Hi guys, I recently forged a war hammer but was unhappy with the haft. So today I put it on a steel shaft instead of a wooden one. I'd like to make a grip area using rondels but don't know how I should go about doing that. I'd like one at the bottom of the haft and one about 4 inches above that, then the area in between will be wrapped.

My questions are: what should I use for the rondels? How do I attach them (I really suck at welding/soldering, so if you have other ideas that would be great)? How were these types of handles made in period?

Here is a pic of my hammer as it is now.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3w12nC9LaKU/UjjXYIKtVpI/AAAAAAAAAKc/LyZ-cqVMwhY/w551-h827-no/IMAG0084.jpg

And here is a link to something with a grip similar to what I want, the A&A High Gothic Mace.
http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AA19...othic+Mace

Thanks in advance for your help,
Alan

i think rivets can be you best bet. if you cut a X in the center instead of just drilling it out, then you may be able to bend the metal over and rivet it through the haft. make sure to off set them so you don't accidentally drill one pilot hole through another. this way you can also hide the rivets beneath your grip material too, although if your haft is round, to keep things flush you may need to do some shaping to these flanges to keep a nice flush fit.

Not having seen the historical solution (there is always a grip in the way), my inclination from a metalworking perspective would be to cut stepped round tenons in the haft. The mortise in the rondelle would need to be a very snug fit. Once driven on, the haft behind the rondelle could be slightly upset with a center punch. Of course the aft-most rondelle would have the tenon peened in place as you would a sword pommel on a tang.

One thing to note is that from a material standpoint and a historical one, by using the steel haft you have made a departure from what I see as the language of how these pieces would be put together.

A steel haft historically would be of much smaller cross section than a wood one. The connection to the hammer head would likely have been a mortise and tenon joint requiring a smaller eye (mortise). The eye you made in the head is really sized for wood. A steel shaft would also have tapered to keep the weight of the tool where it is most effective.

Why did you abandon the wood? You could have let in steel langets and made a nice tight fit for the hammer head. As it stands now I think the haft and head are disproportionate and I'm fairly sure you'll feel that when you wield it.

Take a look at the proportions of this example: http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/2035.html
or these if you haven't perused the hafted weapons album: http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/1681.html
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/photo/1681.html




-A.

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll see about doing rivets.

M Adair Orr, thanks for the information on historical fitting. The reason I got rid of the wood is that I just couldn't find a piece I liked locally, so I decided to try a steel shaft. As far as weight distribution goes, the shaft is hollow (pipe) so that shouldn't be a factor, although it may affect durability. I plan on doing some tests.