All spearheads are fastened to the wooden shaft by a short haft or tang
inserted in the wood. An iron ferrule or a braided bejuco ferrule is
employed to strengthen the shaft where the tang is inserted. A conical
iron ferrule or cap is also placed on the butt of the shaft. This
ferrule is often used, as the spear is always stuck in the earth
close at hand when the warrior works any distance from home; and as
he passes along the steep mountain trails or carries heavy burdens
he commonly uses the spear shaft as a staff.
The spear shafts are made by the owner of the weapon, it not being
customary for anyone to produce them for sale. Some of them are rather
attractively decorated with brass and copper studs, and a few have
red and yellow bejuco ferrules near the blade. In some pueblos of the
Bontoc area, as at Mayinit, spear shafts are worked down and eventually
smoothed and finished by a flexible, bamboo knife-blade machine. It
consists of about a dozen blades 8 or 10 inches in length, fastened
together side by side with string. The blades lie one overlapping the
other like the slats of an American window shutter. Each projecting
blade is sharpened to a chisel edge. The machine is grasped in the
hand, as shown in fig.
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