I've seen several items on polearms in the forum recently and, as I've been maturing in my perspective on the arms & armor likely to be used by a man-at-arms in the late 14th/early 15th, I seem to have finally gotten through my skull that while swords are sexy, the well armed soldier was more likely to enter the fight with a good pole arm and rely only on the sword as a secondary weapon.

I've been trolling around the web looking at various offerings and ran across this:

http://www.knightsedge.com/p-105-german-knights-halberds.aspx

It is under their "Ritter Steel" line and appears to be fairly sturdy, if not a bit overbuilt (I have the Ritter Steel German Warhammer - heavy as all get out, a little crude, but would put a serious hurt on someone if smacked).

Now to the questions:

Historical accuracy - does it pass muster? Is it a good example of a period piece, or would someone with good knowledge be pointing and laughing?

Personal experience - anyone handled? Is it as overbuilt as it looks?

While I haven't done so, yet, I've been planning to shave-down the haft of the warhammer (imagine a 3x2 with the edges eased) and remove all the black paint. Would probably do a similar job on this item, if it otherwise seems a decent piece.

Your thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated. If you do not feel comfortable having them in the open forum, a PM would be great.

Thanks.

As far as historical accuracy goes, I would unfortunately side with "pointing and laughing" camp.

Many of those look outlandish, and their descriptions don't look optimistic either.

Some, as one of the war hammers looks definitely passable though, at least IMO.

Those are my 2 c.

You can do much, much better in every respect, especially at that price.

Okay - early returns not far off from what I expected.

An added question: what non-custom piece might you recommend?

Time frame: 1370 - 1420
Geography: historic family roots are Lower Saxony area of modern Germany, so that is the area I look to for inspiration for other arms & armor.

Hello,
I would stay away from "knights edge", I don't see a single thing I would consider accurate. That polearm is not remotely accurate... Sorry.
What's your budget? How much work are you willing to put into it? I can't really make any recomendations without knowing.
Cheers

On the lowest end of the price spectrum, I'd consider one of the GDFB pole arm heads. You can haft them yourself and save a ton of money on something that looks decent.

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Either of these can be had for $35-$45 at various vendors. I own both, and once they are done up - they are not that bad at all for the money. They are not a fraction as nice as the A&A counterparts, but from a distance, they look fine. They perform well too, that is, for the money... :)

The Medieval German Knights Halberd looks vaguely like the halberds carried by officers and guards in the late sixteenth century and on. It's definitely not appropriate for a medieval German noble. The rectangular haft that they tout is reasonable, however; you see that on many halberds and pollaxes.

Wow at 35$ that is crazy. I can't get the steel to make one for that.

I have three decent German polearms that I probably won't keep but they're all later than your interest (all three are meant to be 1450-1500). Sorry! :(

Thanks for all the input, so far.

I had visited the Marek site the other day - have liked his stuff for a very long time, just haven't been a patron, as yet.

As for price range, the price point wasn't the focus. By point of reference, I have succumbed to the siren song of Albion a half dozen times - three direct, three from forumites. :D Then again, I'm not really looking to go absolutely crazy, either. Just would like to find something of good quality and reasonably representative, fairly priced.

After some early, very a-historic purchases when I first started to get interested in this area a few years ago, I began to focus on finding better quality in a more focused timeframe and region. That's a bit easier to do with swords, armor, clothing and certain other items. This particular search has been a bit more difficult.

I appreciate all the feedback and recommendations and look forward to that still forthcoming.

Edit - Sean's post hit while I was composing. While the focus of what I'm building now is late 14th, early 15th, my initial foray into collecting and interest was more late 15th. Presently no pole arms representing that era in my collection, either. :D