Pike? or...

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

I note the York museum listing mentions the slotted construction...

Yes indeed. I thought these 'convenient' assemblies were only resourced in later periods, but i see in "Swords and Blades of the American Revolution" that this was often a system used, namely in British sergeant's halberd model dated circa 1740-1780, the same style as shown in the York museum, where the date given as from 1700 comprehends the evolution of three different but related models.

Originally Posted by kronckew

...The axe blade it's forged thin.

Which may be explained by the fact that these things were not due for violent combat.

Originally Posted by kronckew

...The screw is hand cut, not machined/ lathe cut, maybe it was dis-mountable for storage/transport ? ...

Why not ? Being a comand implement and not a fighting weapon, could be treated as such.

Originally Posted by kronckew

... The sharpening could have been a personal preference of one of the previous owners, i gather they were not usually sharpened. The hook is more butterknife sharp, while the axe and spear is dangerously sharp....

Yes, Neumann's refers to such sharpening with a tone as being optional; perhaps some owners atempting to use them as actual resource weapons, an all time custom.
The hook section of the example discussed being dull on the inside of the curve and sharp on the outer part, looks like an atyipical fashion ... i guess.

[Hotspur]

Late 18th century sergeant's halberd indeed

Cheers

GC

[kronckew]

Thanks to all. A lot of interesting additions to my brain's knowledge database.