Tanged Pilum Construction

[habbs]

Does anyone have a really efficient way of constructing a "square" pilum? I'm wondering the following:

Dimensions of the wooden handle

How to form the block

length and diameter of the iron head

placement of balance point

I have access to a shop full of tools including a turning lathe and a dowel jig. My carpentry skills are pretty decent and forging the head will not be a problem. I just need to know the dimensions and any tricks would be great.


Thanks.

[Peroni]

Seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfS1LBHBr8A

[habbs]

I've seen wdsmbob hammering out the head. That should be easy for me. What size rod though?

[PhilusEstilius]

After Adrians' good link comes the wood shank and it's block, this is where you need around 1.5 meters of 6 cm square section piece of wood.
The block needs to be about 15 cm long with the end tapered down to 3 cm from the first 9 cm of it's length 4 cuts no problem.
With the block established you now have to cut off the 4 corners of the rest of the shank, this is more easily done by marking lines 15mm from the corners on each of the 4 faces of the shank.
These corners are more easy cut by making two pieces of plywood with 90 degree V shapes in them and nailing them to a saw stool on the ends this way you have a jig to hold the shank while you hand saw the corners off.
This now gives you a shank that is hexagon in shape put the whole thing in a vice and with a course rasp you round it off until it is about 38 to 40 mm diameter or just comfortable to hold.
I would suggest 4 small cuts behind the block at about 45 degrees so you have a neat lower end to the block after you cut the 4 corners off the shank. It's now mostly sanding down to smooth.
The iron tang now needs a slot cutting in the block this is done by first drilling a hole only as thick as the tang thro' the block, the position of the hole is determined by the length of the tang. Then you need to take out the strip of wood from the block with a fine saw, then when this is done it allows to determine where you put the 2 holes that hold the two things together.
When you reach this stage you then need a piece of square section tube that goes over the point and drops down to the block end that is 30mm square, this helps reinforce the end of the block.
The final point is the point which you need on the end of the shank, one of the best things for this is go find a metal funnel that bakers use to ice cakes there great.

[Matthew Amt]

Also this:

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/pilum.html

As far as I can tell, on pilum heads from the Principate the point was never thicker than the base of the shank. So you can use 3/8" square-section rod (c. 1cm) and just narrow the part behind the point, without having to thicken the point at all. Typically, about a third of the length of the shank is square-sectioned, the next third is transitioning square-to-round, and the top third (below the point) is round in section. But there are at least a few that are square all the way up (tapered, of course), and I think a few that are round all the way. You *might* want to fold a few inches up at the bottom to allow a beefier tang.

The world needs more good pila!

Matthew