Amazon Caiman Spear

© 2009, 2010 Albert A Rasch and

The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles

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My friend and fellow Blogger Todd Hill over at Primitive Point, lived and grew up in the Amazon. He and his father visit on a regular basis, and Todd recently forged a set of spear points for his friends in Brazil. Todd also is a founding member of The Backyard Smithy a sort of OBS of Neo-Tribal Bladesmithing. So for those of you interested in forging and bladesmithing his sites are good places to start.

Coincidently, I received this several years ago as a gift from a gentleman who runs a local gunshop. He traveled frequently to the Amazon basin and had adopted a small village. Perhaps they had adopted him, I not too sure of the initial start of his relationship with them, though I seem to remember that his father first brought him there a couple of decades ago. We spent several hours in conversation that day, and he graciously offered me this caiman spear as a parting gift.

The design is such that the wrapped cord holds the barb and the head in place against the foreshaft. When a fish or caiman was speared, the cord unfurled and the shaft floats to the surface allowing the hunters a better chance at retrieval.

The wood of the foreshaft and head is a dark, heavy, hard, and oily wood. The foreshaft is cylindrical with both ends tapered; sort of a long narrow barrel. The shaft, I was told, is from a flowering stalk.

The barb or spear point is made from 3/16" bar or nails hammered out by hand on a simple charcoal forge.

Here are the dimensions:

OAL 7’ 7”

Barb 6”

Head 4.75”

Foreshaft 11.5”

Shaft 6’ 3”

Cord 6’

Depth of hole in head ¾”

Regards,

Albert A Rasch
The Hunt Continues...