I would love to see you do some destructive testing with pollaxes against plate and maille similar to what you did using a rondel dagger with Tod's workshop.

That second spear might be my new favorite close combat weapon. I always loved winged hewing spears, it is an evolution of that, still a "simple" spear but looks so knightly and royal I loved it.

Yes I did stab my hand on Matt's spear.

Medieval polearm users didn't split hairs on definitions they mainly just split skulls

Kudos for Matt's custom work on his pollaxe; I would have never realized they're basically the same sourced weapon initially - just excellent refinishing and choices for replacement materials and accoutrement.

Definitely a supporter of the idea that axed pollaxes were popular in England due to the Anglo-Danish greataxes used centuries before :)

4:10 Matt laughing at langets protecting your shaft. XD

I hope we get a spear head buyer's guide soon! I've seen some lovely examples on the channel but can never quite remember where to find them.

Yes! I’ve been begging for an appearance for a ghiavarina in different posts for so long and I’m so happy to finally see Matt cover it. Such an amazing weapon!

Another note on the winged spears is that they're strikingly similar to Boar Spears, and their use against Cavalry would actually make a lot of sense. The spear is a weapon you want to use on more than one person, but if you stab a guy on horseback as he charges by you and he goes half way down the shaft; 1, he if he's still alive is now in threat range to hit you with the adrenaline pumping; 2, it will be very hard to get your spear un-speared from their body; 3, it can be easier to lose the spear the further someone or something travels along it's length, meaning that if you can force their body to stop at the far end of the spear, you may retain better control of the weapon, and similarly increase the odds of dismounting the opponent. Of course this is in addition to all the other benefits you mentioned.

Poll axe also used to "despatch" injured horses on the battlefield. Household Cavalry farriers still carry a short poll axe when on ceremonial duties.

Matt is correct, it is called "Mordaxt" (murder axe) in German.

My friend recently finished making my first polearm, a Lochaber axe.

I saw you laugh when he said protect your shaft don't think you got away with that

Hi Matt, just accidentally came across this material and with my Polish background the 'winged spear' has always been recognised as a big game hunting weapon with the protruding wings preventing the thrust to go too far and make the weapon stuck in the target for too long, making it easier to pull back and hit again, which seems also applicable to combat and making sure the tip is not stuck too deep, for a repeated thrust. Cheers and thanks for all the great stuff you are doing. Adrian (former ARMA - we did meet a couple of times) from Poland.

Ah, the best place on the internet to see two grown men compare their shafts...

Damn, Matt's modifications to his polearms are amazing! I'd honestly love to have him customize my spear!

Humans' first weapon was likely either a club or a thrown rock. The pointy stick was likely just after those two. If you look at small children, their go-to is to either throw something or hit with a club  of some sort.

"Bohemian Ear Spoon" is pretty self explanatory in my opinion.

I love this video. It even has a winged spear.