this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2026
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Spears were really effective, wooden poles are actually quite strong and sturdy. They are also cheap, which is probably more important. Individual spears could break all the time, but you could put a metal blade on a new stick quickly, or just have sharp sticks.
I'm not sure what you mean by target the wooden part. The common use of spears would be in a formation, you couldn't just chop one without being open to several more spears. Even then chopping one is actually quite difficult, it takes multiple hits against fully braced wood to actually cut through it. It also means you are standing where you can actually get hurt by the spear, but you can't hit the person with the spear, this tends to be a bad strategy.