Ballast a spear or javelin for Herja

Since 2021, a spear, whatever its usage, must weigh at least 900g. If yours weigh less, you have to increase its weight adding ballast weights.

It’s here the case of my 1m70 javelin. As it only weigh 650g, I thus have to add 250g.

Warning ! It is forbidden to place the weights on the bottom part of the shaft opposing the spearhead, the weights must be as close as possible from the blunt.

There are several ways to add the missing weight to the spear. For now, we propose only one, but if you find more, do not hesitate to send it to us so that we can add them here!

The only restriction, although not small, on the method is that it has to be secured for you and the other participants. There must be no strong edges, nothing sharp, pointy, or anything dangerous.

We used here car wheel weights (link to purchase below). What is practical about it is that each block is calibered at 5g, so it’s easy to compute. It’s also in steel which is a relatively soft metal, and already put on a double face adhesive tape.

I chose here to add 300g in order to have a small margin compared to the limit. Very easily, I taped on the shaft, as close as possible to the blunt while still keeping a small amount of space for the finition (see next step). I then covered the whole thing with resistant tape to maintain everything and also secure it more.

Some link to purchase the ballast weights:

• Link n°1
• Link n°2
• Link n°3

Weigh your spear on the scale, and normally it should weigh more than 900g, which is perfect for Herja.

The black tape, in my case, isn’t looking great for a viking axe. There is an easy way to hide it, simply by using rope.

If like me your tape isn’t of the same color as the blunt, you can add a layer of tape of the same color to render it more homogenic. Here I forgot before putting on the string.

Take a string bobbin. It must not be too thin, so do not use kitchen twine, nor too large, we said string, not rope! Here it is a 0.6mm diameter linen string.

1/ Start by making a knot as close to the blunt as possible but keeping a small bit longer than the surface to hide

2/ Put on some glue on a not too large surface, otherwise it’s going to dry before you had the time to put the string around the shaf

3/ Wrap the string around the shaft while tightening on each round

4/ Repeat operation 2 and 3 until you have hidden all the tape

5/ End with a knot with the bit remaining from step 1 (and who should be below your strings).