Warhammer and pole weapon shaft durability

[GeekControlMajorTim]

I think that this particular question tends to come up more in regards to spears than shorter, one-handed weapons. Movies frequently show spear tips being cut off, or snapped for dramatic effect. Spears also seem to flex more due to their length, which perhaps makes them appear flimsy to the casual observer. Not to mention most typical spears, though not all, don't bother with langets, perhaps to keep the weight down. Contrary to these notions, the testing vids that I've seen (Thegn Thrand does some for example) show that a spear shaft will just flex and bounce away from a directed blow to the shaft, unless it is pinned in place, suffering no more than minor gouges to the shaft. I imagine the same would happen to a warhammer or hand axe.

[lanasmith]

 liked the video loved the points the kitty made in the background

[Oblivlawls]

There is something about your videos man. When you start talking about the employment of weapons, I start to get really excited and I start to just think of the implications of a particular strategy or whatever.

[TesseraCraft]

people be crazy in the USA.  Hickory trees are treated like weeds in some places here, but they are great. the wood is great. the "beans" can be used as a great dietary fiber, or can be tossed in a smoker and add the hickory smoke flaver to meat.  the wood looks beautiful in furniture and is the best making things to last.

[YenzQu]

Your cat is getting hungry. It probably noticed you’re holding a can opener.

[Altrantis]

I often talk about the snapping after the weapon has been damaged and people always dismiss it saying "You're not going to chop through it." I'm very familiar with the resistance of wood used that way.I know how wood works. It's unlikelly a good piece of wood will break on use very quickly, nor that you can chop it, but if it gets a couple good chops, you could hit something (or someone) and it would break rather easilly. Specially if you hit it with the shaft. It's wood's most evident weakness. While metal will bend and break, it's resistant to chopping, which means it loses less of it's structural resistence.

[onlyashadow]

The meow at 5:02 just made me check my house for my cat

[justsomeguy]

I always preferred that type of hammer on my Warhammer models rather than the "sledge" type. Even as a teen I thought they were more realistic.

[harrychristenson]

Personal recommendation.

If you put your thumbnails as super awesome/ridiculous poses, or actual historical poses, I'll bet you you'll get more viewers.

You're not deceiving anyone, you're simply showing how awesome it looks to wield the object of your argument.

[AntiBunnyStudio]

I asked my cat what she wanted a few times before I realized it was in the video.

[Ottuln]

Stop threatening me with the spike on that hammer, I already liked the video!

[manfallsoffchair]

Could you make a video of your cat. Is it an effective weapon? Are there any historical considerations? Does it have funny long whiskers? In a duel, would you fear the claws more than the teeth?

[bushimotter]

Awesomely informative! I will recall hickory and ash as being best. I may be making a pole-arm at some point so this is valuable  ^, ^

[danielhale]

It's a good thing the cat lacks opposible thumbs; certainly it's seen enough demonstrations on weapons to use any one of them with deadly efficiency, and teach its comrades.

Opposible thumbs are clearly the only barrier.  Don't concern yourself with size or other physical or mental barriers a cat would face in combat, as they don't exist.  ;)

[lancerd]

I would argue that langets actually reduce weight. if you don't want your head to snap/fly off, and to protect the shaft from cuts and abrasion then your other option is a socket. The socket surrounds the entire circumference of the shaft rather than just the sides as langets do, and thus requires more metal for the same length. Therefore you either save weight by using langets, or you can use longer langets than you could a socket of equivalent weight. 

[ShaNagmaImmuru]

I have a question, if lets say you use a sword often enough and it gets quite worn through repairs and sharpening, how do you go about restoring it? Do you reforge the blade, change it to a whole new one maybe? And I have heard of ansestral swords, that is to say a sword that gets passed down through generations in a family, how did they avoid that degree of damage to the weapon in such cases?

[Connorcj]

Damn it, every time I see that war hammer of yours I want it a little bit more. Such a great looking weapon; and I imagine it'd be brutally effective in action. Clearly, it's a weapon developed to combat armor usage, and I can't imagine mail being a great challenge against it (specifically the spike), but do you know how much damage it would do to plate armors? (The type it would have seen use against) Would it pierce it completely? Batter/crush it? Or was it more to injure before a solid blow to the head could connect?

[nathanwallacw]

did wooden weapons have an octagonal profile because of ergonomics or was it because of damage reduction, more effective parrying or something I haven't mentioned?

[TheMireau]

and what about two handed axes such as the dane axe, couldn't they chop through a handle quite quickly, or maybe something like a falchion.

[BuenoExcellente]

i wonder if katana- ... enthusiasts would dare cut an ash warhammer handle.