Just don't swing it at particle board!!

So I bought an MRL Footman's war Hammer "Capable of crushing the stoutest armor or helmets...a devastating weapon..." on closeout. Fortunately it was C-H-E-A-P. Unfortuantely, as they say, you get what you pay for. One the first test out of the box, on the first swing against some old particle board, this devastating weapon's wooden handle broke below the langets. Saying that the wooden handle exploded like the balsa wood prop lances in A Knight's Tale might be a more accurate description.

http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/eCat/S...ammer.aspx

My handle was much lighter in color than the one pictured.

All the metal parts appear to be okay, and they will become my first home project, but based on this purchase, the wood is as bad as everyone says. In fact, I dare say the company should be embarassed to use it. The wood is that bad. It splits and chunks like pine, but really more like sick pine on a very bad day.

Besides the handle, the construction is a curious mix of historical and modern in that they use screws and pins. So far this is making disassembly a complete pain in the rump. All that said, when cheap, I think the piece has some potential. It may never work for Living History, but as shipped it will make a nice accent piece as long as you don't swing it and make contact with anything, and with some work the useful componets might just make a nice tool.

I bought one of these a few years ago, and it has held up very nicely. I've tested in on coconuts, stumps, pieces of 16 gauge plate, mail, and pumpkins at full force and the biggest problem I've had is getting it un-stuck from the heavier objects I've hit. Mine, like yours, has a much lighter wood color than the one in the picture. Who knows, maybe I got a freakishly good one?

A friend of mine bought on some time ago(years) and it has an Ash handle. It has held up nicely. Inversely I purchased a Crusader Axe which was hilted with a wood unknown to me which cracked then broke completely. It was reddish though. An Indain hardwood? Well I rehilted that axe with a nice piece of oak. Since has been sold.

I used to have a MRL bec de corbin. My experience is very similar to yours, Joe. I did two swings at watermelons (Galagher style!), then a student of mine gave it a swing. He'd missed the target, went pass the stand and hit the mud, not very hard. The wood practically exploded, and I even thought of the same analogy you used of the balsa wood lances in Knight's Tale. On mine the metal langets warped really badly, too. I ended up selling the metal parts, but based on this, and of other tales I keep hearing, I'll never buy a MRL hafted weapon.

Cory, glad to hear yours isn't a lemon. Seems you lucked out. :)

Joe,
I had hoped that they had gotten better in the years since I bought (and promptly returned) one of those. The wood on the one I had was very light and didn't seem sturdy.

That's too bad, man. You could always get your money back. Their return policy is great.

Another thing I noticed is that if one orders numerous things at the same time things they have in stock may be delayed by something else in the order that is back ordered. It may be possible to get the item in stock shipped right away on request but that will double the shipping costs. I might be wrong here as I'm basing myself on my memory and their actual shipping policy should be checked either in their FAC or by E-Mail.

One work around would be to order one thing at a time unless they are all presently in stock.

As to quality I'm so far pleased with their Anelace as their steel seems real hard as well as flexible: Hand sharpening this one is a challenge from it's unsharpened 1 or 2 mm edge.

The Medieval chopper looks O.K. , if not very historical in construction, and has a sturdy full tang: The only thing I don't like is that the steel is much softer than the Anelace blade; a file barely bites into the Anelace while sharpening, the chopper with a file was easy to sharpen. I would estimate that the chopper is about as hard as a typical machete, so it would be useable as a weapon or in the modern contexts would make a decent brush clearing tool.

Somewhat all over the place, but I guess with MRL it's a product by product thing and a quality control thing for each item of a specific model.

On the plus side my E-Mails were generally answered within a few days and shipping issues addressed to my satisfaction in a polite and professional way.

Could return it but I'm going to keep it and play with it.

I was actually working on cutting and sanding the handle down earlier. It was going to become a very short horseman's hammer, but there were so many darn knots in the wood that whole handle is a write off. About the time I'd get things back into working shape, a chunk of wood would literally fall out of the handle and I'd have to start over.

Not sure about the design, the langets are seperate pieces, but the steel seems decent enough. If I can pull the two main rivets on the head without mucking things up, I should be able to refit a handle easy enough. Also going to replace the stupid modern brass screws.

Something to do I guess. I'm just very surpised that they used whatever this crap wood is. For my part, any future hafted purchases from MRL will be made with the assumption that they are project pieces and I'm just buying parts.

Do you guys think I should reshaft my MRL glaive? I'd hate to swing it and have the head fly off and impale someone.

Hey, at least it didn't fail on you in the midst of combat . . . This reminds me of the Blacksmith's punch that I hafted with a length of Oak for the option of using it as a war-hammer.

Keep in mind that the glaive, like many polearms, is first and foremost a thrusting weapon (secondarily a slicing weapon). It's much less suited to hacking than a halberd, so swinging hard at a target not only isn't a good idea, it's probably not even appropriate historically.

indeed, if one knows what they are doing it can be very rewarding to modify such an item into a custom piece that out-performs the original.

:eek: :!:

Sorry to hear that.

I must admit your story provoked a "well, crap" reaction from me, though. I just ordered MRL's German Halberd on Sunday. Here's hoping my shaft holds up. :crosses fingers:

Been there with a Lochaber-go to you local Amish wagonmaker and buy one of his axles, hack it down to handle size, then wrap the business end in wire once you get the head on or it'll ring like a harp every time you bash something hollow (heads, helmets, 55 gal. drums, etc.)

Don't use copper wire, though...sword'll slice thru.