A question about boarding pikes

[fernando]

Originally Posted by celtan

Chuzos are simply metal spikes attached to poles, not necessarily a double headed lance. Often times, a bayonet attached to a pole would be called a chuzo...

Furthermore, in a vulgarized sense, anything spiky may be called a chuço (portuguese for chuzo). Even (closed) umbrellas are often called chuços by local country people. And so are called determined agricultural implements. After all, the first pole arms that arose from and with the farmers that were mobilized to go into war, in the middle ages, were the chuços, derived from the scythe family tools.

Originally Posted by M ELEY

The point with the 4 sided head second down on Fernando's posted thread looks like the detached head of another piece that I have (not the discussed pike I started with) sans the straps. Were these points universally used on both pikes and lances by the Spanish, or were there any differences?

For the little i have seen, i am convinced that all round, three sided and four sided variations, with and without side straps, were used in pikes and lances by many a nation. Experts may confirm.
One thing i have difficulty in distinguishing is the difference between pikes (or chuços) and lances (or spears). For a start, we don't have a translation for the term 'spear' in portuguese ... and neither have the Spaniards, i think. Would it sometimes the difference be the length of the haft, considering that the earliest pikes had imense lengths? Or does the difference (also) reside the blade shape ?

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Will try and post pics of the pike soon...

Forgive me for the impertinence, Mark; if by any chance the issue is any conflict with attaching pictures in the Forum, i am at your disposal to post them, once you email them to me:
fernandoviana@netcabo.pt