I was unaware these were a thing but made a warhammer akin to this in D&D. You can submerge the head in sea water and speak the command word to absorb salt, or cause it to spray on impact. I named it the A'salter.
There were apparently a lot of medival texts about what you should never do, with detailed recipes. The ones mentioned were cosmetics and stuff causing an abortion.
I used paper spray in the open in the opposite direction just to see what it dose, and for the next 30 minutes, my eyes were watering, my nose and mouth burning and my skin was eaching. So you might think that is a good idea until it gets you ass well. (There is a reason way paper spray is just garbage if you tray to attack someone, unless you have a gas mask).
"I have been Matt Easton, and I'll continue to be" Sounds suspiciously like something that someone who isn't a Matt Easton to say. Great vid btw. The "Tactical" Pollaxe with screw-in attachments is peak weapon design.
That poleaxe pepper spray is just begging to be used by the underhanded villain in a movie! It's the perfect thing to make the history nerds groan and yell at their screens!
"A 'spritz-spritz' here and a 'spritz-spritz' there And a couple of 'Ow, my eyes!' That's how we work our days away On the bloody old Blinded Isles!" 🎶😵
I knew about the short ones and the cross guard ones. The modular one sounds really cool. Id bet it was made but maybe wasn't good in durability. I think even today we might have difficulty making the connection points stand up to the stresses, but im not engineer.
I love the idea of the pepper spray axe. what a neat idea and yet one more reason to believe the concept of "enchanting" weapons with special elements. straight outta the movies with this one.
I'm an enormous fan of bronze age history, and would love an exploration like this of any bronze age weapons, blades, spears, javelins, slings, or whatever! I should say, I am talking about pre-classical, from 4000-1000 BC
@@texasbeast239 Yes, I'm sure he took them on a boating trip to go use while fishing and they all tragically fell overboard when a rogue wave nearly capsized his boat.😆
I would like to suggest that the pole axe which has replaceable parts is not intended for combat or battle, but to allow people to try different parts much like a sales kit.
@@russellfisher1303 Considering it's delivered via "Getting smacked real hard in the head by a giant metal spike," they probably should test it on a dummy head not a person
I had seen the one with a crossguard and I'm pretty sure I was aware of the short ones, but the lego poleaxe and chemical weapon poleaxe were a surprise. Not sure it could ever be made robust enough, but if you successfully made a modular poleax I think it would be a great way to sell accessories!
The "short" and "modular" poleaxes could easily be the same implement, if you think about it, and that would be the most practical combo on the list. As for the "pepper-spray axe," if dei Liberi really didn't think that noblemen would use it, he wouldn't have provided the recipe for the powder: he would have supplied the recipe for the antidote, instead.
How to be a Nobleman. Be the second biggest B'stard around and be mates with the biggest B'stard around (because he's gonna be king sometime soon)....... Remember, its not cheating if you're winning.
I guess a modular pike would be helpful to Landsknecht reenactors because it would be easier to get into a Morgan, Mini or 2CV and who can imagine a LK reenactor driving anything else?
I knew all but the last one. Sounds like the sort of "dirty tricks" weapon a cheating dellist would use. And you could reasonably expect to get away with it, because after using the concoction, you could immediately kill your disoriented opponent, and nobody would ever know that he was blind and helpless when you did him in. Basically murder in the broad daylight of a judicial duel. The later equivalent would be the duelling pistol with the rifling that started a couple inches down the barrel, so it *looked* like a legitimate smoothbore weapon but had secret hidden rifling to make it much more accurate and give that duellist an unfair advantage over his opponent armed with the actual smoothbore pistol.
Well, yes and no. Euphorbia (sunspurge, poinsettia, etc.) all contain a latex sap that has phytoirritants. Blindness is a 'relatively rare' result and would take many hours, perhaps even days to occur. But exposed skin and/or the conjuctiva of the eyes would swell and blister within 2 to 4 hours and would continue to become more severe for about 12 hours. If the sap (fresh or powdered) got into your nose, throat, or lungs ... well, within 2 to 4 hours you'd be in big trouble. So, if you used a weapon like this, and even if you managed to kill your opponent, within a couple of hours it would be quite noticeable that you had used it.
Oooo! I'm a blacksmith in training, been at it for a few years but most intensively for the last 6 months. I don't think I could make a great modular polaxe now, but with more practice, I'd love to try it out in the near future!
I've been fascinated with possibly getting the glaive at 3:30 custom made for me, but I'll probably never get around to it. The other stuff was new though.
Interesting! I'd never heard about these pollaxe varieties before! Thanks for sharing, Matt! If you're looking into other Medieval weapons to do videos on, would it be possible to do a video on clubs? I know they were a fairly common sidearm for poor soldiers in earlier parts of the medieval period, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about them out there compared to other medieval bludgeons (hammers, maces, etc.) I'd love to learn more if you'd be willing to do a video on them!
Are there 4 headed pollaxes? Why choose between hammer, axe and beak when you could have all three? My ideal poleaxe would have, in the front, a axe head with a curved edge that is sharpened (prefer it over a blunt edge) and in the back a pointy beak and on both of the sides two different types of hammer heads, one spikier than the other. The downside of having 4 heads would of course be the extra weight so the size of heads have to be smaller than usual to compensate, but I think that is a acceptable compromise.
Screws were in use, but were individually hand cut and filed. Often used in wheel lock guns, attaching lance rests and haute pieces to armor. You can see them in “ Der Weiss Koenig” for instance.
I don't study Fiore and didn't know about the hollow one, but did know about the others. Loved the vid you did with Tod about the crossguard pollaxe. I personally would call it the sword-hilted pollaxe. I'm planning on making one at some point; just have to finish all the other projects on my list. I've seen the modular pollaxe before and found it quite interesting. I imagine that if Tallhoffer himself never had one made, someone studying his work afterward would have. I'm sure Tod would do a wonderful job making one if he has the time. Can't think of any other makers off the top of my head who work on stuff like that, but I'm sure they're out there.
Saw a guy using a blinding powder during ninjitsu training and it was very effective (just flour, actual one would have pepper and iron dust also)love these oddball weapons 😊
Still hoping you'll give us your thoughts on the short polearm known as the Vulcan Lirpa. Please accompany that video with old school Trek fight music.
Tod really needs to make a hollow pool axe for you test out, Matt. I'd be curious to see how well it works and whether or not you'd up dusting yourself half the time. Obvisouly don't fill it with FIroe's concoction, or anything like it, but maybe talcum powder, salt, or whatever, while wearing safety glasses.
I'd like to see a video about the Flamberge. Was it just for controlling pikes? Is it for some specific wind-bind techniques? Would it cut comparably well to a straight blade?
Random question that stumbled into my head seeing this video in my feed: Have you considered making a video in which you state areas you don’t have expertise/knowledge in, especially areas you’d like to know more about? This could be subjects in HEMA and other martial arts, or basically anything I suppose. Could be helpful in setting up future collaboration or other interesting projects ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hope you read this: do you have any insight into anti-piracy pole arms used by the Ming? Recently saw a photo of their strange hooks on a Facebook page and thought to ask if you know how they were used.
Hey I was wondering if there would be interrest in a "weapons of [insert video game title]" series ala the one Jonathan Ferguson does with GameSpot? You could comment on the fighting style, there is plenty of video games with melee and medieval combat, I would love to hear what you think about the fighting mechanics in various games such as mount & blade, Dark and Darker, Chivalry 2, Mordhau etc.
I'd have made that blinding mixture and put it into clay balls that break upon impact, or something similar, and have had them slung into enemy formations. Maybe they did that or something similar at one point in medieval Europe? 🤔
Can you do a video on the weapons of the Maori? They never seemed to develop ranged weapons, instead they focused on edged wood/stone/bone fighting clubs and little or no armour.
The reason he would have put that in. There is most likely because it is possible that it could be used on you and what a better way to avoid it than to know how it is done and thereby how to avoid it. When can put flower in there? In order to figure out how to avoid being attacked by it.
A thought about the short poleaxe: wouldn't it be unwieldy or unbalanced? Do we know how/if they were even balanced? My understanding is that most one-handed axes had thin blades to prevent this exact problem but that seems unavoidable with a poleaxe because of all the extra metal bits.
Early forms of pollaxe were used in 1415, yes. You can see plenty of examples in art, and Fiore (from 1410) has a whole section on the use of the pollaxe.
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Yes, indeed, if you happen to blind someone and then kill them, you've effectively blinded them _for life._
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm the rest of his life."
@@elricthebaldwhere's that from?
@elricthebald870 haha!
@@guiorgyIt's a Terry Pratchett quote. From one of the Discworld novels, I believe.
Man, did I feel clever writing the exact same comment.
That blinding pepper pollaxe is the sort of wacky stuff your most creative D&D players would come up with just for you telling them "come on, man".
I heard about it from a Christian Cameron book in his Chivalry series.
Keen Poisoned Pollaxe of Sharpness
I thought the same thing lol
@@not-a-theist8251 "I understand that this is a fantasy game with Dragons and brain-eating Dr. Zoidbergs, but keep it grounded guys, OK?"
I was unaware these were a thing but made a warhammer akin to this in D&D. You can submerge the head in sea water and speak the command word to absorb salt, or cause it to spray on impact. I named it the A'salter.
You are a noble lord, you'd surely never use something as underhanded as blinding powder in your pollaxe. Here is the recipe. Pure gold.
"I'd use it . . . and don't call me Shirley."
There were apparently a lot of medival texts about what you should never do, with detailed recipes. The ones mentioned were cosmetics and stuff causing an abortion.
Sounds like the D&D Book of Vile Darkness. No one but the worst of the worst would ever read such pages. Here are 300 of them. Have at it!
I used paper spray in the open in the opposite direction just to see what it dose, and for the next 30 minutes, my eyes were watering, my nose and mouth burning and my skin was eaching. So you might think that is a good idea until it gets you ass well. (There is a reason way paper spray is just garbage if you tray to attack someone, unless you have a gas mask).
@@SSR2902 That's also a big reason why bear spray is less effective than lead.
The pepper spray pollaxe is wild, and over here my mind has still been reeling thinking about the axe heads not being sharp.
Yes, comparable to pocket sand.
0:38 I only knew about one Matt, not four. Does this mean there's Matt Easton, Matt Weston, Matt Southton, and Matt Northton?
Nice, but yoy forgot Matt Center(t)on.
Don't forget about the cousins: Matt North by Northeaston, etc. ... 🧭
There's Matt Easton, Weston, Suston and Middleton. Weirdly enough there is no Matt Norton, only Matt Mercia
Obviously the short pollaxe was for dwarves and halflings
"Wait, good sir. I wanna duel you with the wind in my back. Uhm... well... Family tradition. What say you, good sir?
Works also with flatulence ☝
@@archloy Are you also fluent?
"I have been Matt Easton, and I'll continue to be"
Sounds suspiciously like something that someone who isn't a Matt Easton to say.
Great vid btw. The "Tactical" Pollaxe with screw-in attachments is peak weapon design.
Sorta like, "I'm Batman ... Forever."
That poleaxe pepper spray is just begging to be used by the underhanded villain in a movie! It's the perfect thing to make the history nerds groan and yell at their screens!
"A 'spritz-spritz' here and a 'spritz-spritz' there
And a couple of 'Ow, my eyes!'
That's how we work our days away
On the bloody old Blinded Isles!" 🎶😵
Why a villain? If you're not cheating, you're not trying. Only losers fight fair.
I think even temporary blindness in a pollaxe duel is blindness for life.
I knew about the short ones and the cross guard ones. The modular one sounds really cool. Id bet it was made but maybe wasn't good in durability. I think even today we might have difficulty making the connection points stand up to the stresses, but im not engineer.
All new to me. The more I learn, the more I favor the pole axe.
I love the idea of the pepper spray axe. what a neat idea and yet one more reason to believe the concept of "enchanting" weapons with special elements. straight outta the movies with this one.
The modular poleaxe seems like an instructor’s weapon or in pairs minimizes the number of weapons you had to keep on hand
Yes and it makes replacing damaged/ worn shafts easier as well. I don't know how well I'd trust one not to come apart on the battlefield however.
@@MrBottlecapBill World's first melee grapeshot XD
@@MrBottlecapBill Medieval blue Loctite 😂
I'm an enormous fan of bronze age history, and would love an exploration like this of any bronze age weapons, blades, spears, javelins, slings, or whatever!
I should say, I am talking about pre-classical, from 4000-1000 BC
Do you guys know what happened to "Tod's workshop"? Tod has never been missing for so long.
Tod's okay, I spoke to him a couple of days ago. Just busy with other stuff, I think.
I watch his channel regularly
Hiding all the crossbows away after the recent proposed legislation...
@@texasbeast239 Yes, I'm sure he took them on a boating trip to go use while fishing and they all tragically fell overboard when a rogue wave nearly capsized his boat.😆
@@Riceball01 Durned rogue waves. What can ye do? 🤷♂️
I would like to suggest that the pole axe which has replaceable parts is not intended for combat or battle, but to allow people to try different parts much like a sales kit.
+2 Blinding Poleaxe.
I didnt know about the staff of blindness, now thats some magic right there
the pepperbox pollaxe was truly a surprise for me, but so incredibly fun and creative (in theory). will definitely try to sneak that one into my game
de'i Liberi really pulling a blinder there, eh?
Someone should test the pepper spray pollaxe but with flour or something and not actual pepper.
Sun spurge [Euphorbia helioscopia] is very poisonous and a serious blistering agent. So it's less like 'pepper spray' and more like mustard gas.
And they should wear goggles.
@@russellfisher1303 Considering it's delivered via "Getting smacked real hard in the head by a giant metal spike," they probably should test it on a dummy head not a person
@@gearandalthefirst7027 Matt mentioned that delivery is by the blow being blocked.
Powder food colouring and goggles would give a fairly good test bed ... One for Tod's weird weapons?
I had seen the one with a crossguard and I'm pretty sure I was aware of the short ones, but the lego poleaxe and chemical weapon poleaxe were a surprise. Not sure it could ever be made robust enough, but if you successfully made a modular poleax I think it would be a great way to sell accessories!
The "short" and "modular" poleaxes could easily be the same implement, if you think about it, and that would be the most practical combo on the list.
As for the "pepper-spray axe," if dei Liberi really didn't think that noblemen would use it, he wouldn't have provided the recipe for the powder: he would have supplied the recipe for the antidote, instead.
How to be a Nobleman. Be the second biggest B'stard around and be mates with the biggest B'stard around (because he's gonna be king sometime soon)....... Remember, its not cheating if you're winning.
I am loving all the recent Pollaxe videos. I am learning a lot, its very inspirational for creative endeavors.
I have heard of and read about all 4 variations. I do love your videos.
I guess a modular pike would be helpful to Landsknecht reenactors because it would be easier to get into a Morgan, Mini or 2CV and who can imagine a LK reenactor driving anything else?
So the Zombie spiked axe I made thats pretty much cane length is considered a pole axe? cool.
A poll axe, actually. But yes!
3:46 Swordstaff. It has a wiki page if interested.
That's awesome! Definitely never heard of the pepper spray one, very clever!
I knew all but the last one. Sounds like the sort of "dirty tricks" weapon a cheating dellist would use. And you could reasonably expect to get away with it, because after using the concoction, you could immediately kill your disoriented opponent, and nobody would ever know that he was blind and helpless when you did him in. Basically murder in the broad daylight of a judicial duel.
The later equivalent would be the duelling pistol with the rifling that started a couple inches down the barrel, so it *looked* like a legitimate smoothbore weapon but had secret hidden rifling to make it much more accurate and give that duellist an unfair advantage over his opponent armed with the actual smoothbore pistol.
Well, yes and no. Euphorbia (sunspurge, poinsettia, etc.) all contain a latex sap that has phytoirritants. Blindness is a 'relatively rare' result and would take many hours, perhaps even days to occur. But exposed skin and/or the conjuctiva of the eyes would swell and blister within 2 to 4 hours and would continue to become more severe for about 12 hours. If the sap (fresh or powdered) got into your nose, throat, or lungs ... well, within 2 to 4 hours you'd be in big trouble. So, if you used a weapon like this, and even if you managed to kill your opponent, within a couple of hours it would be quite noticeable that you had used it.
@@patrickwilliams3108 If you kill them the skin isn't going to blister after death, that requires a functional circulatory system.
This is great thank you
New video yay!
3:35 that is the most orc thing I’ve ever seen and I want one
I get pysched whenever Matt pulls out the Poleaxe!!!
I use a little shorty polaxe in group melees, it's pretty useful when things get crowded
Oooo! I'm a blacksmith in training, been at it for a few years but most intensively for the last 6 months. I don't think I could make a great modular polaxe now, but with more practice, I'd love to try it out in the near future!
I've been fascinated with possibly getting the glaive at 3:30 custom made for me, but I'll probably never get around to it. The other stuff was new though.
Interesting! I'd never heard about these pollaxe varieties before! Thanks for sharing, Matt!
If you're looking into other Medieval weapons to do videos on, would it be possible to do a video on clubs? I know they were a fairly common sidearm for poor soldiers in earlier parts of the medieval period, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about them out there compared to other medieval bludgeons (hammers, maces, etc.)
I'd love to learn more if you'd be willing to do a video on them!
I would love another video exclusive to the modular Polaxe so fascinating
Base building is one of those things in the same category of crafting for me; sounds good on paper, haven't ever seen it actually be fun.
Loved the Kurgan reference, better to burn out than fade away.
You don't always have to make it short and concise, Matt. We're here because we like to hear you!
Christian Cameron has the pepper pollaxe used in one of the William Gold novels - Hawkswood's Sword iirc
Are there 4 headed pollaxes? Why choose between hammer, axe and beak when you could have all three? My ideal poleaxe would have, in the front, a axe head with a curved edge that is sharpened (prefer it over a blunt edge) and in the back a pointy beak and on both of the sides two different types of hammer heads, one spikier than the other. The downside of having 4 heads would of course be the extra weight so the size of heads have to be smaller than usual to compensate, but I think that is a acceptable compromise.
Super interesting video, thanks!
Pure Beauty ❣️ Thanks
Bernard Cornwell describes the main character's band of archers in his novel Agincourt using cut-down pollaxes
The modular pollaxe is really fascinating. I wonder how commom were screws on this period and what were their intended purposes.
Screws were in use, but were individually hand cut and filed. Often used in wheel lock guns, attaching lance rests and haute pieces to armor. You can see them in “ Der Weiss Koenig” for instance.
A tonne of complex metalwork that’s common today was invented during the Middle Ages, just not possible to mass produce yet
I don't study Fiore and didn't know about the hollow one, but did know about the others. Loved the vid you did with Tod about the crossguard pollaxe. I personally would call it the sword-hilted pollaxe. I'm planning on making one at some point; just have to finish all the other projects on my list. I've seen the modular pollaxe before and found it quite interesting. I imagine that if Tallhoffer himself never had one made, someone studying his work afterward would have. I'm sure Tod would do a wonderful job making one if he has the time. Can't think of any other makers off the top of my head who work on stuff like that, but I'm sure they're out there.
The other one on that page of the Getty manuscript is pretty interesting as well.
Saw a guy using a blinding powder during ninjitsu training and it was very effective (just flour, actual one would have pepper and iron dust also)love these oddball weapons 😊
Would there be possible a "back scabbard" for short polaxe? Something to hang it on the back while on the move
Sophisticated and intricately prepared pollaxe and concoction just to arrange for some good ol' shankening to happen :D
Still hoping you'll give us your thoughts on the short polearm known as the Vulcan Lirpa. Please accompany that video with old school Trek fight music.
Is Fiore's hollow poleaxe head for use in a judicial duel? If so, since judicial duels are a legal proceeding, is that not cheating?
Just the scew in poleaxe was new to me, very cool
Is it possible that those short pollaxes had extensions you could screw in - or otherwise attach - to become regular long pollaxes?
I know it’s part of your Dian martial tradition but the nine bladed whip sword is always cool to research
Hells to the YES! That sounds awesome!
A modular pollaxe with my granny's wooden hoof on, would be unbeatable!
I like how the battle rendition went soft at the end.
Perhaps it's blunt because it's not actually an ax blade and more of a thin hammer. Kinda like one big flange. Makes it easier to bash joint armor.
Hey Matt; Do you have videos where you demonstrate Poleaxe techniques?
Tod really needs to make a hollow pool axe for you test out, Matt. I'd be curious to see how well it works and whether or not you'd up dusting yourself half the time. Obvisouly don't fill it with FIroe's concoction, or anything like it, but maybe talcum powder, salt, or whatever, while wearing safety glasses.
Love the last one.
I'd like to see a video about the Flamberge.
Was it just for controlling pikes?
Is it for some specific wind-bind techniques?
Would it cut comparably well to a straight blade?
That fourth one really caught me by surprise.
Can you talk about shepherd's axes?
So, this is a Matt Easton-version of a ‘YT-short’…? 😁
I know, under 10 minutes!
I am a simple man. I see a pollaxe, I click.
3:49 is that finger rings on a glaive? Now that just raises more questions.
Random question that stumbled into my head seeing this video in my feed: Have you considered making a video in which you state areas you don’t have expertise/knowledge in, especially areas you’d like to know more about? This could be subjects in HEMA and other martial arts, or basically anything I suppose.
Could be helpful in setting up future collaboration or other interesting projects ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A video about the pretzel guard would be interesting, why and where was it used?
Hope you read this: do you have any insight into anti-piracy pole arms used by the Ming? Recently saw a photo of their strange hooks on a Facebook page and thought to ask if you know how they were used.
So being in the ground for hundreds of years what makes you think they were all blunt im curious?
This is man who has never been pepper sprayed with that comment on it.
Hey I was wondering if there would be interrest in a "weapons of [insert video game title]" series ala the one Jonathan Ferguson does with GameSpot? You could comment on the fighting style, there is plenty of video games with melee and medieval combat, I would love to hear what you think about the fighting mechanics in various games such as mount & blade, Dark and Darker, Chivalry 2, Mordhau etc.
I'd have made that blinding mixture and put it into clay balls that break upon impact, or something similar, and have had them slung into enemy formations.
Maybe they did that or something similar at one point in medieval Europe? 🤔
Thank you for the info. I did not know about that one I would rather have the older medieval kind
That pepper spray pollaxe is fantastic. I'll chuckle for a week.
Can you do a video on the weapons of the Maori? They never seemed to develop ranged weapons, instead they focused on edged wood/stone/bone fighting clubs and little or no armour.
"You're a noble man, surely you'd never do this, BUUT.. just in case--"
- half of fiore lol
have you seen the episode of Forged in Fire where the final task is to make a Halberd ?
Poison sprayer pollaxe, huh, sweet. Sounds like something that would be useful in d&d.
Oh that last one is ingenious. I think some orcs or goblins might like that one.
The reason he would have put that in. There is most likely because it is possible that it could be used on you and what a better way to avoid it than to know how it is done and thereby how to avoid it. When can put flower in there?
In order to figure out how to avoid being attacked by it.
How about doing a vid on medieval sling use in battle?
A thought about the short poleaxe: wouldn't it be unwieldy or unbalanced? Do we know how/if they were even balanced? My understanding is that most one-handed axes had thin blades to prevent this exact problem but that seems unavoidable with a poleaxe because of all the extra metal bits.
I wonder if the modular poleax was the inspiration behind the modular musket.
Were these used at Agincourt? Or did they become popular later?
Early forms of pollaxe were used in 1415, yes. You can see plenty of examples in art, and Fiore (from 1410) has a whole section on the use of the pollaxe.
Didn't Fiore draw several crazy conceptual weapons? Could you make a dedicated video about his or other medieval people's weird conceptual weapons?
But Matt I do not want you to keep it short!
Fiore the type of guy that would sneak ninja techniques in a fencing manuscript lmao
As soon as "dismountable pollaxe" was mentioned, I immediately thought KURGAN FROM HIGHLANDER! I am pleased that I was 100% right.
"Do pay attention, 007, that is not a toy."
So any chance that multi pole ax Swiss? Maybe the origin of the SAK.
Great!
That one weird weapon that armourers hate.
What about the lollybobber?