From point to end of blade, not including tang, 5 1/4"
frustrating I cant find better supporting link,but here is a rough example.
You can call it whatever you want- it could have been used a number of ways but it’s done in the ‘dag’ style which was fashioned after the large stone spear points they replaced. It should have a strong center line and be slightly concave. The style was first referred to as a bayonet by the Hudson Bay Company and could be as long as 16 inches overall length and were also made by local blacksmiths. Smaller ones were typically referred to as ‘dags’ and were 7 inches overall for small and 9 inches for long. I believe your dag is a smaller version and was originally around 7 inches with the tang. The smaller ones were often used in war clubs.It is definitely a spear.
A dag knife would be a lot bigger.
Now, here's the deal. A fur trade post or fort almost always had their own blacksmith.
High quality spears like yours would most likely have been made by a blacksmith.
However, The Natives themselves made metal arrow points, spears, and several other tools by reusing scrap metal.
Most of these points they made were from old barrel or keg bands.
They would place the metal flat against a trade axe and hammer a chisel or wedge to cut out the shape.
Discarded waste always show cut marks from this procedure and points or spears often show cut marks as well.
Then they would file it to their liking.
Your spear looks like the type that would be on a lance and often Metis (Halfbreed) horse riders would have this.
I'll see what I can dig up for pictures. I know I have a lance point around the same size as yours but without the tang.
Great find!
Cheers,
Dave.
I have seen those clubs,was always under the impression they were spear points?
would it be possible for you to provide some supporting evidence?
Hard to tell by the picture. Need to know size and another picture at an angle.
Dave-I wasn’t trying to argue just giving my two cents based on my experience. Here in the Great Lakes Region I and the experts I know and hunt with would call it a dag purely based on the tang- I even sent the picture to some of them and they confirmed. If it’s concave and sharp on both ends with a strong center line I think it’s classified and was manufactured as a dag regardless of width and length. That style tang or similar style is indicative of virtually all dags and I don’t recall seeing many tangs that style being spears because sockets and rat tails seem to be the tang of choice for spear points, at least in my experience and region. I feel that it’s the tang that determines if it’s a dag and you feel it’s the width and size that classifies it as such-no problem…..After looking through all those fake war clubs and fantasy pieces, I see the typical dag knife.
I'm well aware of what a dag knife looks like and can post several pictures myself.
All of them will indicate a width 2 to 3 times that of the OP's spear.
O.K. your argument is that the blade was sharpened down to what we see here.
If that's the case, then why does the tang match the blade? Are you saying they filed down the tang to match the whittled down blade?
Plus your small version of a dag knife (what you're indicting his piece is) shows to be half the length of the piece in question and of course much wider.
No sense arguing about this.
It all boils down to opinions and experience.
The more I look at the piece, the more it looks like a spear with a similar tang that a dag would have.
JMHO
Dave.
Kuger,.....hap,hazardly came across this last night....I knew I was right.....we were ALL right
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