Hello everyone i'm looking at buying a mace or a warhammer and stumbled across cold steel's warhammer and was wondering what your guy's opinion on it is.

War Hammer
Specifications:
Weight: 39.8 oz.
Hammer Face: 11/2" X 1 1/2"
Head Width: 7 3/8"
Handle: Straight Grain Hickory with Langets
Steel: Drop Forged 5150 Steel
Overall Length: 30"

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Looks pretty cool to :)

In my humble opinion, those screws in the langets are simply a bit too much to handle with straight face ....

It doesn't look like anything remotely historical really, and I would be surprised if it behaves correctly too.

For low price one can, AFAIR get Cold Steel stuff in various places, it's definitely quite fun thing to get, especially for some kind of projects - the head itself could be quite decent, if hafted nicely, without those nasty langets, as far as I can see it.

It's a modern interpretation of something. I'm not sure what, exactly, other than of the "modern" part. :)

I bought one a couple years back, like the others said it aint really historically accurate but if you just want something cheap to beat up stuff with its a good buy

personally, I'd be inclined to say that if you've got a bench grinder, a drill, and a woodworking plane, you could get a far better object for half the price by buying a sledgehammer handle and planing it to a square haft shape, a cheapy masonry hammer, taking the head and ginding the pick shape into a spike, and making a pair of langets from 1.4mm steel strip. oh, and a handfull of decent nails cut to size and countersunk into the langets...


could be a pretty fun project, really

To be fair, it is perfectly functional, in the sense that you can hit things with it. :)

If you're just looking for a heavy blunt instrument to smash stuff with, sure, go for it. It's perfect for that.

If you're looking for a remotely historical warhammer, just forget it - look at Windlass Steelcrafts if you want to stay in the same approximate price category or, if you happen to have a bit more money to blow, have a look at Arms & Armor.

Get the Windlass "New War Hammer". Excellent piece. Or, if you just want Cold Steel and aren't wed to a particular period, take a look at their hawks. I'd be proud to have the "Frontier Hawk" as a practical project (ditching the unfortunate finish and altering or replacing the handle, mainly). Most are 18-19th c. but the "Norse Hawk" might appeal to the medieval enthusiast. Not much can go wrong for $22!

http://www.knivesplus.com/COLD-STEEL-HAWKS.HTML

I'm looking for something in the 14th century and was hoping that this was historically based on something. Thanks for all the info ill have to check out the windlass warhammer. either that or i may look at getting a mace from tods stuff

I own one.
The head's been heat treated pretty well (the spike went through an old steel mailbox multiple times without getting damaged).
The only thing that bothers me are the langets. They were badly attached so I took them off.

Hello,
The mace from Tod's Stuff is going to be the most accurate out of the box, and the quality will be the highest. If you want the Windlass "New War hammer" it will require some work. It is very nice for the price, but requires some work to make it reasonably accurate. I have a Windlass "German Warhammer" I picked up used with a broken haft for $30... With a little work it turned into a lovely piece.
The Cold Steel one is horrible (accuracy wise). I am not sure of the purpose of it. If you just are looking to find something to hit things with... go into a gas station and get a tire thumper, hammer, tire iron, etc.
Cheers,
Hadrian

i know bronze is pretty hard but steel is harder if i hit something steel with a bronze mace will it deform the bronze? that is my only concern with the Tod"s stuff mace. (I don't think i will need to hit anything steel but still its more the question should a mace head be of a material as hard or harder than the armour it comes into contact with?) Im looking at one of these mace heads they look pretty cool :)

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Not sure if this is a saint, deity, folklore character or just some dude grinning

Jared Lambert wrote

Quote:

Posted: Today at 6:14 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i know bronze is pretty hard but steel is harder if i hit something steel with a bronze mace will it deform the bronze? that is my only concern with the Tod"s stuff mace. (I don't think i will need to hit anything steel but still its more the question should a mace head be of a material as hard or harder than the armour it comes into contact with?) Im looking at one of these mace heads they look pretty cool

The earlier weapon shown was a pick and as such is meant to go through steel and to do this a few times the point must be of a similar or harder hardness to the target or it will get rapidly damaged. However move something fast enough and it will go through anyway - eg lead/copper bullet, so even a mild steel spike will go through medium carbon armour given enough ooomph.

The maces shown are mass weapons and as such are meant to impart a force to the surface of something. They could be iron, steel, copper, bronze, lead etc. It doesn't really much matter because when you swing a pound of anything at 150mph it gives a significant transfer of force at the target and that is the point. A few years ago I shot fresh tomatoes (not frozen, not canned) through 1/2" plywood because they were moving quickly and imparted an impact force at the target that was enough to break a 'scab' through. Historically these small maces were usually of bronze and sometimes of iron.

Also consider its end use. These are not very high status items and so they are likely to be targeted mostly at men at arms with plenty of areas that give a little like maille, padding, flesh and brigs and so the damage to the mace would be slight. If they were to hit a helm crest say, there would be some damage, but in any soldiers career how many times would this happen before his luck runs out and he gets retired in one way or another? Even if the mace hit something deforming time and time again.............actually it does not matter at all from a functional point of view, you will still have 1 pound of metal on the end of a stick; it just has a smudged face now...................

Please don't take this as a sales pitch - just some information and I hope it helps. If this discussion were on the BBC which cannot advertise they would now say "Other bronze maces are available from a range of other manufacturers and stockists"

Tod

Man, I just love that Tod's Stuff mace! It's not meant to be any specific character AFAIK, just a somewhat unnerving face to headbutt people with in style. "Say hello to my leedle friend!" :D

I'd be sore tempted to name it if I had one. He looks like a Jack, to me.

What Leo said is entirely correct - many period maces of this type are actually made of lead, which is even softer than bronze: being heavy is really the sole point of it, and a softer head can, in fact, be more durable against repeated impacts than a hard steel one. Ruining the decor wasn't really much of an issue, it doesn't affect functionality in any way, and if it does bother you on aesthetic grounds, bronze is easier to re-form than steel.

Moving on, here's some hands-on reviews of some Windlass things:

English War Hammer on Sword Buyer's Guide

River Thames Mace on myArmoury.com

German Mace on myArmoury.com

Now, that last one is too late for your stated period of interest, but what the hell, it's nice enough I thought I might as well throw it in there... I'm getting one myself for Christmas, to keep company for my German Bastard Sword. :)

Leo thanks for all the info it was very helpful. You would be the best person to ask about your maces :)

Well there are these at KuA and are also available in brass:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...+Mace+Head

Great for a DIY project.

The ones made by Tod have more character and based on some very interesting historical ones.

My two cents. Is the Cold Steel period correct? No. Will it go through armour like the Wehrmacht went through Poland? Yes. If your looking for a solid, inexpensive backup weapon for when the bullets run out, the Cold Steel will keep you in the fight (langets and all), but if you want something to fit in with a period outfit (which is just as cool) the weapons suggested by others would be the way to go.

Personally, I've looked at the Windlass hammers and I was really disappointed with the hafts, they did not impress me for soundness. You might want to contact Kult of Athena and see if they'll sell you just the head and then you can fit up a hefty American Hickory haft on your own. I plan to get a Cold Steel hammer later this year and I'll try to post a review. My biggest concern is that it will be too heavy and not very mobile when use one handed. I did think the Windlass was very usable and controllable for a blunt force trauma weapon.

Happy Trails.

Eastern European hammers, at least late ones ( 16th and 17th centuries ) sometimes had a flat head and were hafted with wood and profile somewhat like the Cold Steel one http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....amp;pos=60 , http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ww...s%3Disch:1 . I think its perhaps possible that the Cold Steel version is remotely inspired by some Eastern hammers.