Project Update: Spears and Dragon's Breath

Hello Everyone!

We're back after the winter holidays and the start of the semester at UWM.

We managed to return to the forge and continue our work re-creating the spears from Speckhau Tumulus 17 Grave 1(5th century B.C.) near the Iron Age hillfort of the Heuneburg in southwest Germany. Based on artist's renderings of the original artifacts, the spears are supposed to be around 22 inches long. Both spears have a distinctive central rib (or spine) running the length of the weapon. For now, we are focusing our efforts on the spear-heads, since next to nothing survives of the shaft; we do know that the shaft was made of ash wood, but we do not know how long it was. Wood tends not to survive in the archaeological record, unless preserved under specific conditions.

Cross-section of the spear from our test piece

After several experiments, we determined the best method for forging our prototype spears. We started by heating up a four-and-a-half foot piece of mild steel (higher-quality iron) in the forge and cutting it down to appropriate size. We estimated that a 14-inch bar would give us enough material to draw out the "body" of the spear.

The 4.5 foot steel bar heating up in the forge

Drawing out and tapering the 14 inch bar

Our prototype spear ended up being slightly longer than expected, topping out around 27 inches, not including the socket. Once we had our desired shape - similar to an elongated willow leaf - the next step was to add the central rib or spine. The first step in this process was to cut off a piece of a thin, rounded bar of steel. Next, we used twisted wire to hold the circular bar in place on top of the spear's body and heated this contraption in the forge. Once we had the metal elements properly heated, we used our swage hammer ("metal stamp") to give the circular bar the desired triangular shape. We started hammering at the tip of the spear and worked backwards.

Attaching the circular bar to the spear body

Using the top swage hammer

A key item in effectively gluing the circular bar to the spear was Borax; some sort of silica-based element is needed to act as a bonding agent between two pieces of metal. The ancient Celts would have used sand. When heated to 1600F degrees and then hit with a hammer, Borax tends to "explode." In the blacksmithing community, the flames that burst out of the forge when using coal and Borax are called "dragon's breath."

Using Borax

"Dragon's Breath"

With half the prototype spear completed, our next steps are to add the central rib on the back, forge the socket, and attach the ensemble to the shaft. Stay tuned for our next update!