Product review: Lord of Battles javelin head

Anyone in the market for small javelin heads for a peltast or similar impression is not spoiled for choice at the moment.  Personally I find most javelin heads are big enough to be spearheads, while large arrowheads still have small sockets that would tend to result in shafts breaking off in the socket when used as javelins (which I've unfortunately confirmed firsthand).

If you prefer a lighter javelin and want to carry more than one or two, I believe Lord of Battle's Medieval leaf-bladed javelin is the best non-custom middle ground I've been able to find so far.  They retail direct from the manufacturer for 24.99USD.

Trio of Lord of Battles Medieval leaf-bladed javelin heads.  Note the angled cut of the middle socket and the bend of the lowermost blade.

I bought three late last year but have only just gotten around to reviewing them.  As before, Lord of Battle's quality control isn't spectacular.  Two of the points have edges that become very thick toward the point.  They're not safety javelins that could be used for reenactment combat, but on the other hand they'd require a lot of sharpening to use as real weapons.  The point with the thinner edges also has a blade that's slightly but obviously curved out-of-plane with the socket.  I'm not sure whether I want to try bending it straight in a vise; I have no idea how hard the steel is or whether bending it cold would cause some kind of micro-damage.  Lastly, one of the straight blades has a socket that's cut at a noticeable angle.  The point should still be straight when installed, all other things being equal, but it's a little odd-looking and will require a little extra care if you like to cut a tenon into shafts so that the sides of the shaft are flush with the socket (the sockets are about 3/4 inch or 19mm wide on the outside).  As an aside, note that the sockets all have two 1/8 inch (3.175mm) rivet holes.

The QC is, on the other hand, better than in some of Lord of Battle's products.  The blades are a more consistent shape than their older small spear/javelin heads, as you can see here, and the finish is much better, especially for the price.  (The product that seems to have replaced the small spear/javelin head, the current "light" spear head, is larger than the older model and requires a thicker shaft, thus moving it out of this size category.)  As for the old medium spearhead, there's no comparison.

Size specifications:  The bent point is 6-1/4 inches or just under 159mm long, has a blade 1 inch (25mm) wide, and weighs a little more than 3 ounces (85g).  The one with the angled socket is 6-5/16 inches (160mm) measured from one side and 6-3/8 inches (162mm) from the other, 15/16 inch (just under 24mm) wide, and weighs about 3-1/2 ounces (99g).  The last one is 6-5/16 inches long, 1 inch wide, and weighs a bit more than 3-1/2 ounces.  All three have sockets with an inner diameter of 5/8 inch (just under 16mm).

On the whole, I would give this one a tentative recommendation; it's far from perfect but it's still decent, and I don't know of any other small javelin head that won't run you the price of custom metalwork.

Polishing rough-finished steel

As noted in my previous post, many spearheads come from the factor with a coarsely ground and blackened finish.  This may be a cost-saving measure, but it's rather unappealing, especially if other your other steel items are already polished.  Here I'm going to try to give a better finish to the AntiqueCraftsShop javelin heads.

I'm starting it on a mini belt sander I recently got on eBay.  Sanding belts used for metal quickly acquire a smooth feel that belies the actual grit (size gradient of the sand) and are permeated with fine metal dust, so they should be kept separate from those used for wood and other materials.

The slightly hollow-ground faces can be sanded with a slow back-and-forth movement over an axle.  If they were a flat diamond grind, I would press the faces against the belt where it runs over the supporting metal shelf.  (This can be done to thin down the secondary bevels, though, since the angle needed to do so means the medial ridge is well clear of the belt.)  Care is needed at this stage not to mess up the medial ridge.  Once it's done, I turn the edges parallel to the belt sander to clean up any hints of unevenness created during this step.

Safety notes:  For some reason this sander's belt is set up to move toward the motor and up from the sanding ledge.  Also, of course, I am only holding the spearhead in one hand to snap the photo; you should always hold anything you are sanding in two hands whenever it's in contact with the belt, not only for safety but also because holding it in one hand often just doesn't work.  And, of course, wear safety goggles whenever using any power tools that grind, cut or drill.  I like chemical splash goggles that wrap against the face, making sure no metal fragments can get in my eyes again.

Sanding on top of the shelf allows you to press down hard on flat or convex surfaces, useful when trying to get rid of deep pits and grind marks.  Moving convex surfaces to the gap between the axle and shelf allows the belt to wrap slightly around the surface, giving a more even finish.

After polishing to 60 (top), 150 (middle) and 600 grit.

Some of the sandpapers used to give the final hand polish.  For this step I am tending to wrap the sandpaper around the back of one finger and use the other hand to rub the spear across it, following the alignment of the the scratches created by the belt sander.  With the blade faces, it's very difficult to follow the sander's marks.  I tend to instead just pinch the paper around the faces with my fingertips and rub the paper parallel to the blade; much easier, though not as effective.

The finished spearheads both illustrate the importance of using as many grades of grit as possible.  Each grade is able to remove grind marks from a slightly coarser grit, while creating new marks of its own, until you're using a grit so fine that its marks are undetectable to the eye (achieving the so-called mirror polish).  The spearhead on the left was initially polished with the 600-grit belt before moving on to finer grades of paper for hand-polishing.  As a result, it still has lots of grind marks and pits with black scale that the belt was unable to reach or remove.  The one on the right, which started on a 60-grit belt, has almost none of the factory marks left, but the jump from 150 to 600-grit left lots of marks from the 150-grit that the 600-grit belt didn't deal with.  These are visible not as black scratches but as bright, sparkly ones.  I'm not sure which one I dislike more.  Either way, the conclusion is clear:  I need to buy more stuff.

Deve Hüyük: An Achaemenid graveyard

Shortly before World War I, Charles Woolley and T.E. Lawrence excavated a site in northern Syria:  a graveyard for members of a Persian imperial garrison near the then-Assyrian city of Carchemish.  The site yielded many goods that would have been used in war and day-to-day life by Iranian troops in the 6th-4th centuries BC.  A gallery of finds may be viewed at the British Museum website.  Sadly, the majority of items are unillustrated, but I'd like to highlight a few that may be useful for your living history projects:

A spearhead, in case you needed a reminder just how small these things could be, especially in comparison to modern repros.

A javelin head, looking surprisingly unlike a spearhead.

An akinakes.  To this I would also add examples from Osprey's The Persian Army, also from Deve Hüyük.  Note on all examples the plain iron hilts with guards and grips forged as one piece, and also the short, broad fuller on the longer Osprey example.

A fibula (cloak pin) which should be good for your Cappadocian impression.  (Incidentally, Cappadocians are next week's Peoples of the Empire entry.)

A hand mirror.  Well, everyone needs one sooner or later.

A bronze plate cover for the top end of a gorytos.

The various bronze bowls are also worth checking out, and if you're doing a cavalry impression, you'll want a snaffle bit of appropriate shape.