Hello all,

I'll begin directly with my question: What were the common historical cross-sections of pollaxe hafts during the 15th century?

I've recently been looking over various images of pollaxes and have seen quite a few, but I am also aware that some of the hafts in the images may not be extant, or even based on the extant haft that was originally attached. In the images I've looked at, most of the hafts seem to have a truncated circular cross-section or an octagonal cross-section with short 45 degree angled sides. It seems that the simple rectangular cross-section was less popular or, at least, is under-represented in the imagery I've looked at.

For examples of what I'm talking about, please see the following image:

[ Linked Image ]

Thanks,

Michael Olsen

That is quite a nice hammer. Interesting little grip down at the bottom, too.

Michael

Well, not necessarily from a pure historical point of view, but Arms and Armor's Knightly Poleaxe has what I would call a rectangular haft with the corners shaved down and rounded, rather than a true octagonal haft, ala the Purpleheart poleaxe trainers. I found that, surprising to me anyways, the rectangular-ish haft was vastly more comfortable to use, as well as allowing for easy "edge alignment" recognition.


My two-cents

Hey just got back from practice and I noticed that the Arms and Armor Knightly Poleaxe is indeed a full rectangle from the rondel up. On the actual grip, the haft is as described above.

my own made pole axe has the 2nd picture shaft on it,they other guys from our club have the same shafts
from my own combat experience it's pretty nice to have in your hands and doesn't hurt
a square shaft i tried first and it hurts like hell!