Pickaxes of the Thuggee

[spiral]

Yes Rick, Jim, I agree that with old ingravings accuracy varies so much, but the tulwar grip in that one looks a bit unusual! so artistic licence may play a part.Looks like a form of Zaghnal almost.

Heres the ww1 Brit. entrenching tool



I have the head from one, Id guess the head weighs about 24oz max., it is very effective for digging through roots & hard clay soil etc.

Spiral

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks very much Spiral. I figured if anybody were to locate one of these British entrenching axes it would be you I agree, the rather distorted image of that tulwar pretty much says it on the potential accuracy of the weapons!
The shape of the head on this entrenching tool seems more in line with what I picture with the thuggee form with more of a claw type shape (without the shovel of course.

All the best,
Jim

[kronckew]

as a slight aside, the head of the ww1 entrenching tool was dismountable for storage, a cast steel mace head was also supplied that could be used in it's place for trench warfare.

mine (shaft is not original)

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks very much Kronckew! that looks like a serious headache maker! It seems like it is similar to something that came up on a recent thread discussing some of the mace type weapons hafted with sword hilts in India. In discussing many of these I think we are reminded of the thin line parallel between weapons and tools.

All very best regards,
Jim

[kronckew]

weapons are after all, just a type of tool. something politicians tend to forget. the only thing separating it from any other hunk of steel is the mind using it...

entrenching tools themselves (at least the shovel types, as far as i know) were frequently used as trench warfare tools, a sharpened edge was as good as a sword. the russian spetznast are fond of throwing sharpened entrenching tools even today....

[BBJW]

The old movie "Gunga Din" with Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen has some very interesting weapons. It shows the "thugs" using a double pick like a 2 sided zaghnal. Worth a look.

bbjw

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by BBJW

The old movie "Gunga Din" with Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen has some very interesting weapons. It shows the "thugs" using a double pick like a 2 sided zaghnal. Worth a look.

bbjw

Revisiting old threads thought I'd add this.

[BBJW]

Originally Posted by kronckew

weapons are after all, just a type of tool. something politicians tend to forget. the only thing separating it from any other hunk of steel is the mind using it...

entrenching tools themselves (at least the shovel types, as far as i know) were frequently used as trench warfare tools, a sharpened edge was as good as a sword. the russian spetznast are fond of throwing sharpened entrenching tools even today....

The Cold Steel company makes a very high quality copy of the Soviet Spetznast shovel. They sell for less than $20 and are very handy. I put one in all our vehicles.

bbjw