A review in disappointment.
Jan 17, 2011 5:09:50 GMT
Post by Anuan on Jan 17, 2011 5:09:50 GMT
I own a Footsoldier's Warhammer. I got it from the Esford stall at the July 2009 Abbey Tournament in Caboolture, Queensland.
Little did I know at the time, that Esford was the Australian dealer for Deepeeka. It was cheapish, but I considered it fairly expensive at the time; I was seventeen, surrounded by weapons-stalls and re-enactors, and had money to spend though, so this got snapped up. Around a hundred bucks, I think. A hundred and ten?
Here's some pictures.
Yes, it's a little rusty. It's a few years old, and was left in the 'care' of my parents. I did intend to fix it up a bit, but we've no sandpaper or anything at the moment. I also kinda like the rusty look, makes it look old and used, but it's obviously not good to let it rust, so I -will- clean it.
Now, as you can see, it's a metal head, simple enough wooden handle, reinforced for strength. Hah. Weighs around 2kg, obviously head-heavy. It's got a rather nice little cross-marking down the impact zone, turning it into four slightly bulbous squares to hit with.
The wood is stained a rather nice colour, but I never knew or -really- thought about what it actually was. The grip is smoothly contoured and actually quite comfortable for one or two hands.
To my knowledge, it's fairly historically accurate with regards to shape and general size. It may be rather short for a 'footsoldier's' warhammer. I've heard and read that shorter ones were used on horseback, where longer, hammer-type polearms were used on foot to great effect against cavalry.
So, I've got a Hanwei sword coming (River Witham) and intend to do a review on it, and I've had this sitting around for a couple years and done nothing, so I thought I'd go out and layeth the smacketh down on a few light targets to satiate my hunger for whacking things, and to practice writing a review.
Pictured; a few light targets. A very young pumpkin, quite firm, and an empty pepsi-can to test the nice pointy backside. A note on this; the night I was going home from the Abbey when I purchased this, a friend and I spotted an empty coke-can laying on the ground. In a fit of passion (Read; holy crap, I own a warhammer, this rocks!) we set it up on a fence-post and I took a basic horizontal swing at it with the rear-spike. It shore straight through before flinging it off. This point is -deadly- pointed, and has a lot more of a stabby-type piercing capability than one may expect from the shape and weight, and I wanted to show that again. Also hear the awesome noise.
However, 'twas not to be.
With no effort, just the weight of the hammer itself, the rear-point actually dug itself into the hardwood stump I had my targets on as I went to sit it down to take the pictures at one stage. That was encouraging.
I took a tentative, one-handed swing at the wee babby pun'kin. I kinda-missed and knocked a chunk of it off. It was actually sorta surprisingly resiliant. I felt nothing, so I geared up and took a more powerful swing, using my other hand just for aim and balance. I struck firmly on top of the pumpkin, but to my surprise it wasn't crushed. It split a little, the stalk was smewshed, but it bounced away. Note for the future; baby, slightly-mutated Japanese Pumpkins are actually -really- hard.
Unfortunately, after that I felt a sudden...looseness. Uh-oh.
I looked at my hammer, and sure enough, several of the nails (now revealed to only be about half an inch long) had popped out of the side of my hammer! Worse, the it was severely and undeniabely cracked. The spike-end would not be re-tested. I quickly washed it up and snapped a couple photos.
With the 'reinforcements' now coming loose, it was easy to see the truth of the wood; some crappy, low-quality-furniture wood.
semprinis. There went any chance of me completing my tests positively. Oh wee babby pun'kin, why do you hate me so?
However, the head stayed pleasantly undamaged, which I'm not really surprised by. I'm sure, if I fit it to a different haft, it'd serve me well against all manner of pumpkins, gourds, melons, soft-drink cans and time-travelling armour-clad knight-aliens from the future. I may even attempt to find someone on the forum here that could, if I sent the head, fix me up with a nice handle. Anybody here up for it?
Finishing up judgements:
Historical accuracy: I'm gonna say 2/5 just because I don't -really- know, but I -do- know that back in the day, it would've been made with much better wood.
Fit and finish: Well, it looked nice before it snapped. 3.5/5 for finish, but 2.5 on 'Fit.' The head's quite firmly secured, but everything else...no.
Handling: It's a warhammer. Given that, due to its size it was actually quite manuverable, though slow on any attempt at 'recovery.'
Structural integrity: <derisive laugh> Hah! </derisive laugh.>
Value for money: Enh...It looked nice, and the head'll serve me well if I can get it fitted to another haft. A decent DIY or Custom, but at around a hundred bucks I'm gonna put this at a 2.0
Pros: The head's actually quite solid and weighty.
Solid tip on the rear-spike, but deadly puncture-power against even the lightest of targets.
Cons: Well, it snapped right in half, didn't it? Really poor wood, poor 'reinforcement' with half-inch nails.
Rather expensive considering all you're getting out of the deal is a decent head for a custom project.
Crushed my fragile, youthful innocence and fond memories.
Haft defeated by a wee babby pun'kin.
Little did I know at the time, that Esford was the Australian dealer for Deepeeka. It was cheapish, but I considered it fairly expensive at the time; I was seventeen, surrounded by weapons-stalls and re-enactors, and had money to spend though, so this got snapped up. Around a hundred bucks, I think. A hundred and ten?
Here's some pictures.
Yes, it's a little rusty. It's a few years old, and was left in the 'care' of my parents. I did intend to fix it up a bit, but we've no sandpaper or anything at the moment. I also kinda like the rusty look, makes it look old and used, but it's obviously not good to let it rust, so I -will- clean it.
Now, as you can see, it's a metal head, simple enough wooden handle, reinforced for strength. Hah. Weighs around 2kg, obviously head-heavy. It's got a rather nice little cross-marking down the impact zone, turning it into four slightly bulbous squares to hit with.
The wood is stained a rather nice colour, but I never knew or -really- thought about what it actually was. The grip is smoothly contoured and actually quite comfortable for one or two hands.
To my knowledge, it's fairly historically accurate with regards to shape and general size. It may be rather short for a 'footsoldier's' warhammer. I've heard and read that shorter ones were used on horseback, where longer, hammer-type polearms were used on foot to great effect against cavalry.
So, I've got a Hanwei sword coming (River Witham) and intend to do a review on it, and I've had this sitting around for a couple years and done nothing, so I thought I'd go out and layeth the smacketh down on a few light targets to satiate my hunger for whacking things, and to practice writing a review.
Pictured; a few light targets. A very young pumpkin, quite firm, and an empty pepsi-can to test the nice pointy backside. A note on this; the night I was going home from the Abbey when I purchased this, a friend and I spotted an empty coke-can laying on the ground. In a fit of passion (Read; holy crap, I own a warhammer, this rocks!) we set it up on a fence-post and I took a basic horizontal swing at it with the rear-spike. It shore straight through before flinging it off. This point is -deadly- pointed, and has a lot more of a stabby-type piercing capability than one may expect from the shape and weight, and I wanted to show that again. Also hear the awesome noise.
However, 'twas not to be.
With no effort, just the weight of the hammer itself, the rear-point actually dug itself into the hardwood stump I had my targets on as I went to sit it down to take the pictures at one stage. That was encouraging.
I took a tentative, one-handed swing at the wee babby pun'kin. I kinda-missed and knocked a chunk of it off. It was actually sorta surprisingly resiliant. I felt nothing, so I geared up and took a more powerful swing, using my other hand just for aim and balance. I struck firmly on top of the pumpkin, but to my surprise it wasn't crushed. It split a little, the stalk was smewshed, but it bounced away. Note for the future; baby, slightly-mutated Japanese Pumpkins are actually -really- hard.
Unfortunately, after that I felt a sudden...looseness. Uh-oh.
I looked at my hammer, and sure enough, several of the nails (now revealed to only be about half an inch long) had popped out of the side of my hammer! Worse, the it was severely and undeniabely cracked. The spike-end would not be re-tested. I quickly washed it up and snapped a couple photos.
With the 'reinforcements' now coming loose, it was easy to see the truth of the wood; some crappy, low-quality-furniture wood.
semprinis. There went any chance of me completing my tests positively. Oh wee babby pun'kin, why do you hate me so?
However, the head stayed pleasantly undamaged, which I'm not really surprised by. I'm sure, if I fit it to a different haft, it'd serve me well against all manner of pumpkins, gourds, melons, soft-drink cans and time-travelling armour-clad knight-aliens from the future. I may even attempt to find someone on the forum here that could, if I sent the head, fix me up with a nice handle. Anybody here up for it?
Finishing up judgements:
Historical accuracy: I'm gonna say 2/5 just because I don't -really- know, but I -do- know that back in the day, it would've been made with much better wood.
Fit and finish: Well, it looked nice before it snapped. 3.5/5 for finish, but 2.5 on 'Fit.' The head's quite firmly secured, but everything else...no.
Handling: It's a warhammer. Given that, due to its size it was actually quite manuverable, though slow on any attempt at 'recovery.'
Structural integrity: <derisive laugh> Hah! </derisive laugh.>
Value for money: Enh...It looked nice, and the head'll serve me well if I can get it fitted to another haft. A decent DIY or Custom, but at around a hundred bucks I'm gonna put this at a 2.0
Pros: The head's actually quite solid and weighty.
Solid tip on the rear-spike, but deadly puncture-power against even the lightest of targets.
Cons: Well, it snapped right in half, didn't it? Really poor wood, poor 'reinforcement' with half-inch nails.
Rather expensive considering all you're getting out of the deal is a decent head for a custom project.
Crushed my fragile, youthful innocence and fond memories.
Haft defeated by a wee babby pun'kin.