Making a Jousting Lance

My horsey daughter has taken up jousting. No, she does not wear metal armor. No, she does not knock someone else off a horse. She jousts with a pointy lance to spear rings held on arches. It's a very popular sport on the East Coast.There are clubs for jousters, and many tournaments one can participate in, if one's mother wishes to be driving all over hither and hill!!! Many people have only seen jousting at Renaissance Festivals or at a popular restaurant that has a Medieval theme. Both of those have opponents. The type of jousting that's popular here has only the tiny ring as a challenge. Staying on your horse while you try to spear the ring can be worth trying too!

There aren't many places to get a jousting lance (spear like thing for getting those rings). The ones I found online were a bit pricey. So, I decided to make my own. Right, Patrice. You're afraid of power tools!
I called my wonderful friend, Laurie. She's a fantastic woodworker. She makes turned pens, and has furniture in her house that she has made. I'm not talking pallet things or 2 by 4 creations- I mean really beautiful pieces. She's now doing art worthy furniture. AMAZING chairs with beautiful and unique wood.

She was so wonderful about helping me. Read: Doing it for me while I stood by trying to feel useful and not hide under her beautiful furniture when she turned the power tools on!

This is what I brought to Laurie to make the lance.

She marked everything to get it so it was "just right".

She cut the broomstick with her band saw. This is her workshop!

She measured everything! Here she's getting the wooden pole straight 

so she could use a drill press to make a hole at the end for the knitting 

needle that would be the spear tip.

She sanded the end to round it. Wendell wondered if this machine

could give him a manicure.

Then she used some strong glue to put that knitting needle

in the tip.

I will show you the finished lance in the next post, when I show you Jousting Tournament pictures.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the lance, but it's a lovely jewelry 

box that Laurie made for her friend. She's AMAZING! The picture

barely does this gorgeous piece justice.  The burled wood makes

it so lovely! Too bad I wasn't there to help with this:)

Patrice. You can  get out from under the couch now. The power tools are off.

We did a great job, didn't we Laurie. I'm going home to Wendell now.

Shaking? No. I must just be cold.

Many thanks to Laurie for making D3's dream of Jousting a reality!

*** Stop by  tomorrow to see my blog about jousting practice.