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Old 14th July 2019, 05:41 AM   #6
Bob A
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Yes, looks right. The tines extend down the shaft, covering about half the shaft on opposing sides.

The pikes that were displayed had no crossbars, however, as they would get tangled in the rope netting when the pikes were thrust through the nets into the opposing forces.

Another point that was made by the presenter was the evolution of tip design; earlier examples had leaf-shaped blades, which gradually transitioned to mere points, usually 4-sided. His explanation was again based on the time needed to forge the tips, and the cost of the increased labor per unit. A leaf form would take rather longer to produce, yet offered little more utility in terms of anti-personnel effects. Also a simple point would be more readily extracted from the opposing sailor, and thus more readily used to puncture the next one.
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