[Fabrice Cognot]

Hi all

I present to you this almost full-steel Horseman's War Hammer, inspired by several museum pieces I've been able to study and other things available from specialised antique dealers.

Hand-crafted in the style of the mid-to-late XVIth century. All the parts have been hand-forged or hand-shaped.
The use of power tools has been reduced to the minimum - not only because I'm not *that* equipped in that regard :

I try to approach as close as possible the historical methods of making and assembly for all the things I make, be they knives, daggers and in that case, hammers - being a PhD student in European arms and armour helps in that regard.

For instance, in that hammer the point of the beak is hard steel (1075), forge-welded (with hammer and anvil, and nasty swear words let me tell you) in a V-cut that I made in the head, as I so often documented on suchlike period hammers.





Mild steel mostly (except what I mention above), grip is covered with steel and brass wire over a wooden core. Hand-fileworked, full tang construction.

The belt clip is also quite historical - in a way that wasn't really planned. For it got damaged when I tried using power tools to give the thing a final shine, and I had to repair it - exactly the same way it would have been repaired then (no more power tools ! bad tools ! bad! ). So on one hand it is slightly damaged, but on the other hand it adds to its value and history - and the repair made it sturdier than ever.

Detailed view of the grip - wire-wrap and turk's heads :


Detailed views of the head, showing the peened rivets and clip, plus the filework. :



You can see on the latter pic a dark spot near the point - this shows the weld, where the hard steel wedge is inserted in the mild steel head - from there, a faint line goes up and to the left also, showing the differences in Carbon content. Or maybe I'm the only one to see it as I know it is there....


This point is pointy. I mean, really really pointy. And sharp.

Dimensions :
OAL 526 mm, head 147 mm on 19mm thick, shaft 12 mm thick, roundels about 45 mm, grip length 108 mm. 851 g total weight.


The thing will be delivered in a nice wooden box. I can leave it in this 'as new' polish, or 'antique' it a bit, for a few more euros.

Following the advice of a good swordsmith friend of mine, I'm asking 800 euros for this one - including the box (but without S&H).

PM me, or better : email me.

Cheers

Fab

[Joel Minturn]

Nice. That looks really good. I like it a lot.

[D. Austin]

Wish I had the funds for such a purchase. I am most impressed. I love the dome at the base of the grip and the belt clip. It does look very authentic. I'm finding myself more and more interested in weapons other than swords these days and this is a great example.

Darren.

[Nathan Robinson]

Congratulations, Fabrice, that looks fantastic. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[W. Schütz]

That is how it should be done Fabrice! Great work, im glad to see you have chosen the knuckle busting path of historical construcion-methods. Im not alone! ;/

[Sam Haverkamp]

That is "sweet sweet shiny Death Candy".
Very nice job.
I bet it feels wicked in the hand.
S

[J. D. Carter]

Wow. How often can brutal and elegant be used to describe the same object.

[Herbert Schmidt]

Great work, Fab!

Why the upturned leaf-shaped bit at the handle?

best wishes

Herbert

[Fabrice Cognot]

Thanks to all for the kind words


I really hope this hammer will find a new owner soon, as I might grow too fond of it to let it go after a while.....(besides, The money from this sale will help fund my student fee for this final year of my PhD).


Herbert : because it is present on period hammers. Some have the belt clip, others have the turned guard, a few have both. One could think that this turned guard was used as a belt hook of sorts (as I don't really think of sophisticated fencing with such a weapon), but honeslty I don't know for sure.

[Fabrice Cognot]

I know times are tough for everyone, so if you're interested in that hammer just know that we can scale payment, and include the shipping costs in the 800 euros.

[Fabrice Cognot]

Times are tougher than said before :

Therefore I'm ready to negotiate a lowering of the price, should anyone be interested in buying it. And to US customers : as Tod said, the US $ /€ is going in your favour - 800, euros is now about a thousand dollars.

[Fabrice Cognot]

This hammer is now sold.

Thanks to you all.