The original Swiss Army Knife – the Swiss Halberd is a multi-tool for the Medieval and Renaissance battlefield alike. Sharpened for action, it sports a wide, axe-like chopping blade, an integrated spear point and a sharpened hook for dismounting the aspirations of the lofty cavalryman. Its head of 1055 High Carbon steel is blackened. It comes with a hardwood shaft of stained ash wood. Comes disassembled to reduce shipping costs. Halberd head is pre-drilled to allow for two screws to securely fix the head into the shaft. Mounting hardware not included.
Please Note: Cold Steel is very inconsistent and random with the poles shipped with this item – poles vary between stained and unstained, and perfectly round to having some flattened sides. You may request a preference in the Special Instructions field when ordering, but we cannot guarantee that your request can be fulfilled due to whatever erratic inventory options we have in stock.
Please Note: Mounting Hardware Not Included
The halberd was one of the favored weapons of the mercenary companies of the Swiss and their rivals – the German Landesknechts. Like their pike-armed brethren, these men fought in dense, shoulder-to-shoulder formations with their halberds. Fighting together as a mass of stabbing, chopping blades, the halberd formation on the move was akin to a mobile meat grinder, mincing up any foes who were less organized and less aggressive than these mercenary companies.
The halberd gave these soldiers the tool to handle any situation and its inherent power was more than enough to make a mockery of even the finest armors. The wide blade had enough heft to hack into even armored foes with frightening force. Striking forth like a serpents tongue, the spear point could find the weak points in armor and was a good recovery move should a chop fall short. The beak-like hook could be used like a pick, striking down with armor-puncturing force into helmets. It was in its best form, par excellence when the beak was used to hook onto a cavalryman, who could then be dragged to the ground and held down as fellow halberdiers finished the hapless horseman off. Should the fighting become so close and entangled that the front ranks were obliged to drop their halberds to fight with daggers and short swords, their comrades behind them could aid them, stabbing at their enemies from behind, giving a multi-depth attack or defence to the fighting formation.
Mike Mathisen –
shaft clarification Hello, I own several cold steel brand spears so maybe this will help. This is technically a review so I think this halberd is very well made and sharp, and capable of using and would make a great display.
The shafts vary with the models. The Men at arms wing spear, European boar spear come with shafts that have a clear coat finish and are somewhat wider than those of the Classic leaf shaped spear and regular European spear, which come with no clear coat. This swiss halberd is supposed to come with the squared shaft (I am 99% sure, I don’t own it. yet…) and the seargants halberd I think is supposed to come with the unfinished thinner poles like those of the leaf shaped spear and European spear.
R –
It’s not great especially if you buy it somewhere else. …with the quality check of Kult of Athena, you will more likely get a 4-star version of this. I got this off Amazon, so really should be 1 star. The socket is just 2 differently shaped halves pressed together unevenly, therefore bending the blade to the left. The shaft is thick and bit heavy beecause the laughable excuse of socket is huge. The axe surface is a big squarish sheet metal surface that looks way uglier than some of the head-only offerings sold here. And I do think buying a head and go to your local hardware store to get poles is a much better option. AND CHEAPER OVERALL. But if you do buy this, buy it here. KOA’s staff is knowledgable and cares about getting you the best version possible.
If I were to do this again, I’d buy a head here and get a pole. Cold Steel MAA pole arms are mostly miss and overpriced for the quality.
Corey (verified owner) –
Got this in the mail a month ago, and she is a beauty!!! Customer service helped me tremendously, and was very polite. I get lots of compliments from friends and family. Only required sanding of the pole (to fit the head snuggly) but would benefit from sanding two sides with it (making a square edge, helping with edge alignment when hacking pumpkins :) ). The halberd comes sharp: found this out when hacking the pumpkin and missing, realizing it shaved off a sliver of log the pumpkin was residing on (the wood, not bark). All in all, an amazing halberd.
ArmandPeanuts (verified owner) –
Overall I’m very happy with it, it looks very good for the price. However, my blade arrived with black coating on it. I’m a little pissed because nowhere does it say I might get a black blade. Also the blade comes unattached to the pole, you have to assemble it yourself which is fine actually since I intend to remove the black coating, but the 2 screws that come with it are about half an inch long… I doubt they’re gonna survive a strike on this lol, very dangerous for HEMA I think (not an expert so maybe thats standard and I’m rambling)