This is a war hammer that i have forged..... The main body is a rail spike, slit drifted and with the spike drawn out and curved down. The hammer head started out as a piece of 2 inch round stock, that was then forged square and had the face shaped with various tools to form 4 "peaks" and an x shaped recess...... The idea being that not having the hammer face on one geometric plane (flat) and having the ridges is more likely to crumple and rip multiple holes in plate armor, and more likely to split chainmail links....... The two pieces were then v out, and multipass welded with some 7018 running about 180 amps........  Looking at it you couldn't tell they were two separate pieces and functions perfectly...... It is hafted to a 30 inch hickory handle (a broken shovel handle)....... What do yall think?  

i like it. if i had lived in that era i would have chosen a hammer, or axe, not a sword . maybe one in each hand!

Ayup, that'd send the other guy to the body and fender shop. Nicely doe.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Nice job swordandshield !!

axe all the way  . nice job battle hammer would be my next choice .

Two handed style on the battle field would get you killed, the shield is just to effective as a defensive weapon.
War hammers and military picks certainly gave good service as a relatively low cost weapon for defeating armor.
Economy and effectiveness certainly kept the axe and spear on the battle Felix a long time. But the award as just too effective against the lightly armored peasants for a "Nobel man" to pass up.
:-D figure Tommas will chime in and call me a fool, but I look forward to it!

Charles

you mean the movies are wrong!?!?

hey my mom lives in Moore (house still standing, thanks for asking) and my sister lives in Norman.   not far from Bradley.

I know that sometimes people would 'dual wield' in duels in the later periods with, say,  a rapier and dagger, but a weapon in each hand really gives you no advantage on the battlefield as it doesn't actually allow you to attack faster and the coolness factor would wear off when you get hit by an arrow without a shield and everyone laughs at you!

yeah i think being an archer is where it was at back then if you had to be in a battle.  archer with warhammer on the belt for backup.

in massed battle the shield certainly does a lot for you; so much so that weapons requiring the use of both hands tended to be deployed with someone with a shield think of the great danish axe that was used by people standing just behind the shield wall!

Renaissance halberds are another example, until you get to the pike where the massed multiline array *is* the shiels as well as the offense.

 

One on one fights can allow you to use a weapon in both hands or two weapons and block with them as well as attack

 

Doppel soldiers are a special case

My kind of weapon. Blunt force trauma via a long handle. :ph34r:

Sure like the finished product! Can't wait to see the next project. I'm slowly working out a war hammer too, pictures to come when completed.

Two handed style on the battle field would get you killed, the shield is just to effective as a defensive weapon.
War hammers and military picks certainly gave good service as a relatively low cost weapon for defeating armor.
Economy and effectiveness certainly kept the axe and spear on the battle Felix a long time. But the award as just too effective against the lightly armored peasants for a "Nobel man" to pass up.
:-D figure Tommas will chime in and call me a fool, but I look forward to it!

Tell that to the highlanders! Or some of the Germans! Some of the swords reached 6 (182.88cm) -7 (213.36cm)

feet in length.

And look at german zweihander use cases: pikes, 1 on 1, not generally seen in regular massed battles

The hammer head started out as a piece of 2 inch round stock, that was then forged square and had the face shaped with various tools to form 4 "peaks" and an x shaped recess...... The idea being that not having the hammer face on one geometric plane (flat) and having the ridges is more likely to crumple and rip multiple holes in plate armor, and more likely to split chainmail links.......

 

Anyone who has ever hit their thumb with a new waffle faced framing hammer can attest to the damage a ridged faced hammer can do. One of the 1st things we'd tell new guys to do if they showed up at work with a brand new framing hammer was to  take it over to the grinder and smooth off the face. Someone with experience can make use of a waffle faced framer since chances are they may not hit their hand much, but new guys usually pulp their fingers fairly regularly.