Cold Steel Boar Spear
Feb 22, 2007 5:41:30 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2007 5:41:30 GMT
(pics Coming soon).
The spear arrived in a rather long and rather unsuspecting box, as most things do when sent by UPS. To be completely honest I didn't even see it on my way through the front room when I came home from work. When it was brought to my attention, I was ecstatic.
Upon opening the box(which had clearly been on the bottom of a rather large pile of other boxes in the ups-truck), I was pleased to see that the spearhead and haft were both entirely intact and undamaged. The head itself was attached via packing tape and packing-bubbles to the haft. I had to break out a knife to get them all separated.
At first, it appeared that the entire haft had been vacuum wrapped in some form of very thin plastic akin to shrinkwrap. Further inspection revealed this to be a finishing-sealant for the wood. I find it unattractive, but utilitarian.
The head itstelf was gorgeous. Much larger in life than when seen on the Cold Steel DvDs. For about 5 minutes I just held it in my hand by the neck, and slowly waved it about and felt it. It is a no-nonsense blade with a raised center ridge that terminates about an inch or so from the tip. It was surprisingly light, but felt incredibly solid.
2 small screws accompanied the package, and sure enough, there were two small holes in the neck of the spear. The haft was very clearly cut to fit into the head a certain way, yet it was still quite an ordeal to get the thing on. I had to put all my weight on it and hang off it in order to get the bloody thing on. My efforts were rewarded, and I almost felt like the thing didn't need the screws at all. But, just because it was common sense, I screwed 'em in anyway. I did it by hand, just because ash is a little softer than other woods which made this possible. It still took quite a bit of muscle to get them all the way in though. I'm still glad I didn't use a drill. To do so would be 'cheating' almost.
The whole thing is almost as tall as my ceiling, and I was so excited to get the thing together that my first light and slow swing of the whole thing almost put out my overhead light. now incredibly conscious of the length of this bad-boy, I went outside.
I quickly went through some quick thrusts and chops with it trying out various hand gripping positions to get a feel for it. My first target was the box.
Laying the box down, the weight of the spear alone when i set the tip on the box was enough for it to shear right through - literally like butter. When I propped the box up, I made a quick thrust(amazingly easy) and then decided to 'cut' at it, as the head has a nice long edge.
The blade bit DEEP into the box, but a solid clean cut was unattainable as the box was in such wretched condition(very smooshed and floppy). Fortunately, I had just replaced the hood on a friends car and had the old one. I leaned it up against a tree and had a few gos at thrusting, I didn't feel I needed to warm up anymore. They were ruthless in the DvDs, and I was going to be ruthless now.
My first thrust went right through with about 2 1/2 inches of blade protruding out the under-side of the hood. Upon inspection of the blade, not even the(very even and sleek) black finish was marred in any way. Now I'll admit I didn't get as far through the hood as they did in the Cold Steel DvDs, though this can be attributed to two things: 1) I'm only 160 lbs, and those coldsteel guys are huge. 2) This hood was from a Toyota. Much tougher than those cheap (probably Ford) hoods they used in those dvds.
I then went on to throwing. The thing doesn't feel at all as heavy as I expected. I was able to make some really nice powerful throws from 20 feet away, and could have done more(and later did). Each pierced the hood with that amazing sound of metal shearing metal. Still, absolutely no damage to the blade at all.
I then found a good piece of half-inch thick plywood. Here was my next target. My buddy Tom and I had a good amount of fun with that thing. At first, it was pretty tough, but soon that plywood was doing no better than the hood. On an inspiration, I came up with an idea to REALLY test this blade to the limits...
I set the car hood back up and with a couple practice swings to make sure I was on target, I chopped into the hood as hard as I could. It didn't cut into the hood much at all, but it did ding it up real bad with a huge dent. The spear was still fine.
Then i thrust the spear into the hood and torqued the haft at 90 degrees to the edge alignment. The hole in the hood widened and the spear was fine. That central ridge was doing its work nicely. I don't think this spear would ever need damage repair.
One of the most amazing things about all this was that throughout all of it, the tip and the edges near the tip were still razor sharp. The spear still sinks into cardboard by the weight of the spear alone. This after being abused and beaten on cardboard, plywood, and a car hood. Amazing.
It wasn't until we let my younger brother have a go, when this spear met its match.
My younger brother is 15, 5'6, and about 120 lbs. He's bones and a little skin. He decided to throw the spear into the hood. It pierced as before, but not as deeply, and as the spear haft torqued the hood, the hood fell forward on top of the spear. It didn't look like a very nice thing. The weight of the hood and the leverage of the haft on the ground all torquing the very tip of the spear...
Sure enough, the tip(which didn't penetrate enough to garner the reinforcement of that raised ridge) was bent approximately 1 degree(probably less) out of line with the rest of the spear. It took about a half-hour for us to confirm(we ended up using a laser pointer to tell), but it was there. I imagine putting it into a vice would fix that problem, but it's so tiny as to be not really worth the effort.
When it comes down to it, while it looks decidedly contemporary, this is actually a fairly historical spear. There are no frills, no dangles, just mean cold steel. While I'm not a fan of the staining on the ash haft, or that sealing agent they used(which makes it feel plastic), it's still an attractive weapon. It's just a metal head on a long ash haft. Beauty in simplicity. Considering the $70 I payed(which included the 2nd day shipping charge) to get it to my door from across the country, I couldn't be happier. Kudos Cold Steel, this (almost) makes up for my disappointment when i purchased one of your scottish broadswords.
Cold Steel Boar Spear
Fit And Finish: 3/5
Historical Accuracy: 3/5
Durability: 5/5
Handling: 4/5
Value for money: 4/5
Bottom Line: 4/5
The spear arrived in a rather long and rather unsuspecting box, as most things do when sent by UPS. To be completely honest I didn't even see it on my way through the front room when I came home from work. When it was brought to my attention, I was ecstatic.
Upon opening the box(which had clearly been on the bottom of a rather large pile of other boxes in the ups-truck), I was pleased to see that the spearhead and haft were both entirely intact and undamaged. The head itself was attached via packing tape and packing-bubbles to the haft. I had to break out a knife to get them all separated.
At first, it appeared that the entire haft had been vacuum wrapped in some form of very thin plastic akin to shrinkwrap. Further inspection revealed this to be a finishing-sealant for the wood. I find it unattractive, but utilitarian.
The head itstelf was gorgeous. Much larger in life than when seen on the Cold Steel DvDs. For about 5 minutes I just held it in my hand by the neck, and slowly waved it about and felt it. It is a no-nonsense blade with a raised center ridge that terminates about an inch or so from the tip. It was surprisingly light, but felt incredibly solid.
2 small screws accompanied the package, and sure enough, there were two small holes in the neck of the spear. The haft was very clearly cut to fit into the head a certain way, yet it was still quite an ordeal to get the thing on. I had to put all my weight on it and hang off it in order to get the bloody thing on. My efforts were rewarded, and I almost felt like the thing didn't need the screws at all. But, just because it was common sense, I screwed 'em in anyway. I did it by hand, just because ash is a little softer than other woods which made this possible. It still took quite a bit of muscle to get them all the way in though. I'm still glad I didn't use a drill. To do so would be 'cheating' almost.
The whole thing is almost as tall as my ceiling, and I was so excited to get the thing together that my first light and slow swing of the whole thing almost put out my overhead light. now incredibly conscious of the length of this bad-boy, I went outside.
I quickly went through some quick thrusts and chops with it trying out various hand gripping positions to get a feel for it. My first target was the box.
Laying the box down, the weight of the spear alone when i set the tip on the box was enough for it to shear right through - literally like butter. When I propped the box up, I made a quick thrust(amazingly easy) and then decided to 'cut' at it, as the head has a nice long edge.
The blade bit DEEP into the box, but a solid clean cut was unattainable as the box was in such wretched condition(very smooshed and floppy). Fortunately, I had just replaced the hood on a friends car and had the old one. I leaned it up against a tree and had a few gos at thrusting, I didn't feel I needed to warm up anymore. They were ruthless in the DvDs, and I was going to be ruthless now.
My first thrust went right through with about 2 1/2 inches of blade protruding out the under-side of the hood. Upon inspection of the blade, not even the(very even and sleek) black finish was marred in any way. Now I'll admit I didn't get as far through the hood as they did in the Cold Steel DvDs, though this can be attributed to two things: 1) I'm only 160 lbs, and those coldsteel guys are huge. 2) This hood was from a Toyota. Much tougher than those cheap (probably Ford) hoods they used in those dvds.
I then went on to throwing. The thing doesn't feel at all as heavy as I expected. I was able to make some really nice powerful throws from 20 feet away, and could have done more(and later did). Each pierced the hood with that amazing sound of metal shearing metal. Still, absolutely no damage to the blade at all.
I then found a good piece of half-inch thick plywood. Here was my next target. My buddy Tom and I had a good amount of fun with that thing. At first, it was pretty tough, but soon that plywood was doing no better than the hood. On an inspiration, I came up with an idea to REALLY test this blade to the limits...
I set the car hood back up and with a couple practice swings to make sure I was on target, I chopped into the hood as hard as I could. It didn't cut into the hood much at all, but it did ding it up real bad with a huge dent. The spear was still fine.
Then i thrust the spear into the hood and torqued the haft at 90 degrees to the edge alignment. The hole in the hood widened and the spear was fine. That central ridge was doing its work nicely. I don't think this spear would ever need damage repair.
One of the most amazing things about all this was that throughout all of it, the tip and the edges near the tip were still razor sharp. The spear still sinks into cardboard by the weight of the spear alone. This after being abused and beaten on cardboard, plywood, and a car hood. Amazing.
It wasn't until we let my younger brother have a go, when this spear met its match.
My younger brother is 15, 5'6, and about 120 lbs. He's bones and a little skin. He decided to throw the spear into the hood. It pierced as before, but not as deeply, and as the spear haft torqued the hood, the hood fell forward on top of the spear. It didn't look like a very nice thing. The weight of the hood and the leverage of the haft on the ground all torquing the very tip of the spear...
Sure enough, the tip(which didn't penetrate enough to garner the reinforcement of that raised ridge) was bent approximately 1 degree(probably less) out of line with the rest of the spear. It took about a half-hour for us to confirm(we ended up using a laser pointer to tell), but it was there. I imagine putting it into a vice would fix that problem, but it's so tiny as to be not really worth the effort.
When it comes down to it, while it looks decidedly contemporary, this is actually a fairly historical spear. There are no frills, no dangles, just mean cold steel. While I'm not a fan of the staining on the ash haft, or that sealing agent they used(which makes it feel plastic), it's still an attractive weapon. It's just a metal head on a long ash haft. Beauty in simplicity. Considering the $70 I payed(which included the 2nd day shipping charge) to get it to my door from across the country, I couldn't be happier. Kudos Cold Steel, this (almost) makes up for my disappointment when i purchased one of your scottish broadswords.
Cold Steel Boar Spear
Fit And Finish: 3/5
Historical Accuracy: 3/5
Durability: 5/5
Handling: 4/5
Value for money: 4/5
Bottom Line: 4/5