So I bought this 12.5’ pike spear and replacement spear pole for $10. The wood on the spear looks like it had a half inch of wood wool fluffed up on the it. I took a broom to it and brushed most of it off. Have you seen wood do this? Wonder if I can get it sanded down to hard wood again. Cool antique.

Impressive

120 grit sandpaper followed by 180 grit will fix it right up. You could even hit with 220 grit for a final sand. Might finish it up with a little oil on a rag. That's a cool piece.

Never saw that on wood before. dull cutters on the dowel maker?
As long as it's hard underneath sanding should work...lots of sanding, lol

wood that gets wet for a time then has a long time to dry will dry rot the surface like that , if it feels strong when you put weight on it , it must have good fiber still strong under that surface

you might even start with a scrapper

the fibers are there but the cells that bound the fibers together rotted

Looks to me like someone got at it with a wire wheel.

Moosetrot

$10.....what a deal. Looks like that wood got punky and someone hit it with a wire wheel. Looks like it's ready to sand now. Then a good coat of tung oil

That's Poseidon's trident. Nice.

That chafing will make it easier to hold on to.

I haven't seen one of them since I was a kid. No fish, frog, or other critter was safe on the eastern end of Lake Ontario when I was a teenager.

That pike spear is really cool. If I ever get a chance to buy one cheaply, I'll snag one up .

Keith

Kinda looks like a Saguro rib.

Misspelled it. Saguaro.

With the fuzzy grain raised looks like basswood.

With that long a handle I would consider it a sucker spear, unless you can open water spear pike when they are running. How do you get a spear with that long a handle in a dark house?

Very soft wood will rot like that with lots of water exposure, I’ve seen red cedar do that. Cool find

MJM that tagged pike is cool. I got the spear on the second day of an estate sale when everything is half off. Nobody bought it because of the crazy handle I expect. It is starting to dry a little. Can’t sand it yet. But it is firming up.

If you are planning on using that spear in a fish shack I would definitely put an all steel handle on it.

It’s probably for use from a boat to spear carp, suckers and gar pike. It will be for sale at some point.

That’s cool!
I speared a lot of fish when I was a kid. Was like combining hunting and fishing.

I remember cutting a small groove in the handle at the perfect balance point and with spear points in the vertical position for easy locating without looking.