Except for those warhammer that predated the use of plate armour. The heaviest ones were used for foot jousting in the renaissance---two handed ones and for a laugh look up the lucerne hammer.

BTW The norse didn't use a lot of hammers beside metalworking ones. Mauls would work better for many things than an *expensive* metal hammer head.

I have weights on the Mastermyre find; I can dig out my book but they are a LOT LIGHTER than your planned!

Thats true, the norse were a spear, shield,ax and sword culture..Mjolnir is prominent in the norse mythos and every promotion of it..From comics to movies..Thats most likely where folks get the idea..
Ive seen lucerne hammers before..They dont really even resemble a hammer per say..A polearn with a pronged hammer head, spiked on top and behind the head. Mostly used by foot soilders to dismount/defeat armored opponents.
Bec De corbin was almost the same thing and the horsemans pick was pretty much the same as a classic war hammer..

Edited April 22, 200917 yr by KYBOY

Sorry I finally remembered that my copy of the Mastermyr find is out on loan to one of my students. May take a bit longer to get back home.

Polearms can get weird and have great names I've always liked the "Bohemian Ear Spoon" very descriptive....

Hey all

I really like it when people choose to revive the religious and cultural practices of their ancestors.
It's really too bad when people in the prison system tweek and mangle the Norse mythology into some racist/white power bull crap.

ANYWAYS..........

I took a close look at those Mastermyr hammers and was especially interested in the Sledge hammer 20:69.
24.5 cm's long which is roughly 9 5/8", weighing 3370 grams which calculates into 7.43 lbs........A pretty hefty chunk of iron.

I'm would like to get as close to this hammer as I can, but given my inexperience and limited forging time, I might end up with something quite different.

Class is tomorrow, so we'll see what happens

take care and thanks for your input

Iain

and plate 21 item 70: sledge hammer, is 1862 grams or about 4 pounds.

And these are the heaviest ones in his tool box!

The next largest 1.596 kg is close to the weight of my largest smithing hammer I use on a regular basis.

Mjolnir was made by the dwarf blacksmiths Eitri and Brokkr along with several other items as gifts to the gods in a bet with Loki..Thor was not a blacksmith, he was the god of thunder, weather and war in norse mythology..Mjolnir was depicted as a hammer, not a warhammer or a blacksmiths hammer..Just a large one handed, heavy headed hammer..It was intended to be two handed but Brokkr was tricked into taking it out of the forge to soon by Loki and Mjolnir ended up with a short haft..This is how it is described by Snorri's Edda..I studied germanic and celtic mythos a lot in high school and college..Its a literary hobby of mine..
Truee war hammers are about the same weight as a framing hammer with a fairly long haft..A sharp beak on the back side "ala Bec De Corbin" and a somewhat small hammer head on the front..It was designed to defeat plate armor..

The forging of Mjolnir is one of my favourite stories - I've always liked dwarves

BTW, Thor was not the god of war ... Tyr was the god of war.

Sam
(another Norse mythology geek)

Arguably, all of the male Aesir were gods of war; with the exception of Freyr (god of the harvest and peace), Forseti (god of reconciliation) and Bragi (god of wisdom and eloquence).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86sir#List_of_.C3.86sir

As someone mentioned, Mjolniir wasn't a war hammer, but a blacksmithing hammer. I believe the dwarves were forging a sledgehammer, but Loki distracted them by turning into a fly which meant the handle was too short.

Why not just buy a 8-16 pound sledge, cut/grind/forge to shape, heat treat and go at it? the hole is already there for you to modify or drift. Handles are readily available, etc.
just my lazy-mans thought

Very interesting thread here. In many different aspects.
I honestly didn't realise that people were still practising a form of 'Norse religion'.

Where is your friend from?

The Norse mythology appeals a lot to me. But i'd feel a little wrong pratising it as a religion, as i'm not Norse. Would feel mildly hypocritical.

Good luck with your endeavours!

Why not rework a 10 pound sledge hammer? Size and weight are already set, just make it look different.

Ian: Folks fantasy convictions usually surpass any semblance of practicality by a wide margin. Two points for now though. First, only doing as much forging on the stock as necessary is as traditional as it gets, so don't sweat drilling the eye and dressing the final shape by hammer.

My other point is how a smith goes to hell. Yeah sure beating the black metal is the first route but not charging enough is the second and probably the most violated. Are you doing this for free as a favor for a friend or as a commissioned project? If it's a favor the recipient's opinion as to how it SHOULD be doesn't carry a lot of weight. If it's a commission then extreme work calls for extreme cost. I usually simply estimate the time and materials to convince folk of a more reasonable spec list. Of course if they're willing to pay shop rate I'll do it the hard way, it's their dime(s).

Frosty The Lucky.

Nowadays....getting old don't ya know....I'd buy a sledge hammer at Menards in the weight I wanted, knock out the handle....put it into the gas forge and shape it the way desired, heat treat, rehandle, voila!! A perfect whatever..........

Nowadays....getting old don't ya know....I'd buy a sledge hammer at Menards in the weight I wanted, knock out the handle....put it into the gas forge and shape it the way desired, heat treat, rehandle, voila!! A perfect whatever..........

Smart way to do it, espically if you have to do it yourself..