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Jean Thibodeau
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 Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 2:30 am Post subject: Neat Mace heads from KoA. |
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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.  
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
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| Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 9:20 am Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| 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
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| Posted: Sun 03 Oct, 2010 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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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  .
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Stephen Renico
Location: Detroit Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 51
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| Posted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| 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.   
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
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| Posted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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Stephen: Is that a Metropolis still I spy?
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
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| Posted: Tue 05 Oct, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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Anyone else notice that some glasses and a graying beard on Dr. Evil would look a lot like .. Jean? Maybe it's just me.
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
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| Posted: Wed 06 Oct, 2010 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| Scott Hrouda wrote: | Anyone else notice that some glasses and a graying beard on Dr. Evil would look a lot like .. Jean? Maybe it's just me.
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 ......  
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.  ).
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
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William P
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| Posted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 1:37 am Post subject: |
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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
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Corey Skriletz
Location: United States Joined: 27 May 2011
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Mon 28 Nov, 2011 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 12:04 am Post subject: |
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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
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| Posted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 7:48 am Post subject: |
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| Johan Gemvik wrote: |
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
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| Posted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| 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
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| Posted: Tue 29 Nov, 2011 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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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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