Well look he said it would only take 3 blows at the same spot. That is how many i guessed as well based on my (limited) experience in wood cutting. But he demonstrated brilliantly how difficult it would be to deliver those precise blows while fighting.
Exactly my train of thought. I'm using a hefty axe with no distractions and targeting a motionless tree branch, yet it's not unusual for it to take a few hits. I can only imagine using a sword against a resisting opponent who is also trying to stab you is going to make it thousands of times more difficult.
Douye dee durr dee dah, but those 2 things are nothing alike, the branch is wood that still had its wood moister, the pole arm shaft has been left to dry in the heat for several years, and axes having more heft could barely get through the former, therefore it should make sense that the sword having less heft should get through the latter.
Guy: Hello, I'm from the yard mowing service you ordered. Skall: Yard? I hired you to mow down historical combat misconceptions. Get in this Hema gear, grab this weapon, ask no questions, and perhaps you'll go home unharmed.
I remember Metatron made a video about spear vs nodachi a few years ago. Basically what he said was in order to cut the spear in half, you need to be extremely lucky to cut on the exact same spot over and over again. The swordman should spend his effort to close his distance rather than doing something so worthless
@@toomanyaccounts pretty useless if the spear isn't fixated into a locked position. Axes are great choppers, as long as there is no flex to the thing that's being chopped.
@TheSkyWhale Also axes are usually shorter than a longsword and are even worse against spears that are very long and have a reach advantage. So it's not a good match-up even if they did do more damage to the spear shaft.
@Lorenzo Riego as a polearm fighter, I have found that I have more success holding my ground and concentrating on getting a kill, than trying to kite the swordsman around the arena... cause they always seem to run forward faster than I can run backwards.
I can see why spears & other polearms were the most widely used weapons in medieval warfare after seeing just how flexible they are in actual combat. Especially with how most medieval polearms would’ve likely had metal banding to prevent the wood from being chopped
Not 'most', no. That was only the case with high end poleaxes and halberds. And even so the purpose of the reinforcing strips was more to prevent the haft from snapping when you whaled on someone with the head.
I don’t really see how spear is flexible. It just stubs, but stubbing happened to be most effective way of delivering damage in mass fight while not disrupting formation and keeping user relatively safe.
Well - yes. Spears, axes, maces. they are mostly just a stick of wood with a bit of metal added - far easier and cheaper to produce and maintain than say a sword. Polearms in general are a long stick with a tiny blade at the tip - long reach so a weapon like a sword has a hard time coming close in a formation, also useful against the rare cavalry.
Regardless of whether I had the power to cut through wooden sticks, I wouldn't fight the guy with the longer stick without something to counter that, like a nice and big shield or a similarly long stick. The English liked their quarterstaves for a good reason, after all.
I mean, I could see several ways to safely counter a polearm with just a longsword. Against a thrust, you could employ a strong schielhau, a hard wind from pflug/ochs, a hearty beat from eisenport/nebenhut/schrankhut, and then pass in with a thrust of your own. Polearms levy powerful strikes, so if you're blocking one of those you'd probably be best off countering with force into a structured guard, rather than cutting in or beating aside like you can do against another sword. A high strike could be blocked with a forceful movement into einhorn or kron or lifting into hengen, a low strike could be countered with an extended pflug, and from there do as your guard dictates, likely sliding down their haft with a cut or a thrust. Something to consider, though, is that once you've stopped their attack, you can just grab 80-100% of their weapon with minimal risk to yourself, and at that point you can whack them with your sword, go in for the grapple, etc. In general, I'd suspect you should get in past their point ASAP, because a polearm has greatly limited options compared to a sword to fight someone well within measure -- swinging the butt around, swiftly retreating, or just giving up and going for the grapple are the only three I can really think of. I'll concede that in general, going against a longer ranged weapon is an uphill battle. I suspect with these, the key is to be patient and let them approach you (maybe do some noncommitted strikes to try to make them do something), and when you do move, to be quick and free of hesitation, possibly more so than against another sword. Now, is any of this safer than going in with a sword and a big shield? Nah, probably not. But name me a weapon against which it _is_ safer to forego a nice big shield, lol. Disclaimer: I'm not gonna lie, I've only gone sword vs spear once. But, I've been a HEMAist for years now, and I've fought on the bad end of range disadvantages more than once (mostly my broadsword against longswords), so I figure my thoughts oughta count for something. Though if anybody with actual experience in that matchup wants to pick apart my ramblings, please do so.
You've picked it apart yourself, instead of being fancy a swordsman would probably just try to get past the tip and grab the pole, the enemy than is basically screwed, would rather drop his spear and use any second weapon he brought to this fight. The main difficulty is a backward movement of a spear welder, who won't be just standing and looking how you're getting past his weapon's range. But if we're talking an actual medieval battlefield, it won't be a 1×1 duel. There will be a line of spearsmen and an opposing them line of fighters, one of them is our swordsman. On one hand, he has an advantage of shortening distance because the spear welding guy won't just step back and leave his buddies vulnerable to the attack from the flank. On the other hand, there is a risk of getting a spear wound from the spearsman's ally. That's why in a chess game the pawns can move only forward, not a step back, and attack diagonally. The swordsman has some pretty good chances, but he should be very cautious.
Battle axe on your hip could be drown almost instantly, plus you absolutely should use a shield, and it gives you a chance to withstand your enemies pressing while pulling your sword out. It is all about your own skill and luck.
Helping a team choreograph sabre vs staff for a stage fight in highschool I remember after watching them do a reinforced direct block for the fourth or fifth time, I jumped in to teach them a bunch of this. From a stagecraft perspective you get a much more interesting dynamic fight scene.
@@nightflash4782 Self defense from people coming at you with fruit. The instructor keeps killing or hurting the people he tells to run at him with the fruit.
just take a look at those destructive test that are done on branches , a light and thin blade has quite a bit of work to do in order to cut through wood. There is a reason woodcutting axes are as heavy as they need be while being not too heavy to use.
@@toomanyaccounts They do that for that specific reason, in reality polearms were used because the reach just makes it that much better than the others especialy when in mass.
And if someone gets to close...well... Could use it here in Germany, some people got to secure and I am born with a heart problem...so yeah, sometimes I just want to slap the fool.
I still can't imagine what an actual....battlefield would look like. It's just beyond my comprehension. Still, I watch Skallagrim and I think about how expensive this shit must be.
it depends on the era i suppose. very modern (ww1 and after) battlefields would look quite different with less people bunched up. ancient greece/rome up to 19th century you probable wouldnt be able to see anything more than the helmet/hat of the guys around you from start to finish.just hear noice and wait for it to end.
Ancient battlefields, especially Greece pre Alexander, are easier to grasp your mind around it. Since sieges were so expensive, leaders just decided the place and time for the battle, and what would the winner get, then blocks of hoplites crashed into each other until one surrenders.
I've always assumed swords would cut through polearms rather easily, but clearly that is not the case. I have received +1 to my knowledge stat, and you've earned a new subscriber, sir. Seriously, I have no idea how your channel has flown under my radar for this long.
@@leeclock4911 Probably a low quality spear if he can do something like that. There’s no way a skilled swordsman can cut down a pole arm with one swing.
I've tested two handed axes DESIGNED for cutting wood against thin cheaply made broom handles. And even THAT wouldn't chop through in ONE hit. I doubt a sword would EVER be able to do so. I've also tried blunt wood cutting axes against the same broom handles, and at best, it dents the wood in a mm or two. But nothing that would made the shaft unusable. I've even tried sharpened machetes and swords against them, and no success. They deliver VERY shallow cuts into the wood. Nothing that would stop you from being able to use it. Being able to chop through spears or polearms in a single hit is pure movie nonsense Edit: since all of you seem to not understand. I had a friend hold the broom handle like a spear, as i cut into it. It was simulating how it would be to cut a polearm shaft in combat. I didn't have him brace it strongly or anything. But to try to hold a decent guard. Obviously if i had put the handle on the ground or something and chopped into it, it would most likely have gone through in one hit.
mostly thin pieces of unsupported wood (held by the end like a spear or bamboo growing up out of the ground) will just move out of the way. if you support the wood from both sides it's like snapping a stick over your knee. axes work wonders on wood that doesn't move when you hit it.
So I owned a dtich bank blade as well as a wood splitting maul when I owned some property and a wood stove a few years ago. The thing about wood is that the blade's approach to the grain matters more than anything else. You can't split wood to the side, it has to be from the top down. Even when "chopping a tree", you want the axe blows to be at an angle. The blade linked below is used to clear brush, but I also used it to remove young trees. You can swing down on them at about 60 degrees and go clean through (though I don't think the trees were hardwood, I think they were young birch). The you can take a mattock to cut it out at the roots. Most people just used a chain and an ATV to pull them out. www.homedepot.com/p/Razor-Back-16-in-Ditch-Bank-Blade-with-Wood-Handle-62223/304529350
I think the main point is, the force and body movement you would have to commit to putting that much stress on 1 particular point of a Staff/Polearm, would basically leave you open, also broomhandles snap quite easily, use 2 points to secure the wood rod and hit the Axe between the 2 points, the couple mm cut will basically weaken it but the force will snap it.
Cutting it off would mean the opponent will have an axe and a stick. You should focus on hitting the guy with a polearm though, it's not a movie, hitting a weapon is not your priority.
Here's a thought that occurred to me when you were mentioning that the spear shaft would get damaged a bit when doing parries. We know certain polearms such, as as poleaxes, had langets; but others like spears didn't. Langets not only strengthen the shaft, but help prevent damage when parrying. Maybe langets were used more on pole arms that were expected to go up against bladed weapons, where as spears more often would face other spears? I know spears certainly faced bladed weapons, but on the battlefield they were often used in shield walls or other formations against other spear formations. Pole arms such as poleaxes were used more in Mele and halberds used in formation likely faced other halberds or similar cutting plow arms. So maybe?
I don't think anyone was suggesting it was effortless to cut through a haft, when the opponent is trying to prevent this. We do have plenty of accounts of polearms being hacked, and as you demonstrate, it doesn't take that much force to damage them pretty significantly. One solid strike with a sharp, heavy blade, and you will cut it. And that's a surprise to no one who has worked with wood. Good experiment. You demonstrated how much damage a haft tends to get even when you are trying to be careful. The really deep cut at 4:19 rendered it useless... it'd break on any solid strike you landed or parried.
This right there explains why spears, pikes and halberds were absolute favorites for infantry. Sword lacks the reach, penetrative power against armored targets and takes so much more money to produce and even more time to train someone to be an expert swordsman aka giving them a chance to beat even a mediocre spearman. Romans did it but Romans also applied more Auxilia and fielded artillery on the battlefield with tower shields that gave their short swords actual effectiveness over most other weapons in close quarters.
most reason because polearms was cheap and not need training but a hig educated swordman always had advantages! even mostly the strategies needed the poearms because it has that strategy which can survive the most lives who can!
While i do love swords, i cannot deny that polearms and spears have their own advantages. Funny how in movies we see swords being used all the time and they were considered a backup weapon with main with spears, axes, and polearms were usualy the main weapon for soldiers back in day. Kind makes me wish we had action adventure game with main character using polearm or spear instead of a sword. ^^ Imagine games like legend of zelda and ninja gaiden with main weapon used by them being that style of weapon. Anyways good video skallagrim.
Most polearms in the later medieval period had langets to protect the shaft for this exact reason. You didn't mention that, most people forget they're there.
the langets are there mostly to strengthen the shaft from the forces of hewing and chopping with the polearm it self, not as a protection from the opponents attacks (sorry for grammar). The force you can generate with the polearm is much greater than whats possible with a sword.
The intellectual side of my brain: no, no, these are all really good points The 10 year old inside of my brain at 5:45: SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I heard that in Japan they used bamboo as the basis for some of their spears and when those came in to contact with swords they were quite often cut right through
I think the bigger problem is not that you could cut through the haft, but if it's been damaged or weakened in one spot, it's a lot more likely that the haft would snap on a particularly hard impact. So while it's unavoidable and shafts are fairly easy to replace, you probably still want to minimize damage to the wood where possible. That's also why lots of polearms have metal langets along the part of the haft that is most likely to contact enemy weapons. You don't have to reinforce the entire haft, but just a little bit of extra metal would massively increase the longevity of your weapon.
Could you make a video about the Goedendag? I've never seen that weapon being featured anywhere - Its both spear and club at the same time and according to Flemish history it did a number on French knights.
Love your videos and as a DM for DnD I regularly watch your content for inspiration. With that said, there is a metal in DnD called Adamantine. The idea behind it is that it is heavier than steel, but the tradeoff is that it's incredibly stronger and deals extra damage to objects. I dont know what that would mean in real life, but say you had a sword with a blade made of that (and somehow correctly balanced because it is heavier) I would imagine this would be a more valid strategy but also I wonder if that's just wishful thinking?
@@avidarois5505 I have ruled that adamantine weapons have a strength requirement. The exact req is based on the weapon, but an adamantine Maul is a heavy fucker. Nothing too damaging to existing playstyles, but the rogue cannot swing that thing with his 10 str lol. Not effectively. An adamantine Rapier only needs 10. Gives rogues and other classes more incentive to get strength because I made Adamantine a tad more commonly found in my settings.
it isn't the strength of a material that makes it better at cutting; it just lowers the chances of deformation. it a balance of blade geometry and it edges relation to pressure as P=F/A. A blades edge is a glorified low surface area wedge. Apply force behind the wedge and you have pressure on the edge to cut. The best full wedge angle for cutting wood is roughly 30 to 40 degrees. you would not have that with a sword as it would require an impractical amount of material and would be terrible relatively at cutting flesh and fabric. Most blades for cutting meat are around 10 to 15 degrees roughly. cutting metal is another longer subject.
@@arnijulian6241 please please go on. :) Adamantine is heavier but nearly indestructible. It could be as sharp as you want and not get chipped unless it hit another adamantine object (at least thats how DnD rules it) With said theoretical metal, what would this accomplish?
@@craigrandall4553 If adamantine weapons always deal a critical hit to objects (I looked it up) and a strong hit from a sword on a polearm haft can cut about halfway through (as seen in the video ^^), I would think that if a player rolls high on their dice for the critical hit role when hitting a polearm, it would make sense to rule it as cutting through the haft.
If your opponent does succeed in cutting it, then you're just left with a staff, and could still poke the guy to death; if it's cut in the middle, they're still with a bludgeon and an axe. Better to just focus on killing the guy, instead of giving them a spontaneous weapon change.
@@notunavailable True, it only needs to hold long enough to end the fight. Assuming you can have it repaired until the next fight. Though while you are not using it like a baseball bat, chopping, thusting, hooking and yes, striking all put strain on the shaft. A cut in the shaft is still a weak point.
That cut is not made by the sword user, it is made by the polearm user. So it is still not, in any shape or form, prof that it is possible to cut the shaft of.
@@LarsaXL Pole-arms were generally the primary favored weapons for real warfare while swords were generally used for everyday self-protection and as a backup weapon. In an actual battle, weapons needed to be reliable for at least several fights in a row. If you weren't skilled at using a pole-arm then it wouldn't last very long even if you were lucky enough to make it through the first few fights. At that point you'd hope to either have an extra one or pick one up from the ground.
I love the clear practical demonstration of fundamental pole arm tactics. Watching movies I always knew that stuff was bunk, yet now I’m dreaming of a big budget action flick with realistic Middle Ages melee fighting 🤩
6:35 "Axes break, spears break, yourself will break the same. I know one thing that will never break: the legacy of a really great historical combat-related UA-cam channel!" :D
Movie swords: just cut through it. Solves everything. Door in your way? Cut it. Enemy shield? Cut it? Line to the movie? Cut it. Taxes? Cut it. Solves literally everything.
I was like number 6000 apparently, looked cool to watch it tick over from 5.9k to 6k. Love your content, keep up the hard work, we really appreciate you, Skall and friends!
Still remember in the romance of the 3 kingdoms Guan Yu with his helbert thing cut thru someone's over head block with their pole arm and split the man in half when they were dueling on horse backs
@Skallagrim First of all, thank you for the Video! In an earlier Video you mentioned Spears/Polearms being grabbed by an opponent and that "there are ways out of that" but didnt get any more specific. I would really love to hear/see/read any more details about that.
What I like to see is how similar the principles of combat are regardless of the weapon used. Circling, getting off line, redirecting enemy energy flow, good athletic stance. These are present in football, wrestling, TKD, Aikido, Muay Thai, melee weapon combat, and firearms. Small changes in stance etc, but the fundamentals are fundamentals.
I think it would be possible if they go in opposite direction or it would get chopped like quarter thickness deep and just bounce off.( or if opponent uses static block)
Yes. Some polearms have pommels as a means of counter balancing the blade opposite to it. It also acts as a secondary weapon in a way as it tends to be a small iron spike. The hoplite spear and the Macedonian Sarissa have weighted blades opposite the spear points so they wont have to turn their spear and disrupt phalanxes when finishing off downed opponents. But to answer your question, i havent seen anyone use it to "End them rightly" ;)
Once I got the chance to follow a workshop on the use of a kinda long walking stick as a weapon, described in a XV century anonymous parchment… And, for context, I tend to really enjoy the tetraptych about the Lichtenauer' Zettel and long swords practice generally… But this short workshop, about 2 hours long, showed me that, damn, pole-arms are REALLY dangerous ! Someone even got his helmet knocked away from his head by a very light blow ! So yeah, no one can realistically cut or damage seriously such a weapon before being already bludgeoned to death.
Also have to consider that a lot of pole arm weapons had a metal jacket over where the spear point or axe head attached. So there could be up to a foot past the pointy end that is protected from being cut to some extent. Anyone trained with the weapon would also take advantage of that.
There may also be a bit of a bias in the sagas written in Iceland (as opposed to Norway) where good wood was hard to come by. Although there were some minor forests still there when the sagas were written but they were already mostly birkikrækla ('cripple birch'), so most wood used was either driftwood or had to be imported. Iirc stories about low quality swords also occur mostly in sagas from Iceland.
That's a good demonstration of trying to cut off a pole arm. Through the perspective of Japanese weapons art It seems that the modern style Jojutsu (and some Bojutsu) katas would've been ineffective after a few deflections against a katana on its sharp edge, and would possibly endanger the shortstaff wielder itself. There are some Jo and Bo movements similar to the demonstration above where the wielder avoids direct contact with the enemy's weapon and shifts around wherever the blade is trying to hit it. Thank you for directing me to this video from a previous one.
Depends on the technique too; the Japanese Shimazu Notachi shigenryu is trained to break enemy weapons with a single strike; historically it is very effective against pole arms; but once the hit missed, the swordsman is wide open for enemy to pick on him; also, the Shimazu notachi is both long and sharp, not so much heavier than pole arms though, its mechanism is that the curve blade served like a long saw blade, the swing is a long cut instead of a short contact; if you seen historical Shimazu armor, most of them are only a single shoulder guard like a medium size shield, build as laminated armor based on a piece of bamboo board with certain curve, this means certain direction of deflecting of hits, allowing other directions to be able to have some breakage on the bamboo base and good for mending due to lack of steel in Japan; also the laminated armor pieces are using the same technique to made the Japanese swords, which means larger the piece easier for breakage.
Gotta be a really good hit to get close to damaging a decent wooden staff. And as you said - a harder wood would definitely take more abuse. Also you'd treat the wood with something like bees-wax to make it nice to grip and also makes it more resistent to the weather - and incidentally also is quite gripy for cutting if drenched in it (Have tried treating some leather and wood and noticed that working the wood afterwards became noticeably harder)
The other advantage that many polearms would have is that, after a certain amount of damage many shafts could be replaced easily enough and the spear head affixed to a new shaft with minimal effort, so there's that to consider. While a spear used constantly without breaks or maintenance could be cut or shattered after enough abuse, with proper maintenance and replacements you can avoid that problem for the most part.
I wanted to train to preform with weapons turned out im really shit at martial arts so these weapon channels sprinkled throughout UA-cam are very entertaining it allows me to enjoy somthing I have difficulty experiencing for myself firsthand
About wood itself, if you cut by the growline, it should practically cut like a firewood. Of course good staff is mid on the wood and tight packed heavy wood.
As a light waite protection for the polearm what about a wire binding to give the wood a bit of blade potection, wile also still trying to be light waite and adding to grip, almost like streched chicken wire around the shaft. the more intresting option to prevent cutting thrue the shaft would be to make it like a sword handle with a tang down the full pole. Historic question Claypot Polearm?
well, this is of course why a lot of pole-arm weapons were attached with long metal lanyards... to protect the pointy end of the stick form sword cuts. Further down the shaft, yes totally, and this is where something like a Zweihander could make damaging cuts to pole-arms lower down the shaft [again not immediately breaking them, but certainly potentially weakening them].
Skall, I was thinking whether you could take a look on Templar "chainmail" from the Turkish drama Ressurection - Ertugrul. It looks better and more realistic than 99% of chainmail everywhere else, yet on a closer look... you'll see what I meant. The captain of the templars, though, starts showing up with some bits of actual mail later on, but it only serves to show how the rest is not mail.
Once you made that deep cut almost in the middle of the wood, it's possible for it break on itself after a few hard swings of the pole arm. Considering the main weight is at the end, most the Stress will travel all in the middle into that deep cut inbetween the metal and the handle during that Hard Swing and then -Crack!
Live Oak, a horticulture type of oak, which is sometimes called Iron Wood, would make a great shaft. They are found in the Deep South. PLanking made of this wood sheathed the Tall Ship "USS Constitution" Nicknamed "Old Ironsides" because it had actually bounced cannon balls off the sides from British ships.
Here’s a way to counter the shaft being damaged, just make it all out of metal that is both light yet strong and flexible. It may add more weight no matter what but it would get rid of the risk of breakage from blocking and parrying with the shaft itself. But for most it may be best to just dodge and not let your weapon get hit at all.
I think a lot of people probably think that because they can cut a 2x4 laid across sawhorses with a sword that they could also cut a pole, but they fail to take into account that it becomes orders of magnitude more difficult when someone actively wants to stop you chopping it up. Also hardwood.
Another thought... We don't tend to find any kind of langet on spears archeologically, but organic matter, like the shafts, usually rot away. Is it possible that for protection on spears, but to keep weight down, some wrapped the tip end of the shaft in thin rawhide? Even thin goat hide could add significant protection, combined with spear movement as the vid demonstrates, with little weight.
As I've learned from videos analyzing the fight between Brad Pitt and Eric Bana in Troy, the only real time that the shaft of a polearm-type weapon is going to be in danger of getting snapped is if the front end has been plunged into the ground and it's gotten stuck.
Very interesting stuff, and something I'll be incorporating even more into my fiction and Tabletop play (having made improvements to pole weapons in general in 5e D&D, I was trying to figure out balancing weaknesses, this is an obvious one that slipped my mind).
I wonder if wrapping the upper part of your spear pole with cords would help protect it? I would think you would want to protect your spear pole so you can use it multiple times without worrying that it would break. It would be easier to re-wrap after a fight rather than replace a pole.
I have sometimes speculated that the vikings using axe and spear was two-fold: 1. Expensive material - Iron and steel was not cheap, while accessible, either through fishing after it at the bottom of lakes or mining, it still wasn't something that was used abundant. Spears and axes was also tools you used for hunting and woodwork. Give a Norse an axe, he builds a shelter, a house, a village or an kingdom. Give a Norse a spear and the person wants to hunt Jörmundgandr. I also think that the amount of times you fought a antagonist armed with sword was rare, while meeting someone wielding a spear more likely. This making a spear more economical as a combat weapon.
I can also hear how it seems to be loosening the fittings on the sword. I kinda wouldn't want to hard parry a full swing quarter staff with a sword, much less a pole arm.
Very nice, cool to see wood on steel fact checking. I would be interested in how much of a difference there is in the old "zweihander vs pikehead", as opposed to your longsword vs spear duelling scenario: Would the formation movement restricted pike fair as well as the spear, with its reductions of: range of motion, quickness, lightness, and thickness over a shorter spear, and against the extended leverage and mass of a spadoni? 10+ pounds of inertia, extended 20+ feet away, with sideways motion restricted by formation, and defensive actions lagged by length of flexible haft, not to mention a tapered thinness nearing the ends to (somewhat) reduce flection while thinning the material itself.
Only comment I have is most of the techniques you employ make sense and work in a 1 on 1 fight however in a formation movement is limited so once your oponent is past the point... And drawing a sidearm in time would be chalenging at best. Historicly well armored zweihander/claymore equiped men at arms were employed to hack open pike formations. I don’t think they bothered to hack at the pikes though.
"Quarterstaff as a weapon referred to a staff made out of hardwood which can vary in length between 6 to 9 feet. In some cases, the staff were tipped with iron on either ends. The name quarterstaff derives from “quarter” and “staff”: Since a quarterstaff was made by the good-quality, hardwood of a tree cut down into quarters, it consequently earned its name. It is also claimed that it derived from the fact that quarterstaff was used for close-quarter combat." - www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-weapons/quarterstaff-weapon/ Never thought about the name, but it's definitely better than "a big stick".
Im a bladesmith myself and this is why im developing the first spear with a metal shaft :) Its hollow carbon steel tubing with a flex seal interior to prevent vibration and increase support This thing will be heavy af but its gonna be worth it
As a personal project just for the fun of it and to practice your skill? Hell yes. As a practical weapon, definitely not. A heavy-ass spear like that would be nigh useless except as a displace piece, a training weapon (gotta build up those muscles and endurance!), or something for the parade ground or punishing recalcitrant or slow learners, heh. You see, having a spear which is that heavy means that you will not be able to recover from any missed or deflected strikes. Since your spear will be incredibly heavy, it will ironically be even less damaging--you won't be able to accelerate it as fast as a lighter weapon like, say, a fire-hardened bamboo pole. And since it will be damnably slow, an opponent would have an easy time parrying or dodging it. There's good reason why all-metal spears were not a thing historically, and it has nothing to do with their technology being inferior. The only way I could see this working is if you used titanium or aluminium alloy for the shaft, but that would introduce a whole new set of concerns. Titanium would be very expensive; aluminium might not be durable enough compared to hardwood. And neither would offer the qualities you want in a weapon shaft (flexibility, some degree of elasticity, and shock absorption).
Weren't certain polearms like the poleax often designed with extended metal bracings down the head? It would seem this was done to protect it from cuts. Incidentally I remember a martial arts instructor telling us that the Bo staff was capable of taking out a samurai sword because it was made from the hardest wood of a tree.
Anyone who's actually tried to cut down a tree or branch with an axe *should* understand just how hard it would be to cut through a polearm.
Wound up cutting down a thigh-wide tree with a meat cleaver. Took me an hour of chopping >.>.
Well look he said it would only take 3 blows at the same spot. That is how many i guessed as well based on my (limited) experience in wood cutting. But he demonstrated brilliantly how difficult it would be to deliver those precise blows while fighting.
Its easy if you have hollywood issue energy sword
Exactly my train of thought. I'm using a hefty axe with no distractions and targeting a motionless tree branch, yet it's not unusual for it to take a few hits. I can only imagine using a sword against a resisting opponent who is also trying to stab you is going to make it thousands of times more difficult.
Douye dee durr dee dah, but those 2 things are nothing alike, the branch is wood that still had its wood moister, the pole arm shaft has been left to dry in the heat for several years, and axes having more heft could barely get through the former, therefore it should make sense that the sword having less heft should get through the latter.
Guy: Hello, I'm from the yard mowing service you ordered.
Skall: Yard? I hired you to mow down historical combat misconceptions. Get in this Hema gear, grab this weapon, ask no questions, and perhaps you'll go home unharmed.
I remember Metatron made a video about spear vs nodachi a few years ago. Basically what he said was in order to cut the spear in half, you need to be extremely lucky to cut on the exact same spot over and over again. The swordman should spend his effort to close his distance rather than doing something so worthless
what about a guy with a hatchet or battle axe?
@@toomanyaccounts pretty useless if the spear isn't fixated into a locked position. Axes are great choppers, as long as there is no flex to the thing that's being chopped.
@TheSkyWhale Also axes are usually shorter than a longsword and are even worse against spears that are very long and have a reach advantage. So it's not a good match-up even if they did do more damage to the spear shaft.
@Lorenzo Riego kiting is a bit less feasible in real life... the kiter probably can't move backwards faster than the kited can move forward...
@Lorenzo Riego as a polearm fighter, I have found that I have more success holding my ground and concentrating on getting a kill, than trying to kite the swordsman around the arena... cause they always seem to run forward faster than I can run backwards.
I can see why spears & other polearms were the most widely used weapons in medieval warfare after seeing just how flexible they are in actual combat. Especially with how most medieval polearms would’ve likely had metal banding to prevent the wood from being chopped
Not to mention most polearms and spears were made in very hard and thick wood, it's impossible for a sword to cut it in half in 1 cut
Not 'most', no. That was only the case with high end poleaxes and halberds. And even so the purpose of the reinforcing strips was more to prevent the haft from snapping when you whaled on someone with the head.
I don’t really see how spear is flexible.
It just stubs, but stubbing happened to be most effective way of delivering damage in mass fight while not disrupting formation and keeping user relatively safe.
@@Ake-TL Yep. And keep in mind most combat units had chainmail for a looong time and that piercing is the best way to get through chainmail.
Well - yes.
Spears, axes, maces. they are mostly just a stick of wood with a bit of metal added - far easier and cheaper to produce and maintain than say a sword.
Polearms in general are a long stick with a tiny blade at the tip - long reach so a weapon like a sword has a hard time coming close in a formation, also useful against the rare cavalry.
5:46 now that's a fully charged attack if i've ever seen one.
@unkn0wn indeed
lmao
You can even see the energy pulsing from the blade
Underrated comment
Seven minutes of Skall edging his friend's shaft.
I hate you... you're not wrong but I still hate you lol
@space cowboy#2 did you just fired the big iron on top of your hip?
@space cowboy#2 would you rather have it as Eyeball Splinters, sir?
@space cowboy#2 did it change for ya, mate?
@space cowboy#2 put it on r/TIHI if you desire
Regardless of whether I had the power to cut through wooden sticks, I wouldn't fight the guy with the longer stick without something to counter that, like a nice and big shield or a similarly long stick. The English liked their quarterstaves for a good reason, after all.
I mean, I could see several ways to safely counter a polearm with just a longsword. Against a thrust, you could employ a strong schielhau, a hard wind from pflug/ochs, a hearty beat from eisenport/nebenhut/schrankhut, and then pass in with a thrust of your own. Polearms levy powerful strikes, so if you're blocking one of those you'd probably be best off countering with force into a structured guard, rather than cutting in or beating aside like you can do against another sword. A high strike could be blocked with a forceful movement into einhorn or kron or lifting into hengen, a low strike could be countered with an extended pflug, and from there do as your guard dictates, likely sliding down their haft with a cut or a thrust. Something to consider, though, is that once you've stopped their attack, you can just grab 80-100% of their weapon with minimal risk to yourself, and at that point you can whack them with your sword, go in for the grapple, etc. In general, I'd suspect you should get in past their point ASAP, because a polearm has greatly limited options compared to a sword to fight someone well within measure -- swinging the butt around, swiftly retreating, or just giving up and going for the grapple are the only three I can really think of. I'll concede that in general, going against a longer ranged weapon is an uphill battle. I suspect with these, the key is to be patient and let them approach you (maybe do some noncommitted strikes to try to make them do something), and when you do move, to be quick and free of hesitation, possibly more so than against another sword. Now, is any of this safer than going in with a sword and a big shield? Nah, probably not. But name me a weapon against which it _is_ safer to forego a nice big shield, lol.
Disclaimer: I'm not gonna lie, I've only gone sword vs spear once. But, I've been a HEMAist for years now, and I've fought on the bad end of range disadvantages more than once (mostly my broadsword against longswords), so I figure my thoughts oughta count for something. Though if anybody with actual experience in that matchup wants to pick apart my ramblings, please do so.
@@zachjohnson2077 sounds like you nailed it my dude 👍
You've picked it apart yourself, instead of being fancy a swordsman would probably just try to get past the tip and grab the pole, the enemy than is basically screwed, would rather drop his spear and use any second weapon he brought to this fight. The main difficulty is a backward movement of a spear welder, who won't be just standing and looking how you're getting past his weapon's range.
But if we're talking an actual medieval battlefield, it won't be a 1×1 duel. There will be a line of spearsmen and an opposing them line of fighters, one of them is our swordsman. On one hand, he has an advantage of shortening distance because the spear welding guy won't just step back and leave his buddies vulnerable to the attack from the flank. On the other hand, there is a risk of getting a spear wound from the spearsman's ally. That's why in a chess game the pawns can move only forward, not a step back, and attack diagonally. The swordsman has some pretty good chances, but he should be very cautious.
Like its skyrim an u can change up what your fighting with at whim
Battle axe on your hip could be drown almost instantly, plus you absolutely should use a shield, and it gives you a chance to withstand your enemies pressing while pulling your sword out. It is all about your own skill and luck.
Helping a team choreograph sabre vs staff for a stage fight in highschool I remember after watching them do a reinforced direct block for the fourth or fifth time, I jumped in to teach them a bunch of this.
From a stagecraft perspective you get a much more interesting dynamic fight scene.
"Supposin' he's got a point-ed stick..."
*"SHADDUP!"*
But what if he comes at me with a pointed stick?
But what if some homicidal maniac comes at you with a bunch of loganberries?
@@weswolever7477 i feel like this is monty python and if its not i will be slightly disappointed
@@nightflash4782 Self defense from people coming at you with fruit. The instructor keeps killing or hurting the people he tells to run at him with the fruit.
Nightflash478 John Cleese is the instructor, the skit is posted on you tube
just take a look at those destructive test that are done on branches , a light and thin blade has quite a bit of work to do in order to cut through wood.
There is a reason woodcutting axes are as heavy as they need be while being not too heavy to use.
in fire emblem polearm units are weak against axe wielders and strong against swords. axes are weak against swords
@@toomanyaccounts and....?
@@toomanyaccounts They do that for that specific reason, in reality polearms were used because the reach just makes it that much better than the others especialy when in mass.
@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447 It is important because games equals reality for some people, i guess??
@@RiderOftheNorth1968 yeah maybe...
Not gonna lie these guys have the right idea using spears to social distance
If only I could carry a spear in the supermarket...
Blade of social distancing
@@SirDigbyChikkinCaesar
Use the shopping cart
And if someone gets to close...well...
Could use it here in Germany, some people got to secure and I am born with a heart problem...so yeah, sometimes I just want to slap the fool.
@@SirDigbyChikkinCaesar If you walk into a supermarket with a spear, who's gonna tell you "no"? :-P
I still can't imagine what an actual....battlefield would look like.
It's just beyond my comprehension.
Still, I watch Skallagrim and I think about how expensive this shit must be.
Watch a black-Friday shop-opening.
@@ABaumstumpf as a person who's going to join the military in the future , that's the most effective way of describing a battlefield I've ever seen.
it depends on the era i suppose. very modern (ww1 and after) battlefields would look quite different with less people bunched up. ancient greece/rome up to 19th century you probable wouldnt be able to see anything more than the helmet/hat of the guys around you from start to finish.just hear noice and wait for it to end.
The Total War games provide a bit of visual context to the whole thing, especially when you zoom in close.
Ancient battlefields, especially Greece pre Alexander, are easier to grasp your mind around it. Since sieges were so expensive, leaders just decided the place and time for the battle, and what would the winner get, then blocks of hoplites crashed into each other until one surrenders.
I've always assumed swords would cut through polearms rather easily, but clearly that is not the case. I have received +1 to my knowledge stat, and you've earned a new subscriber, sir. Seriously, I have no idea how your channel has flown under my radar for this long.
For a highly skilled swordsman is easy, a 16th century Chinese book record a pirate samurai can cut through several spears with one cut.
@@leeclock4911 Probably a low quality spear if he can do something like that. There’s no way a skilled swordsman can cut down a pole arm with one swing.
I've tested two handed axes DESIGNED for cutting wood against thin cheaply made broom handles. And even THAT wouldn't chop through in ONE hit. I doubt a sword would EVER be able to do so. I've also tried blunt wood cutting axes against the same broom handles, and at best, it dents the wood in a mm or two. But nothing that would made the shaft unusable. I've even tried sharpened machetes and swords against them, and no success. They deliver VERY shallow cuts into the wood. Nothing that would stop you from being able to use it. Being able to chop through spears or polearms in a single hit is pure movie nonsense
Edit: since all of you seem to not understand. I had a friend hold the broom handle like a spear, as i cut into it. It was simulating how it would be to cut a polearm shaft in combat. I didn't have him brace it strongly or anything. But to try to hold a decent guard. Obviously if i had put the handle on the ground or something and chopped into it, it would most likely have gone through in one hit.
mostly thin pieces of unsupported wood (held by the end like a spear or bamboo growing up out of the ground) will just move out of the way. if you support the wood from both sides it's like snapping a stick over your knee. axes work wonders on wood that doesn't move when you hit it.
Do you have the arm of a child or did you leave an important detail or two out of your story
I mean bamboos spears did exist
So I owned a dtich bank blade as well as a wood splitting maul when I owned some property and a wood stove a few years ago. The thing about wood is that the blade's approach to the grain matters more than anything else.
You can't split wood to the side, it has to be from the top down. Even when "chopping a tree", you want the axe blows to be at an angle.
The blade linked below is used to clear brush, but I also used it to remove young trees. You can swing down on them at about 60 degrees and go clean through (though I don't think the trees were hardwood, I think they were young birch). The you can take a mattock to cut it out at the roots. Most people just used a chain and an ATV to pull them out.
www.homedepot.com/p/Razor-Back-16-in-Ditch-Bank-Blade-with-Wood-Handle-62223/304529350
I think the main point is, the force and body movement you would have to commit to putting that much stress on 1 particular point of a Staff/Polearm, would basically leave you open, also broomhandles snap quite easily, use 2 points to secure the wood rod and hit the Axe between the 2 points, the couple mm cut will basically weaken it but the force will snap it.
Cutting it off would mean the opponent will have an axe and a stick. You should focus on hitting the guy with a polearm though, it's not a movie, hitting a weapon is not your priority.
I... never thought that, makes sense.
Hit the metal part. Especially the head.
The law of the lever.
Or an iklwa and a stick, depending on what they were using in the first place. :P
@@seanheath4492 Or a stick and... a stick.
Good luck picking up the end in the middle of a fight. Nobody would do that.
this channel is so weirdly relaxing for being all about melee weapons.
Here's a thought that occurred to me when you were mentioning that the spear shaft would get damaged a bit when doing parries.
We know certain polearms such, as as poleaxes, had langets; but others like spears didn't. Langets not only strengthen the shaft, but help prevent damage when parrying. Maybe langets were used more on pole arms that were expected to go up against bladed weapons, where as spears more often would face other spears?
I know spears certainly faced bladed weapons, but on the battlefield they were often used in shield walls or other formations against other spear formations.
Pole arms such as poleaxes were used more in Mele and halberds used in formation likely faced other halberds or similar cutting plow arms.
So maybe?
5:45 that was such a cool shot
In 1220 - this is my spear, to keep enemies at bay!
In 2020 - this is my social distancing tool to keep Karen away!
@@forgetaboutit1354 I genuinely can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.
@@yoursexualizedgrandparents6929 me neither...
Your Sexualized Grandparents interesting name
@Bluntman Chronic see this one I know didn't like the joke, the first comment still baffles me...
This rhymes
I don't think anyone was suggesting it was effortless to cut through a haft, when the opponent is trying to prevent this. We do have plenty of accounts of polearms being hacked, and as you demonstrate, it doesn't take that much force to damage them pretty significantly. One solid strike with a sharp, heavy blade, and you will cut it. And that's a surprise to no one who has worked with wood.
Good experiment. You demonstrated how much damage a haft tends to get even when you are trying to be careful. The really deep cut at 4:19 rendered it useless... it'd break on any solid strike you landed or parried.
This right there explains why spears, pikes and halberds were absolute favorites for infantry. Sword lacks the reach, penetrative power against armored targets and takes so much more money to produce and even more time to train someone to be an expert swordsman aka giving them a chance to beat even a mediocre spearman. Romans did it but Romans also applied more Auxilia and fielded artillery on the battlefield with tower shields that gave their short swords actual effectiveness over most other weapons in close quarters.
most reason because polearms was cheap and not need training but a hig educated swordman always had advantages! even mostly the strategies needed the poearms because it has that strategy which can survive the most lives who can!
While i do love swords, i cannot deny that polearms and spears have their own advantages. Funny how in movies we see swords being used all the time and they were considered a backup weapon with main with spears, axes, and polearms were usualy the main weapon for soldiers back in day. Kind makes me wish we had action adventure game with main character using polearm or spear instead of a sword. ^^ Imagine games like legend of zelda and ninja gaiden with main weapon used by them being that style of weapon. Anyways good video skallagrim.
Last time I was this early Shad was unscrewing the pommel.
I had a lot of confusion when it comes to how fighting with a polearm looked like and this video made me understand a bit more about polearms, thanks!
A halberd a day keeps the Karens at bay.
The most effective form of social distancing
@@moukidelmar yeah, fucken poke them with a polearm, insta-fix.
Don't tell them zweihanders exist, I might just steal them
@@notarealspy4090 Leave some Chaos Zweihandlers for me m8,i wanna pound some n00bs and Karens
@@JT044-iz1cv we form team and rekt the pros as well
That beard sticking out of the facemask is hilarious.
Most polearms in the later medieval period had langets to protect the shaft for this exact reason. You didn't mention that, most people forget they're there.
the langets are there mostly to strengthen the shaft from the forces of hewing and chopping with the polearm it self, not as a protection from the opponents attacks (sorry for grammar). The force you can generate with the polearm is much greater than whats possible with a sword.
@Nw2343 UHm.. where?
True langets had a dual purpose. Strength and protection.
@Nw2343 I can confirm he did say it would be reinforced
@Nw2343 must have missed that, thanks for pointing it out.
Polearms: for when you need to kick ass but also need to keep 2m distance because of covid
The intellectual side of my brain: no, no, these are all really good points
The 10 year old inside of my brain at 5:45: SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I heard that in Japan they used bamboo as the basis for some of their spears and when those came in to contact with swords they were quite often cut right through
1:30 "deny them contact and thrust"
Skall's a player
I think the bigger problem is not that you could cut through the haft, but if it's been damaged or weakened in one spot, it's a lot more likely that the haft would snap on a particularly hard impact. So while it's unavoidable and shafts are fairly easy to replace, you probably still want to minimize damage to the wood where possible.
That's also why lots of polearms have metal langets along the part of the haft that is most likely to contact enemy weapons. You don't have to reinforce the entire haft, but just a little bit of extra metal would massively increase the longevity of your weapon.
Could you make a video about the Goedendag? I've never seen that weapon being featured anywhere - Its both spear and club at the same time and according to Flemish history it did a number on French knights.
Shadiversity discussed that weapon on his channel.
@@blastardo213 Thanks - must have missed that one. Still, would love to see Skall having a go in it.
@@Mike_858 It is a fun video. Spoiler: the Goedendag is actually a missile weapon! True story.
Goedendag sounds like a Swedish or Dutch or Danish guy talking german ("Guten Tag")
Can someone explain why this thing got this name?
@@joniskates I am swedish and i have to agree. Here is a explanation: ua-cam.com/video/W1bszeudJCE/v-deo.html
Great as always! When I heard "Sidearm", I had to rethink for a second. Not a .45, a knife! "Well, silly me!"
Love your videos and as a DM for DnD I regularly watch your content for inspiration. With that said, there is a metal in DnD called Adamantine. The idea behind it is that it is heavier than steel, but the tradeoff is that it's incredibly stronger and deals extra damage to objects. I dont know what that would mean in real life, but say you had a sword with a blade made of that (and somehow correctly balanced because it is heavier)
I would imagine this would be a more valid strategy but also I wonder if that's just wishful thinking?
Glad to see I'm not the only DM here.
@@avidarois5505 I have ruled that adamantine weapons have a strength requirement. The exact req is based on the weapon, but an adamantine Maul is a heavy fucker. Nothing too damaging to existing playstyles, but the rogue cannot swing that thing with his 10 str lol. Not effectively.
An adamantine Rapier only needs 10. Gives rogues and other classes more incentive to get strength because I made Adamantine a tad more commonly found in my settings.
it isn't the strength of a material that makes it better at cutting; it just lowers the chances of deformation. it a balance of blade geometry and it edges relation to pressure as P=F/A.
A blades edge is a glorified low surface area wedge. Apply force behind the wedge and you have pressure on the edge to cut.
The best full wedge angle for cutting wood is roughly 30 to 40 degrees. you would not have that with a sword as it would require an impractical amount of material and would be terrible relatively at cutting flesh and fabric. Most blades for cutting meat are around 10 to 15 degrees roughly. cutting metal is another longer subject.
@@arnijulian6241 please please go on. :)
Adamantine is heavier but nearly indestructible. It could be as sharp as you want and not get chipped unless it hit another adamantine object (at least thats how DnD rules it)
With said theoretical metal, what would this accomplish?
@@craigrandall4553 If adamantine weapons always deal a critical hit to objects (I looked it up) and a strong hit from a sword on a polearm haft can cut about halfway through (as seen in the video ^^), I would think that if a player rolls high on their dice for the critical hit role when hitting a polearm, it would make sense to rule it as cutting through the haft.
If your opponent does succeed in cutting it, then you're just left with a staff, and could still poke the guy to death; if it's cut in the middle, they're still with a bludgeon and an axe.
Better to just focus on killing the guy, instead of giving them a spontaneous weapon change.
Hmm, one of those cuts went halfway through. That kind of damage makes it a lot easier to snap the shaft.
*In a soft shaft and using the polearm as a baseball bat, sure. Even so, fights with polearm users didn't last that long normally either way
@@notunavailable True, it only needs to hold long enough to end the fight. Assuming you can have it repaired until the next fight.
Though while you are not using it like a baseball bat, chopping, thusting, hooking and yes, striking all put strain on the shaft. A cut in the shaft is still a weak point.
That cut is not made by the sword user, it is made by the polearm user. So it is still not, in any shape or form, prof that it is possible to cut the shaft of.
hence sidearms. if spear broken you pick up another or go to your sword or dagger
@@LarsaXL Pole-arms were generally the primary favored weapons for real warfare while swords were generally used for everyday self-protection and as a backup weapon. In an actual battle, weapons needed to be reliable for at least several fights in a row. If you weren't skilled at using a pole-arm then it wouldn't last very long even if you were lucky enough to make it through the first few fights. At that point you'd hope to either have an extra one or pick one up from the ground.
I love the clear practical demonstration of fundamental pole arm tactics. Watching movies I always knew that stuff was bunk, yet now I’m dreaming of a big budget action flick with realistic Middle Ages melee fighting 🤩
Skall, if you're going to wear a mask while fighting, at least dress like a ninja. Don't half-ass things. :-P
I'm ready to see Mettatron using a frog-mouth great helm during this times
ninja don't wear masks
Ninjas didn't wear masks. Lol
@@fransthefox9682 I've seen Mortal Kombat, you can't fool me! :-p
Oof
6:35 "Axes break, spears break, yourself will break the same. I know one thing that will never break: the legacy of a really great historical combat-related UA-cam channel!" :D
Depends how stiff and hard is it? :/ :D?
ofc its a joke so it matters how u use it
ty for the likes tho
Its also how you use it...
@@dr.inkwell1070 ofc m8
@@call_me_madog2nd354 It's not just the stiffness, girth plays a role to, and in some regard the length of the shaft. I learned this from Matt Easton.
Movie swords: just cut through it. Solves everything. Door in your way? Cut it. Enemy shield? Cut it? Line to the movie? Cut it. Taxes? Cut it. Solves literally everything.
Budget? Cut it. Good scene? Cut it. Effective dialogue? Cut it.
@@Idazmi7 See? Someone gets it. 🤣
0:05 this video is sponsored by Pantene
it's worth it..
wrong brand
I was like number 6000 apparently, looked cool to watch it tick over from 5.9k to 6k. Love your content, keep up the hard work, we really appreciate you, Skall and friends!
Still remember in the romance of the 3 kingdoms Guan Yu with his helbert thing cut thru someone's over head block with their pole arm and split the man in half when they were dueling on horse backs
Guan Yu was deified after his death. He's not really a representative sample. :P
I think it’s called a Guandao
@@butterbean9354 ik I just don't know the exact english translation. I mean 关刀is literally named after him since Guan was his family name
@@seanheath4492 Ik I just always remember reading that as a kid and find it kinda funny. Like image training for years and just get split in half lmao
gavin lee Ahh, okay. I would *guess* (based on the “dao” swords) that it’s something simple like “Guan’s sword”, but I don’t really know.
That splinter at 4:55 would have ended my military career.
Being cut in half? Bring it on!
Splinter? We have to draw the line somewhere...
I have trouble breaking tough twigs some times😂😂😂 ain't no way in hell a pole arm is gonna easily break
@Skallagrim First of all, thank you for the Video!
In an earlier Video you mentioned Spears/Polearms being grabbed by an opponent and that "there are ways out of that" but didnt get any more specific. I would really love to hear/see/read any more details about that.
I assumed that pole arms would be made of the hardest woods they could find at the time.
flexible is also good, like rattan and ash
No, not hardest because the hardest woodw are also very heavy. You need a flexible and hard wood that is not too heavy.
I've got the hardest wood right here
*grabs crotch*
@@kristofb5013 What can I say except delete this
Nah, you want light & durable, like Ash. Plus wood is much cheaper to repair/replace than steel.
Skall would be kick ass in a zombie apocalypse lol.
What about a pole vs a swordarm?
What I like to see is how similar the principles of combat are regardless of the weapon used. Circling, getting off line, redirecting enemy energy flow, good athletic stance. These are present in football, wrestling, TKD, Aikido, Muay Thai, melee weapon combat, and firearms. Small changes in stance etc, but the fundamentals are fundamentals.
I think that is possible to cut in one cut if is a polearm Vs polearm, especially if is an axe tipe
Maybe possible but unlikely
ua-cam.com/video/LdVYW9r2G3U/v-deo.html
Just look how poleaxes are used
@@xluca1701 That video's so f*ing cool! Cheers!
I think it would be possible if they go in opposite direction or it would get chopped like quarter thickness deep and just bounce off.( or if opponent uses static block)
Where were you guys before? So glad this video got recommended to me by UA-cam.
The question is: does the polearm have a pommel?
Yes. Some polearms have pommels as a means of counter balancing the blade opposite to it. It also acts as a secondary weapon in a way as it tends to be a small iron spike.
The hoplite spear and the Macedonian Sarissa have weighted blades opposite the spear points so they wont have to turn their spear and disrupt phalanxes when finishing off downed opponents.
But to answer your question, i havent seen anyone use it to "End them rightly" ;)
Some have even a pointy buttend, so a pointy pommel if you will.
@@dgrmn12345 end them rightly lol
What's badass about that new Game Chivalry 2 is I noticed you do exactly these kind of techniques when you counter attack with a pole hammer.
Polearms, perfect for antisocial distancing. Cuz everybody was kung flu fighting.
Once I got the chance to follow a workshop on the use of a kinda long walking stick as a weapon, described in a XV century anonymous parchment… And, for context, I tend to really enjoy the tetraptych about the Lichtenauer' Zettel and long swords practice generally… But this short workshop, about 2 hours long, showed me that, damn, pole-arms are REALLY dangerous ! Someone even got his helmet knocked away from his head by a very light blow ! So yeah, no one can realistically cut or damage seriously such a weapon before being already bludgeoned to death.
Some people will say "slice like butter".
My answer? If it's a good quality stuff, then no.
I guess it depends on the knife and the butter, eh?
Also have to consider that a lot of pole arm weapons had a metal jacket over where the spear point or axe head attached. So there could be up to a foot past the pointy end that is protected from being cut to some extent. Anyone trained with the weapon would also take advantage of that.
Well yeah, of course you can *just cut it.* You could also cut your sofa into chairs 😉
There may also be a bit of a bias in the sagas written in Iceland (as opposed to Norway) where good wood was hard to come by. Although there were some minor forests still there when the sagas were written but they were already mostly birkikrækla ('cripple birch'), so most wood used was either driftwood or had to be imported. Iirc stories about low quality swords also occur mostly in sagas from Iceland.
Skals instructional sparring videos are ten times more entertaining than movie swordfights
That's a good demonstration of trying to cut off a pole arm. Through the perspective of Japanese weapons art It seems that the modern style Jojutsu (and some Bojutsu) katas would've been ineffective after a few deflections against a katana on its sharp edge, and would possibly endanger the shortstaff wielder itself. There are some Jo and Bo movements similar to the demonstration above where the wielder avoids direct contact with the enemy's weapon and shifts around wherever the blade is trying to hit it. Thank you for directing me to this video from a previous one.
Depends on the technique too; the Japanese Shimazu Notachi shigenryu is trained to break enemy weapons with a single strike; historically it is very effective against pole arms; but once the hit missed, the swordsman is wide open for enemy to pick on him; also, the Shimazu notachi is both long and sharp, not so much heavier than pole arms though, its mechanism is that the curve blade served like a long saw blade, the swing is a long cut instead of a short contact; if you seen historical Shimazu armor, most of them are only a single shoulder guard like a medium size shield, build as laminated armor based on a piece of bamboo board with certain curve, this means certain direction of deflecting of hits, allowing other directions to be able to have some breakage on the bamboo base and good for mending due to lack of steel in Japan; also the laminated armor pieces are using the same technique to made the Japanese swords, which means larger the piece easier for breakage.
This yet another example of why you never let the players tell you what happens in a fight. The number of bright ideas like this...
Yikes! I didn't expect that amount of damage!
One of your best vid in a while dude, really enjoyed it! You seem to go along well with your new sparring partner, too
Gotta be a really good hit to get close to damaging a decent wooden staff. And as you said - a harder wood would definitely take more abuse. Also you'd treat the wood with something like bees-wax to make it nice to grip and also makes it more resistent to the weather - and incidentally also is quite gripy for cutting if drenched in it (Have tried treating some leather and wood and noticed that working the wood afterwards became noticeably harder)
The other advantage that many polearms would have is that, after a certain amount of damage many shafts could be replaced easily enough and the spear head affixed to a new shaft with minimal effort, so there's that to consider. While a spear used constantly without breaks or maintenance could be cut or shattered after enough abuse, with proper maintenance and replacements you can avoid that problem for the most part.
I wanted to train to preform with weapons turned out im really shit at martial arts so these weapon channels sprinkled throughout UA-cam are very entertaining it allows me to enjoy somthing I have difficulty experiencing for myself firsthand
About wood itself, if you cut by the growline, it should practically cut like a firewood. Of course good staff is mid on the wood and tight packed heavy wood.
As a light waite protection for the polearm what about a wire binding to give the wood a bit of blade potection, wile also still trying to be light waite and adding to grip, almost like streched chicken wire around the shaft. the more intresting option to prevent cutting thrue the shaft would be to make it like a sword handle with a tang down the full pole. Historic question Claypot Polearm?
I really enjoyed those videos of yours discussing a specific hema technique, are you planning on doing any more of those? If so, I eagerly await them.
well, this is of course why a lot of pole-arm weapons were attached with long metal lanyards... to protect the pointy end of the stick form sword cuts. Further down the shaft, yes totally, and this is where something like a Zweihander could make damaging cuts to pole-arms lower down the shaft [again not immediately breaking them, but certainly potentially weakening them].
Skall, I was thinking whether you could take a look on Templar "chainmail" from the Turkish drama Ressurection - Ertugrul. It looks better and more realistic than 99% of chainmail everywhere else, yet on a closer look... you'll see what I meant. The captain of the templars, though, starts showing up with some bits of actual mail later on, but it only serves to show how the rest is not mail.
Even in Star Wars, there were light saber resistant pole arm weapons
Once you made that deep cut almost in the middle of the wood, it's possible for it break on itself after a few hard swings of the pole arm.
Considering the main weight is at the end, most the Stress will travel all in the middle into that deep cut inbetween the metal and the handle during that Hard Swing and then -Crack!
Live Oak, a horticulture type of oak, which is sometimes called Iron Wood, would make a great shaft. They are found in the Deep South. PLanking made of this wood sheathed the Tall Ship "USS Constitution" Nicknamed "Old Ironsides" because it had actually bounced cannon balls off the sides from British ships.
Here’s a way to counter the shaft being damaged, just make it all out of metal that is both light yet strong and flexible. It may add more weight no matter what but it would get rid of the risk of breakage from blocking and parrying with the shaft itself. But for most it may be best to just dodge and not let your weapon get hit at all.
I think a lot of people probably think that because they can cut a 2x4 laid across sawhorses with a sword that they could also cut a pole, but they fail to take into account that it becomes orders of magnitude more difficult when someone actively wants to stop you chopping it up. Also hardwood.
Another thought...
We don't tend to find any kind of langet on spears archeologically, but organic matter, like the shafts, usually rot away.
Is it possible that for protection on spears, but to keep weight down, some wrapped the tip end of the shaft in thin rawhide?
Even thin goat hide could add significant protection, combined with spear movement as the vid demonstrates, with little weight.
As I've learned from videos analyzing the fight between Brad Pitt and Eric Bana in Troy, the only real time that the shaft of a polearm-type weapon is going to be in danger of getting snapped is if the front end has been plunged into the ground and it's gotten stuck.
Swordsman grabs the shaft of my halberd, Monty Python thyme song starts as I pull out my secondary weapon a BANANA. Now I've got you.
1:55 Guess first thing Darkseid did, when he returned to Apokolipse, was killing the blacksmith that made his polearm
This is why I love "The Spit" from zombie tools (modeled after the zulu spear afaik). best of both worlds bb
Very interesting stuff, and something I'll be incorporating even more into my fiction and Tabletop play (having made improvements to pole weapons in general in 5e D&D, I was trying to figure out balancing weaknesses, this is an obvious one that slipped my mind).
I wonder if wrapping the upper part of your spear pole with cords would help protect it? I would think you would want to protect your spear pole so you can use it multiple times without worrying that it would break. It would be easier to re-wrap after a fight rather than replace a pole.
A lot of polearms had sharp points on the butt end to use as a backup spear in case the bladed head got cut off.
I have sometimes speculated that the vikings using axe and spear was two-fold: 1. Expensive material - Iron and steel was not cheap, while accessible, either through fishing after it at the bottom of lakes or mining, it still wasn't something that was used abundant. Spears and axes was also tools you used for hunting and woodwork. Give a Norse an axe, he builds a shelter, a house, a village or an kingdom. Give a Norse a spear and the person wants to hunt Jörmundgandr.
I also think that the amount of times you fought a antagonist armed with sword was rare, while meeting someone wielding a spear more likely. This making a spear more economical as a combat weapon.
Probably why they lined some polearms with metal strips, anyway; like on the ones where the shaft has a squarish cut
I can also hear how it seems to be loosening the fittings on the sword. I kinda wouldn't want to hard parry a full swing quarter staff with a sword, much less a pole arm.
This chanel is amazing how have I not seen this before it’s perfect!!
"CAAATCHH" wtf I ducked under my desk when he started to throw the pole
Very nice, cool to see wood on steel fact checking.
I would be interested in how much of a difference there is in the old "zweihander vs pikehead", as opposed to your longsword vs spear duelling scenario:
Would the formation movement restricted pike fair as well as the spear, with its reductions of: range of motion, quickness, lightness, and thickness over a shorter spear, and against the extended leverage and mass of a spadoni?
10+ pounds of inertia, extended 20+ feet away, with sideways motion restricted by formation, and defensive actions lagged by length of flexible haft, not to mention a tapered thinness nearing the ends to (somewhat) reduce flection while thinning the material itself.
Let’s be real, the review videos are cool but the combat videos are excellent. Great job here.
Only comment I have is most of the techniques you employ make sense and work in a 1 on 1 fight however in a formation movement is limited so once your oponent is past the point... And drawing a sidearm in time would be chalenging at best. Historicly well armored zweihander/claymore equiped men at arms were employed to hack open pike formations. I don’t think they bothered to hack at the pikes though.
"Quarterstaff as a weapon referred to a staff made out of hardwood which can vary in length between 6 to 9 feet. In some cases, the staff were tipped with iron on either ends. The name quarterstaff derives from “quarter” and “staff”: Since a quarterstaff was made by the good-quality, hardwood of a tree cut down into quarters, it consequently earned its name. It is also claimed that it derived from the fact that quarterstaff was used for close-quarter combat." - www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-weapons/quarterstaff-weapon/
Never thought about the name, but it's definitely better than "a big stick".
Im a bladesmith myself and this is why im developing the first spear with a metal shaft :)
Its hollow carbon steel tubing with a flex seal interior to prevent vibration and increase support
This thing will be heavy af but its gonna be worth it
As a personal project just for the fun of it and to practice your skill? Hell yes. As a practical weapon, definitely not. A heavy-ass spear like that would be nigh useless except as a displace piece, a training weapon (gotta build up those muscles and endurance!), or something for the parade ground or punishing recalcitrant or slow learners, heh. You see, having a spear which is that heavy means that you will not be able to recover from any missed or deflected strikes.
Since your spear will be incredibly heavy, it will ironically be even less damaging--you won't be able to accelerate it as fast as a lighter weapon like, say, a fire-hardened bamboo pole. And since it will be damnably slow, an opponent would have an easy time parrying or dodging it. There's good reason why all-metal spears were not a thing historically, and it has nothing to do with their technology being inferior.
The only way I could see this working is if you used titanium or aluminium alloy for the shaft, but that would introduce a whole new set of concerns. Titanium would be very expensive; aluminium might not be durable enough compared to hardwood. And neither would offer the qualities you want in a weapon shaft (flexibility, some degree of elasticity, and shock absorption).
Weren't certain polearms like the poleax often designed with extended metal bracings down the head? It would seem this was done to protect it from cuts. Incidentally I remember a martial arts instructor telling us that the Bo staff was capable of taking out a samurai sword because it was made from the hardest wood of a tree.