Homemade spear shaft?

Aluminum lacks the spring, weight, and strength of steel. It would make a terrible shaft. It will not penetrate because it's too light, and at the thickness necessary to use as a shaft (unless you're making a pole spear) it will bend because it has no spring, or break because it's too weak. I bought one of those pieces from home depot a few years back and made several stringers out of it since the corrosion resistance is excellent for aluminum.

A good spring steel is where it's at for shafts. Carbon steel will sharpen to a great edge and hold that edge better for longer. But carbon steel will eventually rust and if sharpened very sharp can chip as it is more brittle than stainless. Stainless steel will not get as sharp as carbon but will not rust as easily (despite the name it is not truly stainless as it will eventually rust over time).

Either way (carbon or stainless) avoid aluminum. Titanium is a great metal too but it's too springy, too light, and too expensive.

springfree said:

What metals would be best if I'm going to try to make my own spear shafts? The local hardware store has 1/4 and 5/8 in. aluminum shafts in a variety of lengths, and I was thinking of using these. I can't complain about the price, but I don't know how they'll hold up strength wise or if I'm going to have an issue with corrosion. Any recommendations?

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15-5 or 17-4 stainless steel. 1/4, 9/32 or 5/16 in diameter. You will have to figure a way to attach a line to the shaft. i use pneumatics, so it is a different slide ring from rubber.