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Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > Neat Mace heads from KoA. Reply to topic
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 2:30 am    Post subject: Neat Mace heads from KoA.         Reply with quote

Just bought a few of these in brass from Kult of Athena:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...+Mace+Head

The one shown is in Cast Steel but I preferred the Brass ones to avoid rust as I'm planning on mounting first one as a walking stick head and keeping the other 3 I bought in reserve if I want to make other sticks or walking staffs using these mace heads.

These are not more than 1 pound and maybe an ounce or two more so they aren't so huge as to make a cane/walking stick head look too big or too heavy for practical use.

I mounted one already on an inch thick white oak aft and make the walking stick length a total of 41".

The aft came from a martial arts BO staff and the short piece left over can make a short mace aft.

I slightly modified the head by rounding the flanges on the socket side to make it smoother in the hand and to make it slightly less aggressive looking. Added a copper ferule i.e. copper 1" end cap from plumbing supply store and a rubber tip from the pharmacy and took it out for a stroll last night.

The wood is already very smooth but finishing it with daily applications of boiled linseed oil.

I like walking sticks and have been carrying one around for years as they are nice for those long 5 miles walks I take regularly and mostly because I like walking sticks and have a small collection of them that I cycle using from very very light ones like the Cold Steel Slim Stick and the City Stick as well as bought and DIY sticks like a nice one made out of a natural maple branch, bark removed and highly polished and oil finished.

http://www.coldsteel.com/slim-stick.html

Oh, the mace heads I ordered from KoA in Brass and Ryan let me know when they arrived but they haven't been put up on the site yet in the brass version: Great customer service from Ryan as usual and it's worth e-mailing him if one wants something and doesn't see it on the site as he can either special order it or at least let you know if he intends to stock it eventually. I'm a very loyal repeat customer when vendors make the purchasing or ordering as user friendly as possible and are so good at replying to e-mails in a timely manner, so I'm pleased to give him and Ko A a good plug here. Wink Laughing Out Loud

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Christopher Finneman




Location: Sartell Minnesota
Joined: 20 Mar 2006

Posts: 159

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 9:20 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ive been eyeing these up for a while now and for the price you really cant beat them.
Now that I know they have brass too I may get a sttel one and brass one.
I was thinkinng the steel on would age nicely as a walking stick from the oils and salts from your hand and random use should keep the rust down.
Hmm more projects to add to the fire.

Proudly it stands until the worlds end. The victorious banner of love.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Likes: 50 pages
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Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 2:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Yes these are nice and I think made by GDFB. I preferred the brass for low maintenance and in time it can acquire a nice patina as well.

For steel on a walking stick a touch of oil and a close look to remove any rust each time one takes the walking stick out for a stroll should keep it in good condition. Any rust could be removed easily although that does just make the steel bright again and not what you want if your goal is a nice aged look. An alternate is to cold blue and retouch should you need to polish out a bit of rust.

The weight for the walking stick is not excessive since the Cold Steel Walking Stick with the Pistol grip top ( No longer available I think ) actually is heavier or feels heavier in handling: This may be due to my stick using a 1" stick with no taper to it, so my stick might weight a little more but just feel less top heavy.

Oh, and these mace heads are intended to be early Viking or high Medieval mace heads that where of more modest size and weight than later maces that would be more specialized weapons for dealing with armour: Against maille clad or lightly protected foes these would do the job quite well and be faster in recovery than later maces being around half the weight on average. ( estimate/guess ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Alex Spreier




Location: Central Oregon
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
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Posts: 82

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 8:25 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Well now I have a project to work on haha

Jean,

How did you secure the head?

Compagno, Northwest Fencing Academy

http://bunkaijuju.blogspot.com/
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Likes: 50 pages
Reading list: 1 book

Spotlight topics: 5
Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 9:26 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Alex Spreier wrote:
Well now I have a project to work on haha

Jean,

How did you secure the head?


Well the 1 1/8" stick was just a hair undersized so I didn't have to do any carving to make it fit but a generous amount of 5 minute epoxy filled the socket very well and putting the stick in the socket had the epoxy overflow.

So the gap was well filled by the epoxy but I also drilled two small holes in the socket neck and epoxied and hammered in from each side 2 brass plated furniture nails: The nails meet somewhere in the wood with each to short to hit the opposite socket wall.

The copper " ferule " ( copper end cap ) was secured in the same way but is not visible since the rubber cane tip hides the copper cap. It would look nicer without the rubber tip but to avoid damage and wear on the copper tip, also the cane hitting hard pavement is more jarring than the non slip rubber tip.

The metal ferule isn't actually needed with the rubber tip but it does protect the end of the wood from slitting, in theory, since the white oak is super hard and strong and not likely to get more than minor damage even if used without rubber tip or ferule.

( I just like things overbuilt and if I " retire " the walking stick from use, temporarily or permanently, it just looks better on display with the copper tip ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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P. Cha




PostPosted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 11:56 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Yeah I saw those and was meaning to order a couple with the H/T swords I got on that insane sale...and then promptly forgot due to shiny sword effect Happy .
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Stephen Renico




Location: Detroit
Joined: 01 Feb 2009

Posts: 51

PostPosted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 3:23 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean,

After seeing your thread on this, I ordered one. It just arrived today, and I'm in my evil laboratory, scheming about what to do with it.

Mwua-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaa!


"The state that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting by fools." -Thucydides.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 6:40 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Stephen Renico wrote:
Jean,

After seeing your thread on this, I ordered one. It just arrived today, and I'm in my evil laboratory, scheming about what to do with it.

Mwua-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaa!

[


Encouraging evil laboratory works: My job is done. Evil Wink Razz Laughing Out Loud Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Sam Gordon Campbell




Location: Australia.
Joined: 16 Nov 2008

Posts: 678

PostPosted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 8:37 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Stephen: Is that a Metropolis still I spy? Happy
I must say, I'm a fan of early brass/bronze mace heads.

Member of Australia's Stoccata School of Defence since 2008.
Host of Crash Course HEMA.
Founder of The Van Dieman's Land Stage Gladiators.
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Scott Hrouda




Location: Minnesota, USA
Joined: 17 Nov 2006
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Posts: 643

PostPosted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 9:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Anyone else notice that some glasses and a graying beard on Dr. Evil would look a lot like .. Jean? Laughing Out Loud Maybe it's just me. Wink

Kidding aside, please share your walking stick results. Do you have photographs?

...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana shaped. - Sir Bedevere
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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Likes: 50 pages
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PostPosted: Wed 06 Oct, 2010 5:53 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Scott Hrouda wrote:
Anyone else notice that some glasses and a graying beard on Dr. Evil would look a lot like .. Jean? Laughing Out Loud Maybe it's just me. Wink

Kidding aside, please share your walking stick results. Do you have photographs?


Oh no now the secret is out I'm D. Evil.

Yeah, I know I know I should get around to using a camera and post pics some day: Just stuck with a mental block about that I haven't even tried taking a pic with my cell phone camera yet ...... Blush Blush Blush WTF?!

I should do a test or something to see if I can transfer a pic from my phone camera to my MAC ? ( I assume probably yes, but all the documentation coming with my sell phone assumes a P.C. Windows computer and the software they supplied on their DVD is Windows ? Using a hardwired approach " firewire " or just using wireless transfer might work ..... At times I'm good with tech stuff once I break the ice but generally figuring this stuff just gets on my nerves and I usually find that when on my computer I would rather just browse and do other things than make the effort to debug or learn some new feature or an old feature I just haven't tried to use yes ....... sounds more like a therapy session for the computer phobic than anything else. Eek! WTF?! ).

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Corey Skriletz




Location: United States
Joined: 27 May 2011

Posts: 118

PostPosted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 12:53 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I love the KoA Mace head. I got the steel one because I like the rust. I've been thinking of getting a brass version as well, though. I love Kult of Athena because they are the only website (that I could find, at least) that carries a 12th century-style mace head and ships to the U.S. If anybody knows of a site that ships knobbed mace heads to the U.S., please tell me.

Here is my mace:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullets4brains/6...hotostream

A closeup of the rawhide grip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullets4brains/6...hotostream

A closeup of the mace-head. To pin it onto the shaft, I hammered a nail into the socket, then cut the head off the nail and peened it down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullets4brains/6...hotostream

And another picture with the flash turned off.:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullets4brains/6...otostream/
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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 1:37 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

if you want another example of a swedish, 9th century mace , manning imperial has one, this example was found at gotland
http://manningimperial.com/item.php?item_id=2...mp;c_id=37 its alot simpler, just a bronze ball with a very short cylender poking out of the top,
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Neil Langley




Location: Stockport, UK
Joined: 23 Jan 2006

Posts: 112

PostPosted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 10:37 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Corey Skriletz wrote:
If anybody knows of a site that ships knobbed mace heads to the U.S., please tell me.


Tod has these beauties: http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/todsfoundry/mace.htm (Hafted: http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/theenglishcutler/m...dieval.htm).

The KOA one's look like WWI trench maces to me!

Neil.
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Corey Skriletz




Location: United States
Joined: 27 May 2011

Posts: 118

PostPosted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 8:41 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Neil: I have been to Tod's page, and that "Early Medieval Mace No. 3" is exactly the style I'm looking for. I didn't know he shipped to the U.S.
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Johan Gemvik




Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: 10 Nov 2009

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PostPosted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 12:04 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

William P wrote:
if you want another example of a swedish, 9th century mace , manning imperial has one, this example was found at gotland
http://manningimperial.com/item.php?item_id=2...mp;c_id=37 its alot simpler, just a bronze ball with a very short cylender poking out of the top,


Nice one, but it's more expensive with just the head than a lot of decent swords...

"The Dwarf sees farther than the Giant when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on" -Coleridge
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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 7:48 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Johan Gemvik wrote:
William P wrote:
if you want another example of a swedish, 9th century mace , manning imperial has one, this example was found at gotland
http://manningimperial.com/item.php?item_id=2...mp;c_id=37 its alot simpler, just a bronze ball with a very short cylender poking out of the top,


Nice one, but it's more expensive with just the head than a lot of decent swords...


thats craig for you (craig stitch is the owner of maninning imperial. ) he charges heaps for his work.
his only OTHER possible lacking is that, since he caters mostly to reenactors, alot of his weapons are shown as combat blunts, . i assume hes more than capable of making them as sharps
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Neil Langley




Location: Stockport, UK
Joined: 23 Jan 2006

Posts: 112

PostPosted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 4:23 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Corey Skriletz wrote:
Neil: I have been to Tod's page, and that "Early Medieval Mace No. 3" is exactly the style I'm looking for. I didn't know he shipped to the U.S.


Not only the U.S.! One made its way to New Zealand not too long ago - via this very site - thanks to Nathan's 'reverse' birthday present and Tod's generosity: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=23288

Neil.
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Corey Skriletz




Location: United States
Joined: 27 May 2011

Posts: 118

PostPosted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 4:28 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I can't believe I missed that contest! That's a great shaft too. I originally thought that if I ever get enough money to buy that mace I will only buy the head, but if the shaft looks that good I might as well get the whole thing. In for a penny, in for a pound.
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