Bearded axes

[Gculk]

And that, gentlemen, is why I love bearded axes.

Gculk, Could you please split the bulk of text into a few paragraphs? A bit tiresome to read.

Done.  To clarify a bit though, I will say, the beard is an attack of opportunity rather than a consistent utility.

[Grunwalder]

Done.  To clarify a bit though, I will say, the beard is an attack of opportunity rather than a consistent utility.

Ah thanks.

Also, yea, that's what I've been saying too. At least in single combat - when fighting in lines and ranks, though, any axe could work as a bill hook.

Agh. I hate Bills.

I've had those used against me during reenactments. Being yanked off your horse hurts. A lot.

[Gculk]

I found another use of the beard on certain axes.  Those with a curve in the handle and with a flatter profile in the handle are best used for this, but it is possible with others.  If you get the opponents weapon on the beard and a quick strong twist, you can pop it from their grips.  It isn't reliable, but when it works it is just a pop and go.

[christhawk]

Those with a curve in the handle and with a flatter profile in the handle are best used for this, but it is possible with others.  If you get the opponents weapon on the beard and a quick strong twist, you can pop it from their grips.

Just a question that came to mind reading this thread: I have also never played around with a bearded axe personally, but in the same vein couldn't you snap the haft or blade of more poorly made weapons (recognizing that your opponent would not always have top-notch equipment)?

[Merentha]

Not likely.  Wooden hafts are surprisingly resilient, so unless it'd been damaged already, such pressure probably wouldn't accomplish much in the breaking category.

[Gculk]

Those with a curve in the handle and with a flatter profile in the handle are best used for this, but it is possible with others.  If you get the opponents weapon on the beard and a quick strong twist, you can pop it from their grips.

Just a question that came to mind reading this thread: I have also never played around with a bearded axe personally, but in the same vein couldn't you snap the haft or blade of more poorly made weapons (recognizing that your opponent would not always have top-notch equipment)?

No.
If a weapon breaks in practice all except once it has been the attackers when the defender did a heavy parry and the weapon was already in shit condition.  If you pulled them into a position where you could break their weapon, you just lost yourself a fair loot, because you could have just killed them instead.

[Black-knight-blues]

I used the search a few times under different key words.

Anyways, bearded axes have the beard, creating something of a gap between the blade of the axe, and the haft. Some movies and videos use the gap to pull someone's foot out from underneath their body, tripping them. Would this be used? I noticed that it would leave your back, nack, and head open to attack, unless you hold a shield at an awkward angle, which would probably injure you just as much. And, if you used the shield, it would be more difficult to pull someone's foot out from underneath them. Some movies also use the gap to pull weapons from the axe-fighter's opponents grasp. That seems to me to be a bad idea, because you're pulling a sharp object, towards you, unless your opponent is using a mace or hammer.

Please discuss, and if there is anything wrong with the above, tell me, and I'll do my best to fix it.

prolly a thousand posts saying just tha same thing but here goes: the vikings used the beard for four things mainly. trip attacks, take away someones sheild, grab hold of a boat and save iron.

[Llew]

prolly a thousand posts saying just tha same thing but here goes: the vikings used the beard for four things mainly. trip attacks, take away someones sheild, grab hold of a boat and save iron.

Save iron? I highly doubt it.

[Black-knight-blues]

prolly a thousand posts saying just tha same thing but here goes: the vikings used the beard for four things mainly. trip attacks, take away someones sheild, grab hold of a boat and save iron.

Save iron? I highly doubt it.

its true. in norway, in the viking-age, iron where ONETHOUSAND times more expensive than nowdays. so they did everything they could to save iron.
i was at the viking museum Borg this summer. i know my stuff
(even tried a chainmail+helm+sword)

[13 Spider Bloody Chain]

You say you know your stuff, but you still call maille chainmail...

Sorry, but I'm a little skeptical here.

[Black-knight-blues]

You say you know your stuff, but you still call maille chainmail...

Sorry, but I'm a little skeptical here.

i dont know what YOUR mothertounge is, but when i translate "ringbrynje" it becomes "chainmail" or " ringmail" tho' ringmail are for the "mails" with bigger "rings".
skjønne du?

[Cirdan]

He's a nerd. "Maille" is a shiboleth among his kind of nerds. That is all.

[Llew]

He's a nerd. "Maille" is a shiboleth among his kind of nerds. That is all.

Off with his head. 

[Grunwalder]

Cirdan's, or the nerd's?

Anyway, I use mail, just because of a raging distaste for French.

Pshaw.

Kolczuga is the way to go. Good, manly phlegmatic sounds in that one...

[Tangent]

If you're going to talk about it in English, say mail since that's the English word.

As for "maille", why use the French word unless speaking to French people? The French didn't invent the armour.