| Benjamin H. Abbott wrote: | ||
But the pikes are quite thin (20-30mm) and the suspected halberd haft reasonably so. Assuming the recovered items match their original state, perhaps bills had such thick hafts near the head to make them more resistant to cuts - they don't appear to have had langets - and/or to increase the impact of swinging strokes. |
Some polearm hafts were tapered from head to foot. I have often wondered if this results from the way the wood was harvested. If you're growing ash specifically for hafts, it seems like you'd be able to harvest it much sooner if you reverse the young tree and use that thicker base for the head. Otherwise, you'd be waiting for the thin end to get to the right size of the socket just so you can shave down the fat end. Makes no sense. Reversing the harvested young tree means faster turnover in harvesting and less waste in production.