Review of Windlass Black German Flanged Mace
Oct 24, 2008 7:05:09 GMT
Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Oct 24, 2008 7:05:09 GMT
Windlass Black German Flanged Mace
Review by Tom Kinder of Goose, SC USA.
A friend of mine and I decided to get some maces to expand our training into that area (and I’ve always wanted a real mace). Originally, we picked different maces and mine was going to be a Hanwei Spiked mace but after I ordered it from Kult Of Athena I started to get cold feet on it. Somehow I failed to notice that it was hollow and weighed only 1 lb 8 oz. well fate took things in its own hands when his mace showed with a receipt saying mine was back-ordered. Ten nano-seconds after holding his I knew I had to have one. I immediately called KoA and requested they cancel my back-order and ship me one of these instead. A few days later I had my mace and it was time to have some fun.
Vital Stats:
Weight: 3 lbs 1.5 ounces
Overall Length: 22.5 inches
Length above guard: 16 inches
Grip Length: 5 inches (with an extra half inch on the back-side of the guard)
Point of Balance: 5.5 inches from the guard (this is about half way between the guard and the back of the head!)
Shaft Thickness: 9/16 hexagonal bar
Head length 3.5 inches (not including the brass tip)
First Impressions:
As I said, it was love at first sight. This is what a mace should be: solid, heavy, handy and powerfully forward balanced. In short THIS WAS IT! Yeah I was excited about it. I have always liked maces but I haven’t had much luck finding ones that I like. I like this one.
The Hilt:
Well there’s not much to the hilt actually. The shaft of the mace continues uninterrupted and at the same thickness all the way from the head to the pommel. The brass hand guard is a six-pointed star-shape and is held on the shaft by set screws. This is actually one of my few complaints about this mace: the guard rattles a bit. Fortunately, this has no impact on the weapon’s structural integrity and a little bit of epoxy sets it for life. The grip is a simple wrap of leather thick enough to bring the diameter of the shaft up to a comfortable gripping size yet wrapped tight enough to still feel hexagonal then stitched together. Even though the leather is very smooth and shiny it doesn’t slip and is quite comfortable and absorbs the shock of strikes very well. The pommel is more of an end cap really and is also brass. I cannot imagine it has any impact on balance and really only serves to prevent the hand from sliding off the back end, which it does well.
The Head:
When I saw the pictures of this mace on line I was worried the head might be screwed on and held in place by the little brass button of a tip, but I’m quite happy to say that is not the case. The brass tip is screwed on but it holds nothing on other than itself and is utterly inconsequential to the function of this weapon. Removing it doesn’t even alter the balance. The flanges are nice and thick and welded in place very securely. As it should be, the head is the strongest part of the mace. The head has lots of interesting details without sacrificing stoutness. Me likey!
TESTING!
I had to go outside the box to test this one. Obviously tatami and water filled soda bottles would mean nothing to this weapon, so I chose to buy a lovely bunch of coconuts from the grocery and a random steel soup can found its way into the killing ground. We had so much fun smashing up the coco’s that we decided to do a mace-centric re-enactment of a scene from the movie “Office Space”
Enjoy:
here's another mace video where-in I beat the snot out of a 14 guage steel can that used to hold helium. 14 Ga. steel is pretty tough stuff and certainly comparable to the armor of the day. especially when you consider the quality of our steel vs that in the old days.
compare that to the complete lack of damage done by swords to the same can.
CONCLUSION:
BAM! This mace is a hit! I feel the steel in the head may benefit from being just a TAD harder but it’s probably best the way it is to avoid getting brittle. It isn’t indestructible but it is quite tough and for $85 from KoA it’s a great deal too.
Pros: it's CHEAP, it's tougher than old nails in a wad of bubble-gum left out over-night for the last week. actually it's tougher than that. Effectiveness (the barest touch of this weapon inflicts fearful damage). it's easy to use (a la baseball bat works just fine even though there are finer points of finess)
Cons: the grip is smooth leather and can get slipery, there is just no stopping the star-shaped guard from rattling a little bit.
Old system Ratings:
Historical Accuracy: ?/5 I don’t know. I suspect I could give it at least a 3.5/4 but I really do not know so. . . on to the rest of the ratings
Fit and Finish: 4/5 very well done piece. Even finish no flaws or blemishes anywhere.
Handling: 4/5 It may be heavy but it is short and it moves well. Not fast but very easy to control. Hey, it’s a MACE!
Value for Money: 4/5 I’m impressed
OVERALL: 4/5 if you want a mace this one brings the goods. I definitely recommend it.
Review by Tom Kinder of Goose, SC USA.
A friend of mine and I decided to get some maces to expand our training into that area (and I’ve always wanted a real mace). Originally, we picked different maces and mine was going to be a Hanwei Spiked mace but after I ordered it from Kult Of Athena I started to get cold feet on it. Somehow I failed to notice that it was hollow and weighed only 1 lb 8 oz. well fate took things in its own hands when his mace showed with a receipt saying mine was back-ordered. Ten nano-seconds after holding his I knew I had to have one. I immediately called KoA and requested they cancel my back-order and ship me one of these instead. A few days later I had my mace and it was time to have some fun.
Vital Stats:
Weight: 3 lbs 1.5 ounces
Overall Length: 22.5 inches
Length above guard: 16 inches
Grip Length: 5 inches (with an extra half inch on the back-side of the guard)
Point of Balance: 5.5 inches from the guard (this is about half way between the guard and the back of the head!)
Shaft Thickness: 9/16 hexagonal bar
Head length 3.5 inches (not including the brass tip)
First Impressions:
As I said, it was love at first sight. This is what a mace should be: solid, heavy, handy and powerfully forward balanced. In short THIS WAS IT! Yeah I was excited about it. I have always liked maces but I haven’t had much luck finding ones that I like. I like this one.
The Hilt:
Well there’s not much to the hilt actually. The shaft of the mace continues uninterrupted and at the same thickness all the way from the head to the pommel. The brass hand guard is a six-pointed star-shape and is held on the shaft by set screws. This is actually one of my few complaints about this mace: the guard rattles a bit. Fortunately, this has no impact on the weapon’s structural integrity and a little bit of epoxy sets it for life. The grip is a simple wrap of leather thick enough to bring the diameter of the shaft up to a comfortable gripping size yet wrapped tight enough to still feel hexagonal then stitched together. Even though the leather is very smooth and shiny it doesn’t slip and is quite comfortable and absorbs the shock of strikes very well. The pommel is more of an end cap really and is also brass. I cannot imagine it has any impact on balance and really only serves to prevent the hand from sliding off the back end, which it does well.
The Head:
When I saw the pictures of this mace on line I was worried the head might be screwed on and held in place by the little brass button of a tip, but I’m quite happy to say that is not the case. The brass tip is screwed on but it holds nothing on other than itself and is utterly inconsequential to the function of this weapon. Removing it doesn’t even alter the balance. The flanges are nice and thick and welded in place very securely. As it should be, the head is the strongest part of the mace. The head has lots of interesting details without sacrificing stoutness. Me likey!
TESTING!
I had to go outside the box to test this one. Obviously tatami and water filled soda bottles would mean nothing to this weapon, so I chose to buy a lovely bunch of coconuts from the grocery and a random steel soup can found its way into the killing ground. We had so much fun smashing up the coco’s that we decided to do a mace-centric re-enactment of a scene from the movie “Office Space”
Enjoy:
here's another mace video where-in I beat the snot out of a 14 guage steel can that used to hold helium. 14 Ga. steel is pretty tough stuff and certainly comparable to the armor of the day. especially when you consider the quality of our steel vs that in the old days.
compare that to the complete lack of damage done by swords to the same can.
CONCLUSION:
BAM! This mace is a hit! I feel the steel in the head may benefit from being just a TAD harder but it’s probably best the way it is to avoid getting brittle. It isn’t indestructible but it is quite tough and for $85 from KoA it’s a great deal too.
Pros: it's CHEAP, it's tougher than old nails in a wad of bubble-gum left out over-night for the last week. actually it's tougher than that. Effectiveness (the barest touch of this weapon inflicts fearful damage). it's easy to use (a la baseball bat works just fine even though there are finer points of finess)
Cons: the grip is smooth leather and can get slipery, there is just no stopping the star-shaped guard from rattling a little bit.
Old system Ratings:
Historical Accuracy: ?/5 I don’t know. I suspect I could give it at least a 3.5/4 but I really do not know so. . . on to the rest of the ratings
Fit and Finish: 4/5 very well done piece. Even finish no flaws or blemishes anywhere.
Handling: 4/5 It may be heavy but it is short and it moves well. Not fast but very easy to control. Hey, it’s a MACE!
Value for Money: 4/5 I’m impressed
OVERALL: 4/5 if you want a mace this one brings the goods. I definitely recommend it.