Hand-Forged Greek Dory Spear, Leaf Blade

The dory was the spear of the Greek hoplite and the weapon that actually decided their battles. A hoplite carried one of roughly seven to nine feet in his right hand and a large round aspis shield on his left arm, standing shoulder to shoulder in a phalanx where the shields overlapped and the spears projected forward in ranks. The head was leaf-shaped iron with a central ridge, usually around a foot long, and the shaft was ash or cornel wood. At the other end sat a bronze spike called a sauroter. Fighting opened at spear length and only closed to swords if the formation came apart, which is why the sword was the hoplite's backup rather than his weapon.

No, and we would rather say so plainly. A battlefield dory was seven to nine feet long and used in two hands with a shield; this is 35 inches overall, an 18-inch leaf head on a 17-inch haft. It is a short spear in the Greek style rather than a reproduction of the weapon a hoplite carried. What follows the historical form closely is the head itself — the leaf shape, the pronounced central midrib and the collar at its base — and the proportions of the head are actually generous, since a real dory head was nearer twelve inches. If you want the full thing, we build it: a proper shaft at battlefield length, a historically proportioned head and a sauroter at the butt. Ask through Custom Forge and we will quote it.

The sauroter was the bronze spike fitted to the butt of a dory, and the name translates as something like lizard-killer, which is presumably what Greek soldiers did with it while standing around. It had three real jobs. It counterbalanced the head, moving the point of balance back so the spear could be held further down the shaft and reach further forward. It let a hoplite plant the spear upright in the ground when the formation was standing. And it gave him a second working point — if the head snapped, which happened, he reversed the spear and kept fighting with the butt, and the rear ranks used it to finish enemies the front rank had stepped over. It is one of those details that tells you the weapon was designed by people who had used one. Ours is fitted with a turned finial rather than a sauroter, since the short haft does not need the counterweight, but we will fit a proper butt-spike on a full-length build.

Reach, cost and formation, in that order. A spear lets you strike someone who cannot strike you, which is decisive when both sides are locked shoulder to shoulder and nobody can manoeuvre — the phalanx worked precisely because ranks of spears could project past the front line. A spear is also far cheaper than a sword: a head takes a fraction of the iron and a fraction of the smith's time, and the shaft is wood. In a citizen army where men bought their own equipment, that mattered enormously. And a spear is easier to use well with limited training, which suits a militia. The sword — for Greeks usually a xiphos or a kopis — was the sidearm you drew when the spear broke or the formation collapsed and the fighting closed up. Popular culture reverses this and puts the sword at the centre, but for most of antiquity the sword was the backup.

Two ways, historically and today. A socketed head has a hollow cone forged at its base that slips over the end of the shaft and is then pinned or riveted through — this is the Greek and Roman method and the one used on most spears through history, because it is strong, it resists the head being driven back down the shaft on impact, and a broken shaft can be replaced in the field. A tanged head has a spike at its base that is driven into a drilled shaft instead, which is simpler to make but relies on the wood rather than on the metal for its strength. This piece uses a full tang running through the haft, which is the strongest arrangement of all at this length, and the brass collar covers and reinforces the join. If you order a full-length build, we will socket the head instead, because on a long shaft that is the correct and more serviceable arrangement.

Not this one as it stands — the head and the rosewood haft are built as a single unit with the tang running through, so separating them would mean destroying the haft. If you want to fit your own shaft, order the socketed version through Custom Forge: we forge the head with a proper socket at the base, leave the shaft to you, and you can fit ash, cornel or whatever length you prefer. That is genuinely the better route if you want a full-length spear, because shipping a nine-foot object internationally is difficult and expensive, and a good shaft is easier to source locally than to import.

Yes. The head is hand-forged from 5160 high-carbon spring steel, oil-tempered, and sharpened to a true cutting edge along both edges before it ships. The tang runs the full length of the haft rather than being glued into a drilled hole. At this length it handles more like a short spear or a large thrusting blade than a polearm — do not expect polearm reach from it. Do not thrust it into anything hard: a leaf point with a fine tip is the part most likely to bend or break under a bad angle.

The head is forged from 5160 high-carbon spring steel, the same alloy used in heavy-duty truck leaf springs, prized for toughness and edge retention. It is oil-tempered for a hard cutting edge backed by a flexible, shock-absorbent spine. On a thrusting head that flex matters more than usual: a spear point takes load along its length rather than across it, and a hard brittle head would snap where a tough one bends and comes back.

It is the ridge running down the centre of the head from the collar to the point, and it is the reason a leaf-shaped spearhead can be broad without being floppy. A spear is a thrusting weapon, so the head is loaded along its length, and a flat blade of this width would buckle. Raising a ridge down the middle makes the section deeper at its centre, which is where stiffness in any beam comes from, so the head resists bending on a hard thrust while the flats either side can still be ground thin enough to cut. Greek and Bronze Age smiths worked this out early and nearly every leaf-shaped head from antiquity has one. On ours it is forged and ground in rather than pressed, which is why it runs true from collar to point.

The haft is rosewood, turned and then bound with brass wire along its length, which gives grip and holds the binding tight against the wood. A brass collar seats the head where it meets the haft, covering and reinforcing the join, and a turned metal finial closes the butt. The scabbard is black leather with belt strapping, made by hand to fit the head size you order. Because rosewood is a natural material, grain and colour vary between pieces, and the brass will dull with handling — a soft dry cloth brings it back.

It arrives sharpened as standard along both edges of the head, finished by hand. Choose the display-blunt option if you need it unsharpened for reenactment, display, or to satisfy import rules where you live, at no extra charge. And yes to the full-length build: a proper dory at seven to nine feet with a socketed head, a historically proportioned twelve-inch blade and a sauroter butt-spike. Note that it ships as head and shaft for assembly rather than in one piece, because couriers will not take a nine-foot parcel — we will confirm the arrangements with you before taking the order.

Yes. We ship worldwide from Nepal by DHL or FedEx in 7 to 14 business days with tracking. In-stock specs dispatch within 2 to 3 business days; fully custom builds take roughly 4 to 6 weeks to forge first. Import and blade laws vary by country, so please check your local rules before ordering, and note that pole weapons face different restrictions from blades in some jurisdictions.