[Nathan Spence]

I have no idea where to find a rondel to put onto a pole arm I have.

I have a pole hammer and would like to attach a rondel to it. I just dont think I have the time or skill to make one.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Spence

[Chad Arnow]

I've moved this out of the Marketplace forum. The Marketplace is only for seeking to buy or sell items in transactions with other non-business readers. Any seeking of advice or discussion of any kind should be done in one of our other forums.

Thank you.

[Alex Spreier]

No clue as far as a metal one, but I know that some of our training axes have leather rondels on them, which we then grip-taped above and below to make it stay - ugly, but it works for training axes. Maybe contact A&A, I know that their Knightly Poleaxe has a metal rondel.

[Sean Flynt]

If it doesn't have to be very historically accurate, you should consider modifying an electrical cleanout cover...

http://www.ipscorp.com/testtite/mechanicalplugs/coverplates

The 4" 16 ga. cover would probably be a good choice--rondels were surprisingly small, just enough to cover the hand.

This will be a simple job if your haft is of square or rectangular section at the point of attachment, slightly more work if round. Your best bet for attachment would probably be to use L-shaped pieces of steel rod flattened and drilled at both ends. These create a shelf around the haft to which the rondel is riveted. The lower end of the upside-down L is either nailed or riveted to the haft. The A&A Knightly Poleaxe Alex mentioned uses this historically accurate method. The underneath of the rondel was sometimes padded.

I think you'd find it not too difficult to make a simple rondel. I've realized that a pair of large shears with one handle held in a bench vise can cut at least 16 ga. steel. No noise (other than grunting) no dust and no risk of cutting blades shattering. Medieval armourers used a similar, but larger, setup. With this you could at make a rondel at least as good as what is seen on the typical 15th/16th c. ahlspiess. Those are just crude discs of iron with square holes formed by cutting an "H" shaped slit in the center and folding the resulting ears of metal down at right angle to the plane of the disk (resulting in a square hole). Those rondels rest on the head itself and are held in place only by friction and a notch in the head. You could certainly use the same construction method for a haft-mounted rondel--you'd simply use the method described above or put a single rivet through the "ears".

[Sean Flynt]

These Arma Bohemia weapons exhibit variations on the options I described above.