Sparring Spears (Dorata)

By Andrew Yamato

This simple and inexpensive piece of kit is essential to experiencing one of the best parts of Greek reenacting: combat sparring. The pugil stick design permits square hits to unprotected faces without injury, which in turn allows us to fight in otherwise authentic panoply. We do not allow rubber sparring/training heads because their round points can still injure unprotected eyes. We have a number of sparring spears as loaners, but we encourage you to make your own if you’re handy.

The shaft is a simple 1” wooden dowel, 7-9 feet long. These are readily available at hardware stores and do not need to be any specific type of wood. The other materials you’ll need are a 3” wide pool noodle, some 1/2” EVA foam (double layered to 1” thickness), a 3” stress-relief ball, some thin, inexpensive leather (pigskin is great) or heavyweight canvas, four 1” 1oz round lead weights, some heavy duty stretch flashing tape (duct tape will also work), some Gorilla glue, and some leather thong. Construction is simple; the photos speak for themselves.

The “sauroter” is made like the head, but the noodle should be slightly longer as a visual cue of the spear’s orientation. The squish ball half can be left off; this end isn’t delivering strong blows and just the two layers of EVA foam will be sufficient. After cutting the metal loops cut off of the lead weights, they are dropped inside the sauroter to give the spear a proper rear balance. Wrap both head and sauroter in glued or sewn leather or canvas, pushing the excess into the hole to make for a snug fit. Once they’re slipped over the shaft, the final step is to tightly lash at least the head with a leather thong to keep it from being pulled off in combat.

Additional stress ball foam (which doesn’t crush down over time) can be inserted in the noodle for further cushioning if desired.