>>10946980
Mood. My entire industry is in shambles.

>>10946988
God gives his hardest battles to his most depressed clowns.

>>10947053
Okay, couple of things from the point of view of both historic, and practical point of view.

Firstly, a tree branch is a terrible idea. Handles for striking tools throughout history are almost exclusively made from cut lumber, for very important reason: The grain. There's not a lot of introsperial grain with in a tree branch, and it will be far more prone to breakage. The longer staple of lumber cut from the trunk of a tree helps distribute impact without essentially delaminating and breaking. Carved to shape, or turned on a lathe is the best option.

2) haft lengths varies greatly historically, but I personally like mine to be somewhere around the 20 to 25-in range, depending on the head. My Bohurt mace is 21.5", and does the job remarkably well.

3) Many historic maces that I've seen on wooden hafts are secured with wedge and staple configurations, much as you would an axe head, and in the steel combat community, that is the prescribed method as well. Screws/nails create a weak point in wood that could be a failure zone.

4) your answer to grips is "yes". Carved, checked, rope wrapped, leather wrapped, fancier ones had shark or ray skin. I keep mine simple by throwing in a deep spiral groove while it's still on the lathe. Between my leather gloves and the lanyard, you don't need much else.

5) Hot beeswax/ linseed oil blend. Accurate, handsome, cheap, and tough as nails. Also, keeps the surface layers flexible.