Single Handed Three Chain Flail – Full Making Plans

This package comprises a fully dimensioned set of drawings and the additional notes explaining how to approach the making of each piece. Flails are fearsome weapons and not just to the receiver of the violence. The giver of the violence could suffer too and perhaps that is why they hold such a strong place in popular myth and pop culture of the medieval world whilst simultaneously being assumed by many that they never really existed. The truth is they did exist and can be found in the artwork and carvings of the time, though strangely they are hard to find in the archaeological record or in museums. Single handed flails seem to be more popular in Eastern Europe into the fringes of Asia, but through the 13th and 14thC single handed flails became popular in Western Europe. Sometimes they were of the single spiked ball on a chain type, characterised by the modern usage of the name ‘morningstar’, but more often they were made up of three smaller weights on individual chains and importantly chains that were of a length that kept the weights out of reach of the hand that wielded it. These plans are for ones of this type. This flail is fairly easy to make but requires both wood working and metal working tools and skills, though the wood working is very basic. Of course you will get the best results from the most suitable equipment and a wood lathe, a metal lathe, belt linisher and hot work facilities, either gas torches or a forge, but in reality this could be made and made well with a small hand grinder, a small forge or a powerful blow torch and a wood plane and files. These notes will explain using the correct tools, but will give you a good idea of where you need to get to.