Warhammer - RR spike

[Private Entrance]

This is my 2nd effort at a warhammer from a RR spike.  Turned out much better than the first, IMHO.  Most of the problems I had previous were solved when I figured out I was making the slit for drifting the handle hole too small.

 

Handle is shaped from a piece I got from Home Depot that was marked 'hardwood.'  I suspect it is poplar, but have no way to confirm.  I stained it with a couple of coats of Golden Oak.  The base of the handle is wrapped with 3 strands of wire - gold, silver, and green - that I twisted together with a drill into a sort of cable.  Above that is a couple of wraps of leather that I split the top layer off with a razor blade.  The leather's there only because I didn't make enough of the 3 strand wire.  I'll need to make about 10-15' more than I did (about 25') to get enough of a wrap for a decent sized grip. The strap is a piece of unsplit leather from the same batch as the wrap.

 

The whole thing got a couple of coats of clear matte paint to seal it all up.

 

Generally, I am extremely pleased with it.  It's the first real 'I want you to make one of these, here's a check' commissions I've gotten from a friend's wife for him for Christmas.

 

Other than some of things (I think) are obvious, like the issue with not enough wire for the grip, and, in my opinion, the handle is a bit too bulky for the head proportion-wise (though it fits in the hand fairly well), I'd love to hear any suggestions for improvement.

 

[Charles R. Stevens]

I have a small axe with a head of similar size. I found repurposing a hoe handle works extremely well, cutting it off at the far end of the handle knuckles to elbow was about the right length and the profile and size worked very well. The inclusion of a lanyard also is handy to prevent this kind of toy from becoming ballistic. Kind of the wii controller vs. Tv. Thing