pay for that, some just want budget functional.
There should be a a tiny bit of sparks coming over the top of the blade. To get the angle right... 😁
Not having your bench grinder bolted down is frightening itself. Loose hoodie and gloves on with spinning free floating bench grinder is outright madness.
lol
Need to live on the edge XD
I had no idea you even could bolt these things. I used to use one without glasses, even. You guys should live in the third world a little :).
The 21st century version of the potters wheel? I am showing my age! A question, would the edge be sharpened with a narrow grind? I am thinking if the whole flat side would be ground flat giving a much sharper edge, although this may result in the edge being dull quicker with use. Your thoughts on this.
Matt's got a more traditional approach to preparing for the boogaloo :P
I use an edgepro (a cheapo from china) for my sharpning of the knifes i make, it's nice and precies. not quicker than freehanding, but repeateble and precies.
and overheating with beltgrinders is a big thing for sure, literaly 0.5 sec to long and the temper on the tip can be ruined. ( i have a big 2x72inch 2hp grinder)
and it does magictricks with your fingertips and nails. tadaaaaah you now have a hole in your fingernail.
As for polishing; Do you think that any soldier in a triumph would not have polished everything they could have and looked as good as possible?
Another interesting note, there's a phrase "campaign season" which denotes a time of year when wars were fought. I wonder if a good polish at the end of the season would make the weapon easier to maintain and sharpen at the beginning of the next season. I think with the right polishing compound a weapon could possibly be set aside and then picked up when it was needed. Please feel free to enlighten me.
Ooh Shiny! Btw: Save up a bit more, and buy the Ken Onion version of the Worksharp; it can be mounted, and is a lot more versatile.
Is a spear a large arrow without fletching, or is an arrow a tiny spear with fletching?
Carter Yasutake I could be wrong on this, but my guess is, as the spear came before the arrow, the arrow is a tiny spear
Why always use wd-40 for cleaning? Would it not be more effective to remove grease with brake cleaner?
Those some Dungeons and Dragons books I see on your shelf?
if i may make a reccomendation ive been using a belt and disc sander for knifemaking and sharpening for ages now and the disc sander on it can put a perfect edge on real fast i usually go from 100 to 320 then hit the stones
320 for a touch up and ive never burnt an edge
i always find grinding wheels too aggressive however it could be due to me surfacing the disc dead flat as i think the regular ones have a bit of a convex shape to them
but its an easy fix with a good chisel and eye protection
A lot of people have spent their time in quarantine polishing their.. erm.. spears
Safety goggles should only be worn in some...contexts. :D