Dear friends,

I am really fascinated by gunstock clubs. Do you have any other pictures of them?

These are made by the American master smith Mr. Daniel Winkler.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

Courtesy of Mr. Daniel Winkler

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Gentlemen,

Noone interested in this topic? :)

Kind regards

Manouchehr

Manouchehr, these are tough as there are not that many around, and American Indian artifact collectors are pretty rabid about it so they tend to to end up in good sized collections for long periods of time. I was raised on "The Leather Stocking Tales" set in the New York/Albany frontier region upstate from me. I went through a couple of phases of interest in the French and Indian War period and made one of these years back ( passed on to a freind long ago). Its more difficult than one might think at first glance as the odd angle that gunstock clubs have makes weight and its distribution pretty important if the club is to be weildly. It took me 4-5 tries as I recall to get both the shape and weight to a point where it made an effective weapon. I never got up the cahounies to practice throwing it after all the work I put in as I was afraid of damaging it, which I now regret, as I should have completed the expirience by at least trying that aspect of the weapons potential.

If my uncle was here, he'd love to engage you on this topic. He is a collector of authentic NA clubs, tomahawks, spear and arrowheads, etc... I always love looking at his collection. Unfotunately I know little about the topic myself...

Manouchehr, no pics that I know of floating around. I used maple for it as I wanted something that would be hard but with a little spring. The geometry incorperated into them via the raised cetral ridge ( giving a diamond like cross section) is just as important as it is on swords or armour, allowing weight savings while increasing strength. I built mine large allowing for a two handed grip, right around 3 feet if I recall, although i've seen single handed clubs on occasion at gun shows and such. I don't recall the exact weight but it was quite reasonable on the final version, close to a good medieval single hander, 2-2.5 pounds maybe ( might have been lighter). I used a file for the spike blade which I stock removed, about 4" long when finished. Gound in a tang, drilled a hole of slightly smalled diameter than the tang and then resting the point of the spike in a block of hardwood, I placed the tang over the hole and strking with a wooden mallet on the opposite ( the "inside" of the angle) hammer fit it into the club. I draw shaved it all down ( the really painstaking part) after rough cutting it out of a 12" x 4' x 2" thick board ( the lumber cost of getting it right was the most expensive part after 5 tries). I wrapped the grip with wet leather thong that was tied through holes in the handle so that as the leather dried it shrank, growing tight. I did a little brass tack decoration on the stock end and initially didn't stain or color the wood. I went back later and used a dark English oak stain and then rubbed in black shoe polish to bring out the grain. They were certainly formidable weapons based on my expirience with the one I made and I certainly wouldn't want to face one. I can see how given the "unique" shape of them that they could be versatile as far as parrying might go. The ball clubs are very tough to come by, even rarer at least in my limited expirience than the gunstock clubs.

Hi!
although I saw this kind of a club only in move, one glance look is enough to find a big difference between the gunstock and normal "bone like" NA club, - bone-like is simple hit-him-with-a-thick-end weapon, and gunstocks shape impose some technique, I can say a kind of fencing probably.
I'm afraid, that art is dead in nova days, (like Polish saber "cross-art").
Interesting for me is a gunstock end - little metal spike is for clubbing-a-skull, but that gunstock side, and (in some examples) long handgrip have, most likely, some thrust usage. What do you think?

Oh, these are really NOT authentic as far as materials are concerned but would be interesting to play with and almost impossible to destroy !?

From coldsteel:
http://www.coldsteel.com/92pgs.html
http://www.coldsteel.com/92pbh.html

The shapes look nice and I might buy one of each eventually.

Hey, one custom made using a beautifully polished hardwood would be great or an original antique but these you wouldn't worry about if thrown at brick walls. :p :lol:

Martin,

Thank you very much indeed for your kind offer. Would you please also take pictures of native American knives and hawks if the museum has some? THanks a lot.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

I remember that there was a small museum of Colonial antiques in the upper floors of my town Library when I was a kid. there was an American Indian Mace style war-club on display there. My memory is a little hazy but I remember that it felt very heavy and solid to me, almost as if it was made out of petrified wood. There was very little taper along it's length, the ball end was only slightly wider then the shaft and handle, it reminded me of a log in fact. I want to say that the head was stone but I can't remember that clearly, I think it must have been due to it's weight. It had a very dark patina and radiated solid authority; No doubt it would have been brutally effective. Unfortunately, it's no longer there but when I have the time, I'll stop by and ask the librarians about it.

Manouchehr

See attached pics.

They are from the book "Warriors Warfare and the Native American Indian" by Norman Bancroft-Hunt.

I discovered this book in an old cupboard of mine about 3 months, I had completely forgotten about it.

There are several more clubs in the book, however I haven't scanned them yet.

Enjoy

Danny

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More pics, from the same book.

Enjoy

Danny