War Hammer haft material

C

crazyengineer

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Apr 2, 2011
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So, I think this is the best place to ask this since what I'm making is very similar to a hawk.

Anyways, I'm in the process of making a war hammer. I work in a machine shop and had a piece of 17-4 H1150 stainless round stock that I scrapped a part in school out of. I'm making the hammer out of it.

I'm not finished with the hammer yet, but I am looking for a shaft for the handle. Because of the equipment I have available I will be making this with a haft that will need a wedge to hold the head on.

I know I want 1" diameter. Beyond that, I could use some material recommendations. How the material looks is irrelevant as it will be wrapped in leather when everything is finished.

Oh, and pictures because people will ask lol. First is a CAD rendering of what it will look like. The second is what I've got turned on the lathe so far with a penny for size reference. It is going to be bead blasted when finished then the flats will be polished.

A stainless pommel is also in the works, but I'm not for sure I'll be making that.

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Like Guitarist said, a hickory handle would work pretty well.

Can you make the eye oval shaped? The oval shape would help prevent the head from twisting. You'll also want to make the top part of the eye a little wider so the wedge has a change to mushroom the tongues.

A 30' sledge/mall haft has an oval shaped connection, 1 inch on the narrow side and 1.25 inches on the wide side, so you could shape it down to a 1 inch round eye pretty easily.
 
"I know I want 1 inch diameter" If it's going to be wrapped/disguised with leather then buy the cheapest hardwood dowel you can find. Typically lowest cost for one of these at hardware stores are called 'broom' handles. I'm not kidding.
 
I've turned the other side of the hammer.

I have also decided to make a haft out of 1" diameter 7075 aluminum 16" long. I'm going to turn the 6" closest to the head to 3/4" and knurl the last 10 inches with either a medium or fine knurl. The end of the haft will have a 1.25" stainless ball on the end of it.

The head will be drilled and tapped and the handle threaded. They will then loctited together with red loctite.

I'll have the handle anodized either black or a very dark red

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A round handle is going to be mostly useless for that kind of weapon. You want it oval like an axe handle so it wont turn in your hands when striking.

Nice looking head so far.
 
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40oz said:
A round handle is going to bemodtkky useless for that kind of weapon. You want it oval like an axe handle so it wont turn in your hands when striking.

Nice looking head so far.
Click to expand...

Also, I imagine that the wrap won't bite or hold onto the aluminum as well as a natural wood so it will move around on you. Based on what you say you are doing, I imagine that this is for show only, but even so I think that a wood handle will look so much better and realistic. As for the broom handle suggestion, it isn't a bad one, but I would only slightly modify the suggestion and suggest a shovel handle. They are about $10, you can cut it to any length that you like, it is thicker so you have more leeway with shaping (you can oval the hand area) and it is clean straight grained ash.
 
From a historical standpoint, ash or beech would have been the go to choice.
 
Cold Steel makes several lengths of hickory handles for their hawks, and war hammers.

If you could make the eye hole fit one of those, you'd be able to get a bunch, and try out different lenghts.

As others have said, a round hole and handle are not the way to go.
 
40oz said:
A round handle is going to be mostly useless for that kind of weapon. You want it oval like an axe handle so it wont turn in your hands when striking.

Nice looking head so far.
Click to expand...

I never really thought of that, I'll cut flats on the sides of the handle after I get it mounted to make it close to oval
 
Well, it also introduces a chance of the head twisting on the handle unless you pin it.
 
Threaded aluminum handle? How cool is that?
What if you thread it so long that some thread sticks out on top?
Would allow you to screw a spike on top.

Some historical hammers have top spikes and some don't.
I like it since thrusting the hammer forward is much faster than swinging it. Yes it's less powerful to stab with a hammer but one does not always need the full power of a swing and why not have that option?
 
I'm wanting it to be a cleaner look, other wise that would ever a good idea.

Thrusting just the chunk of steel is a hell of an impact in and of itself....I should know. I had it in a jacket pocket, picked the jacket up across the truck seat and when I lifted it the head (in the pocket) swung and hit my square in the chest....it wasn't moving fast but definitely got my attention
 
crazyengineer said:
I'm wanting it to be a cleaner look, other wise that would ever a good idea.

Thrusting just the chunk of steel is a hell of an impact in and of itself....I should know. I had it in a jacket pocket, picked the jacket up across the truck seat and when I lifted it the head (in the pocket) swung and hit my square in the chest....it wasn't moving fast but definitely got my attention
Click to expand...
The cleaner look is nice too of course. :-)
How did you decide on the angle of the cone section? It looks like a good compromise between penetration capability and not getting stuck.
 
Honestly, I had a piece of stock that had been partially turned down (1.5" stock) and made the spike fit in the turned down part. Altered one small thing in inventor and had my model, so it was kind of a fluke
 
Aluminum is light weight for what it is, but wood is still lighter depending on species. Might be a thought to consider because of the way all the velocity comes from the weight on the end of the handle, a metal handle might counter balance that.
 
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