War hammer, one-handed

War hammer, one-handed

Specifications:

• Overall length approx. 55.5cm
• Blade length approx. 21.5cm
• Weight approx. 1030 g
• Included in the delivery: one piece of war hammer

This war hammer was intended for close combat action. It consists of a handle and a steel head. War hammers were developed as a consequence of the ever more prevalent surface-oil-quenched steel surfacing of wrought iron armors of the late medieval battlefields during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The surface of the armour was now as hard as the edge of a blade, so a blade tended to ricochet. Swords, or the blade of a battleaxe, were likely only to give a glancing blow, losing much of the impact, especially on the high curvature of the helmet. The war hammer could deliver the full force to the target. Made after pictures in Müller/Kölling/Platow – Europäische Hieb and Stichwaffen.