How do you mount a macehead?

[Carlton Bach]

I just got a nice bronze macehead very cheaply (you know, the kind of 'cheap' that ends up with you making a new tunic, shield, sandals and belt to match it?)

Now I'm wondering how to mount it. I know that today we'd use a steel or iron wedge, but bcak when? Would you recommend using a tapering handle with the top end thicker than the inner diameter of the macehead, the way axes were shafted? Would you rather recommend a wood wedge? Glue? Or something else?

Thanks

Volker

[brennivs - tony drake]

Depends if you are going to use it :lol: For my Dolobra,axes and general roman hafted tools I have used both wood wedge and metal wedge .I have not come across a excavated example which shows the method used,but since the above are longstanding methods go with ethier
On haften it would be down to the balance, how it feels in you hand and the strength of the wood used.
Regards Brennivs

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Volker I have not seen metal wedges used in any period finds (not saying they didnt) so I would use a wooden wedge. Typically you want it to go in the opposite direction of the grain in the handle.

[Carlton Bach]

Depends if you are going to use it :lol:

Well, I was hoping to give the odd pumpkim a demonstrative swipe every now and then...

I've got oaks on my street, I'll just wait till the autumn winds blow down a branch and do the wooden wedge thing.

Thanks everyone.

[Cassius Tullius]

If the mace has a shaft beeath the mace head, the handle is pinned. there should be a hole in the shaft for that purpose.

If it is just a mace head, see if the hole going through it has a hole on one side that is larger than the other. If this is the case you mount the mace head the same way you would a froe or pick axe. Wrapping or pinning the wood just beneath the head after driving the handle through is sufficient to keep the head in place.

[Marcus Julius]

Would you recommend using a tapering handle with the top end thicker than the inner diameter of the macehead, the way axes were shafted?

This would have been my guess, but that's just a guess. I would, however, like to point out that you didn't post a picture of that macehead. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this forum who would love to see it.

[Caius Fabius]

If you are carrying a shield, always mount from the shield side when possible.... :lol:

[Cassius Tullius]

This is an iron macehead fashioned from recovered 150 to 200 year old Nut. There is what is left of a Powder Mill, that operated in the very early to mid 1800s, about a half a mile from where I live. It's smith's iron that oxidises a surface patina and then stops rusting. I broke to chisels hammering out apiece of fused metal from one side. It is good metal. It will stand up to a fight.

This piece is based on a simple Roman Byzantine design. The hole that runs through it is wider on on side. Since centifugal force is going to act on that hunk of metal quite a bit, you want the handle on that end wide enough that it is not going to go anywhere. Keeping the head from flying off on a swing is something neither Romans or moderns would trust to wedges.

[Cassius Tullius]

I found a long chair leg although a short table leg might be better. It was already round except for the square part that joins to the chair and that part has a larger dimension than the round part.

The chair leg had a slight taper. The tapered part is what fit the mace head. A couple of minutes trimming down the diammeter on a pedestal grinder so that the mace head could be shimmied up the handle and fit snug against the square portion and then rounding down the square portion to make it estheticly pleasing and we come back to the point of the discussion.

As can be seen at the bottom of the mace handle a hole has been drilled for a leather loop. To secure the mace head another hole is drilled slightly below the mace head so as to cause the drill hole's upper edge to be slightly covered by the mace head itself. A strip of leather is pushed through the hole. Because of the position of the hole to the mace head it will snug up against the upper outsized portion of the handle. Braid the leather for looks and strength to hold the metal portion in place.

[M. Demetrius]

Something like that could give a guy a terminal headache.

[Caius Fabius]

That one could drive you nuts! :lol:

[Cassius Tullius]

Here is a nice collection waiting to be copied.


http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/byzantinemaces1.htm