Cold Steel 89MSW Maa Swiss Halberd, Brown/Black

It did not come as per the picture. I would not have bought this if I knew it was just the head part. That part was cool but what the hell am I going to do; throw it at someone? They offered $20 off of my next purchase but when I insisted I would just rather have the shaft and attachment pieces they got real quiet and just sent me a return label. I looked into getting one made. A proper one but I would have to engage the woodworkers guild and commission the handle which seems like a lot of work. Sizing, cutting, filing, shaping, and finishing a proper handle would probably cost more than the item as a one-off. The build quality is good but the inner flange shoulder is not properly smooth and "cut you" sharp. Overall not a bad seller besides the misrepresented product and lackluster resolution.

Sharp on three sides: spear, hook, and axe. The wooden handle has a much thicker diameter than expected. Very impressive. It required a great deal of carving to get the head fully seated, but aside from that, it's amazing right out of the box.Since there are like, eight sides, depending on how you count them, I spent a whole day grinding it with my WorkSharp grinder (overpriced belt sander). Used up a pair of P60 grit Norton Zirconia Alumina Abrasive Belts, but on the plus side it's now totally terrifying, as it's sharp in every direction. Why would I do that? Mainly because the fat guy from the cold steel video managed to get his Halberd stuck in the demo-pig. Yet it really looked like it should have gone through! I spent weeks worrying about it. I have no idea why, it's not like I fight pigs on a daily basis. Or, ever. Anyway, upon receiving it in the mail, it became obvious that the problem was the blunt corner between the spear and axe head. It must have been what got stuck in the pig. I think if the cold steel fat guy used mine, he would have blasted that demo-pig in half. As it is, I've only tested it on tree limbs. (Works great!)

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CARRY THIS IN YOUR VEHICLE, OR BE STANDING IN THE FRONT YARD WITH IT, I DONT IMAGINE, BUT IT IS AN AWESOME WEAPON. IT IS RAZOR SHARP ON 5 EDGES, AND LETHAL. PERHAPS IT COULD BE USED FOR HOME DEFENSE IF YOU CHOKED UP ON IT AND USED IT AS A THRUSTING, SLICING, RIPPING TOOL. SHORT OF A FIREARM OR BOW, ITS HARD TO THINK OF A MORE DEVISTATING WEAPON. HARD TO SEE IN THE PICTURES, THE SHAFT HAS FLAT SURFACES ON BOTH SIDES, WHICH MAKES IT EASY TO SWITCH THE ORIENTATION FROM AXE TO HOOK FAST AND SURE. MADE IN INDIA. ONLY MINOR PROBLEM, IT CAME WITH 4 SMALL SCREWS TO ATTACH THE SHAFT TO THE SOCKET, BUT THE SOCKET WASNT DRILLED FOR THE SCREWS. NOT A PROBLEM IN MY CASE, AS I USED 2 PART EPOXY. MAY DRILL A HOLE STRAIGHT THRU THE SOCKET AND SHAFT AND EPOXY A BRASS PIN IN THERE, OR DRILL FOR THE 4 SCREWS, IF I DECIDE IT NEEDS SUCH. COOL TO JUST LOOK AT, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE I SUPPOSE. ANOTHER QUALITY CONTROL ISSUE THAT WORKED OUT IN MY FAVOR WAS THE SHAFT ITSELF. INSTEAD OF THE BLONDE ASH SHOWN, I GOT A NICE WALNUT SHAFT, LIKE THE ONE YOU SEE ON COLD STEELS MAA SERGEANTS HALBRED, OR THEIR MAA ENGLISH BILL.

The sheet metal blade was probably HAND CUT by some monkey. The "socket", which is just two uneven pieces of cone halved, were wielded on by another monkey. the broad cutting surface is fairly straight, but the hook is tilted one way whike the top spear/spike is barely pointing straight up. The quality control is a joke and in today's world where one hundred bucks is not a small sum, this is just f'ing stupid. LOL this Cold Steel company is a awful joke. smh.

Several days later the SHAFT , did arrive , now all is well. evidently someone in the shipping department figured it out, and without my prompting either.... Otherwise I like the sturdiness and thickness of the steel in the head, and it seems reasonably similar to the historical examples I have seen in the Swiss museums in Europe. Remember historical examples were not made to fixed exact patterns and each varies from the other , sometimes considerably. I will also likely fabricate my own Langets as originals often had. I will keep it for my collection.

Nicely made, extremely sharp!

Bruh... it's a fully functional swiss halberd. Nuff said

What a weapon! This came sharp and coated in thick protective oil. I roughed up the end of the wooden shaft and used a file to rough up the inside of the axe head before gorilla glueing them together. I used set screws also. I've got it hanging on a wall with some cold steel spears in a display of medieval badassery.

Extremely sharp weapon. Only minus is the design. It`s not original. Halberd doesn`t have shaft sideguards as the original halbers have. Be sure You have the shaft too. Some sellers send only the blade.

The actual halberd head is quite good. Everything there is in order.The haft itself was different than pictured. It was stained (which I prefer, to be honest) however the haft is completely circular, not squared like the picture. This means maintaining the edge alignment is more difficult than it should be, since just by feel I cannot tell which way the weapon is oriented.It also did not come with the mounting screws. So I had to epoxy and supply my own.Since I'm using this to actually have a sharp halberd to practice HEMA (historical European Martial Arts) techniques, this falls short. For other display purposes, this should be fine.

I liked this cold steel Swiss halberd but a bit off on the weight all together, no langets with the original piece for this model. The seller did it over priced.