I've always been fascinated by old weapons--the real thing, not the training toys and theatrical props. I like steel. I've even learned to run a forge and anvil and temper my own tools and knives, but making a sword or a spear as it used to be done is beyond my training and the limits of my equipment. Few people make the traditional weapons today, in the old way. The art of weaponsmithing isn't lost as yet, but it's on the brink. The more automated our foundries become, the fewer people exist who can actually make a good sword or spear.

Few weapons of the old sort have any practical value today. Armies keep it simple when it comes to the low tech approach, training with the knife and fixed bayonet. Elite troops may learn a few moves with found weapons, but this is not the kind of fighting anyone expects. The last official armed combat with an American military sword took place during the Korean War.

Today's demand for blade weapons comes from the martial arts enthusiast and collector. Some people don't care for the sort of exercise you get on a treadmill, and look instead for the complex old movements of martial training. The most difficult type involves weapons. All you need to do to appreciate the difficulty is to heft an example of functional combat steel. Most of us don't immediately have the strength to do it well, even if we're in what we think is good shape. If you wonder if you have the right stuff to survive in the old days, there's only one way to find out. Pick up an old weapon and train.

For the past few months I've been looking for a good spear, because the spear is one of the few old weapons that still has some practical value. In modern America people who carry spears are rare, but if there was a model that fit our lifestyle, functional but not flashy, it would be at least a great piece of hiking and backpacking gear. That's what I'm looking for, and it has been hard to find one. The few that market survival spears today try to hide the blade because carrying an open blade is uncivilized. Swift use of a modern survival spear is nearly impossible.

Maybe you just can't fix an idea that reached its peak a few centuries ago and doesn't need changing.

Every culture had its own unique idea about this advanced poking device. Vikings preferred something heavy, and in general the European approach was to be longer and stronger than the opposition. Through an early version of arms race the European spear evolved into the pike, a two handed spear with a stout ash shaft sometimes 22 feet long. Troops armed with pikes fought in close formations that bristled like the spines of a hedgehog, defended even against mounted cavalry. Some Chinese spears were designed to dart and bend past weapons and shields. Mounted on a flexible waxwood shaft as much as 13 feet long, the business end moved like a snake's head, accurate in the hands of an expert but difficult for an opponent to predict. Replicas and genuine antiques are available, but most spears of this type are destined for display, beyond even the training aspirations of most modern people.

If you want a good spear, for the rare survival emergency or to decorate your wall or for training in the dojo, you have few good choices. Aside from expensive or ruined antiques, most of what is out there is junk, made from chromed steel poorly glued to fragile wood or even fiberglass shafts. Some are fanciful, patterned after concepts from video games rather than real life--and in real life these same awkward creations fall apart under the slightest stress. That's not always obvious, especially if you're buying one over the internet. What looks good in a thumbnail photo may look like junk when you get it, and price is not always an indication of true value.

If you look for a survival spear today, you don't find much. Frog spears with cheap tines that bend sideways if you hit a rock, or expensive "survival sticks" that must be disassembled and reassembled to put the fragile spear tip where it could be used. One model's spear point is sheared aluminum tubing, good enough for perhaps one use.

Many martial arts weapons are now designed for wushu demonstrations and not for actual fighting. The tips are rounded and polished smooth and the chromed steel would probably break loose if you actually used it. Weight has been cut so the weapons are easy to wield, making moves possible that would be awkward with the real thing. Though a few renegade companies still produce combat quality spears for the commercial market, even some of those make questionable products.

Good stuff is out there, but not always cheap.

Cold Steel sells a wide range of self defense items, many of them based on traditional weapons but using modern materials and processes. Sometimes the result is functional and economical. Not every old hand-forged item can be accurately reproduced with modern technology, and to keep prices affordable Cold Steel cuts a few corners.

Cold Steel's Boar Spear uses a spear head and cross bar of blackened carbon steel shaped by cold forging--while not the best quality, the build is simple and the blade is certainly more serviceable than any wushu weapon. Cold forging involves stamping and bending cold annealed steel. Sometimes this creates weak points and it never increases the strength of the steel's crystalline structure, which is the real benefit of hot forging. After the cold forging the blades are heated and then drawn to an even temper--spring steel hardness is very soft in terms of holding an edge but will bend and return to shape if not overstressed. Expect some  damage if you throw this spear; the heavy wooden shafts can put more stress on the head than it is made to bear. Overall the impression is more farm tool than weapon. The quality of the shaft is not equal to a good martial arts staff.

Cold Steel's long Assegai--a similar style of blade but without the cross piece--is no better. Fitting the spear head of the Assegai and Boar spears to shafts is up to the customer and results will vary with the user's skill. Don't expect a perfect fit without a lot of work. The short Assegai and samboru are nothing special, and should be classed as display weapons. Standards are not high enough to provide dependability. In general, Cold Steel provides only some of the functionality of the real thing and very little class.

The mid range between too good and not good enough does exist. Paul Chen, one of the founders of Hanwei Forge, designs European and Asia spears, swords and axes and strives to match the quality of those old weapons. Chen's yari does come close, matching size and standards of this old mainstay of the common soldier. As a trail staff it's still a bit heavy, but if you want a real spear, this is one of the best.

Hanwei Forge (now CAS Iberia) strives to equal or surpass the quality of the original piece while using a combination of modern technology and traditional skills. Originally focusing on knives and swords, Paul Chen has now reproduced many other traditional weapons both Asian and European, at prices which are not completely out of the reach of the average person.

With all the old standards still firmly in place, Puma of Solingen, Germany, still makes their classic boar spear. Priced for the collector rather than the user, this particular spear carries a hefty retail price of $3750, though Amazon currently sells it for just under $2000. Designed by a game warden and first produced in the 40's and 50's, the boar spear was built to use. The hand forged spearhead, flattened shaft and rustic cross hatched wrapping all conform to the original model, down to the cross bar of stag antler lashed to the hilt of the blade. If the price doesn't faze you, remember that it's a heavy hunting spear and a little too much tool for the trail. And you might scratch it.

As of this writing at least, spending a lot of money on a trail spear is a little far down on my necessities list. I'm very aware it's a nostalgia issue and not something I need. On the other hand, it's something I like, so I'm interested in cutting some deals if possible. Since with Cold Steel you wind up fitting the spear head to the shaft yourself anyway, let's see what happens if you just shop for the spear head and deal with the rest later.

Turns out Paul Chen already thought of people like me who have a whole collection of kung fu staffs laying around waiting for points. Hanwei Forge produces many patterns--the old Viking thrusting spear, short spear, spontoon and lance just to name a few. The steel is combat quality and the workmanship is top notch. Details even include celtic engravings on the old Nordic designs.

Paul Chen's functional reproductions include far more than just spear heads. Axes, swords, and daggers from the pages of Asian and European history and now even the American frontier fill out CAS Iberia's catalog. If you see something you like, don't wait too long. Many are limited production runs. The Hanwei Forge is driven by profit motives, and if there's no demand the product won't be around long.

From the several combat quality spear heads designed by Paul Chen I find three favorites which meet my needs, standards and price. All of them are light enough to be practical when fitted to a hiking staff. Two of them could be politely shrouded with simple sheaths so you don't upset the neighbors, while the other will probably take some explaining.

The Viking Throwing Spear is said to have been originally intended as a warmup weapon for the skirmishing before a real fight. Several of these light spears would be tucked under an arm and thrown during the first charge. For the lesser abilities and needs of modern people, this light but very functional spear is a reasonable choice at a good price. The narrow blade weighs 12 ounces, the heaviest of my final three.

At 8.2 ounces, the Cavalry Lance is the lightest choice. Still issued as a uniform weapon of the Canadian Mounted Police, this design one saw real action in the hands of British troops. Hanwei recommends fitting to either ash or bamboo. This spear head includes a tail piece which lends some balance to the piece but isn't entirely necessary. Some old hiking staffs were fitted with metal foot pieces to add some durability in mountainous rocky terrain. I've discovered I don't like the sound of metal hitting the ground.

But of course my favorite is the one that draws attention, the Viking Short Spear. The European version of the Masai leaf point spear, the short spear falls in the middle of this weight range and doesn't make as much practical sense. As a fishing spear in a survival situation it's a bit wide. On the other hand, it's got that look about it.

Although I've been a martial arts practitioner for some decades now, I only began to get interested in the old weapons in a practical way when I started studying the problem of mountain lion encounters and what to do when it happens. Not that it happens much--you have less chance of being attacked by a mountain lion than you do of being hit by lightning. When I was younger I would have thought of that statement differently, but since I have enough years past me to be able to count at least a half dozen lightning strikes close enough to light me up pretty good, including two that physically knocked me back a few feet, I don't take the lightning comparison to mean it won't happen. When people do have encounters with hungry lions, in modern circumstances they are usually unarmed or only able to scrounge up rocks, sticks and bluster. That sometimes works and sometimes doesn't and I think this is an interesting problem. In the old days before firearms people did not hit the trail expecting to be eaten by lions. If they met lions, they dealt with them. Lions probably knew better than to mess with people back then, but today they get a different impression of us.

The most common solution in terms of self defense was the spear. Not for throwing, but for being pointy. Animals tend to not eat you if you're pointy. If you're sufficiently pointy, you get left alone, which makes the spear a nonviolent solution to a toothy problem.

I've had a chance to play with the idea a little this year while I'm out running, because for some reason the half dozen different groups of country dogs we pass on our training runs all made a group decision to put a stop to our incursions on their territories this summer. Every trip they got meaner, even the dogs that been friendly in seasons past, until for the first time I decided I'd better go armed. I carry either an eight inch brass rod or a three foot wooden rod. The dogs all think it's a wonderful game and stay just out of reach out there at the end of the stick, away from me. I think I'm a lot more popular with them now, actually. I brighten their days.

Spears go a step farther, but it's the same basic idea. The fight's out there, not up close. We watched a TV show recently about trekking through Africa on the path that Stanley took to find Livingston. The two fellows hired to guard the expedition against wild animals were Masai. They both carried leaf point spears. At least during the show, neither of them used them. Probably the fact that they had them provided some security, because many animals recognize when a person is armed and when they are not. That's what attracts me to the idea, a way of avoiding trouble.