Hello:

First, happy new year everybody! I hope it is a better year for all of us.

My question is about how polearms were usually hafted. It seems the majority had some sort of socket and langets configuration. Why weren't any simply given a long tang, and the tang secured by rivets? This is just like a knife, but on a larger scale of course.

The best candidates for my idea are glaives - like the one made by Peter Schreckeisen on p.57 of "Schwert und Spiess" - and other more conventional glaives.

Just wondering. It seems like a tang would have been simpler to make, but I don't doubt the men of earlier times had their reasons for making polearms the way they did.

Tanged polearms were usual in Japan, Indonesia, and Korea. Common in China as well, although I see a lot of socketed heads, too. I can only remember socketed polearms from India, Persia, and the Ottoman empire.

It's much, much easier to mount a socketed head. Get your haft-to-be, and taper the end to fit the socket. Stick in socket, and nail/rivet. Done! Also strong, since the socket will help stop the haft from splitting, or if it does split, will help keep it together.

For a riveted tanged head, you need to split (the end of) the haft, cut a space for the tang to fit, then put it together. You will need some kind of ferrule, binding, and/or reinforcing rings to hold it together.

But maybe it also depends on who makes the polearm heads - spear makers or swordsmiths. If the polearm smith makes socketed spears, then a socketed head seems easy and natural.

None of which says why no Europeans polearms had tangs, just why socketed heads might be more common. Are tanged heads non-existent? Recently I saw a halberd, supposedly original, on ebay, with a tanged/riveted head. (I wasn't convinced it was original.) Also, the centre glaive in this group, Higgins Armory Museum looks tanged.

What would you classify that pole weapon as? Doesn't appear to have an "axe" enough profile to be a halberd, a bit beefier than a glaive. I like the look of it, sword trapping front eye hook, back spike to pierce and pull riders down, enough blade to effectively stab and maybe slash cut. Very interesting.

There is at least one European weapon of that type:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1248

I've wanted it since I first saw the thing. Good use for a broken blade, so send me your abused swords! :D