I got poleaxed! (pic heavy)

[aurik]

This is more of a HEMA (Historical European Martial Art) topic, but definitely weapons-related.  Last week I went down to Kilroy's Workshop in Colorado Springs and made.. you guessed it, a poleaxe!  The class was originally designed with the venetian poleaxe in mind, but I had a couple of "happy accidents", and ended up with something slightly different (but very cool).  We started out with a chunk of 4140 steel (a chromium tool steel, used frequently in car engines).  We punched and drifted a hole in it (for the handle), and then squeezed out the back end which was supposed to be a hammer head:

https://i.imgur.com/Ih0CMci.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/SN4kZSA.jpeg

Next, we were supposed to start flattening out the larger head, which was intended to be the axehead.  I ended up flattening out the hammer end, so I went with it and turned it into a spike/hook.  After that, I used a power hammer to forge out the axe head into rough shape:

https://i.imgur.com/HvOvX1g.jpeg

Next stop: the grinder.  In this case, an angle grinder with a flap disc.  I ground off the forge scale (magnetite, a specific type of iron oxide that occurs at high temperatures) and ground in the profile shape:

https://i.imgur.com/b8XZBqu.jpeg

Next came the heat treatment.  Heat it up to a reddish-orange heat, let it cool down.  That relaxes some of the stresses induced from forging.  Then heat to an orange-red and quench in oil.  That looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/2Ozi2qB.jpeg

After that, I took a 12" piece of 1 inch square bar, used an angle grinder to split it in half down 5" down, then forged the tip out into a spear point, and forged the split ends into a pair of langets that fit over the axe/spike head:

https://i.imgur.com/rhJgHGT.jpeg

I then took a 6' long piece of hickory, rounded it, shaped the end to fit the eye of the axe/spike head, and drilled a hole through the spear tip + axe head + pole.  Attached with one 1/4" iron rivet and 4 3/16"  bronze rivets.  Add in some mild steel langets to finish things out:

https://i.imgur.com/3lfHhL4.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/xUZyxMX.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/tAKawuD.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/Us2dFfj.jpeg

Edited Sunday at 04:56 PM by aurik

[DarthPenguin]

Very cool!!

[sensei8]

5 hours ago, DarthPenguin said:

Very cool!!

Very much so!!

[Patrick]

Very satisfying to go from the first pic to the last one! Thanks for sharing, Ken.

[bushido_man96]

Awesome experience! Awesome work!