Axes & Straight Blades
Forge Welding an Axe Eye
On July 22, 2012 by jaustinAxes forged in the Viking era (and later) had eyes which were formed by wrapping a drawn-out shank around the back of the head and forge welding the resulting lap together toward the blade. In the following Youtube link you can see the welding process performed on an axe which has already been lapped together to
Axes & Straight Blades
A New Forge-Finished Axe (sold)
On July 16, 2012 by jaustinI forged this axe in May but only finished polishing the edge last week. It is asymmetrically wrapped on the eye and has a high-carbon bit of forge-welded 1075. The dimensions are: Edge length 6.9″ (17.5 cm) Width of head 8.1″ (20.6 cm) Weight 770 grams (1 lb 11oz) This axe was purchased by
Axes & Straight Blades
A Bearded Hewing Axe in the Viking Style
On March 11, 2012 by jaustinI just completed my first woodworking axe. It is a hewing axe meant for smoothing flat sides 0n a work piece which was previously shaped with rough strokes into approximate but oversized dimensions. This particular axe is “right-handed”, meaning that its flat face is on the left side when held held in a normal working
Axes & Straight Blades
A Black Axe from 2011
On March 7, 2012 by jaustinAfter I got proficient at forming axe eyes by the symmetrical Y-wrap method I had worked out in 2010 I started to push the envelope of edge length. One nicely proportioned piece was this forge-finished axe for a re-enacting customer.
Axes & Straight Blades
Viking-Style Axes Done the Old Way
On February 25, 2012 by jaustinLast year I began to figure out how most Viking axes were probably originally forged. The main mystery revolved around the shaping of the eye. Surviving Viking axes usually show that the eye was formed by the “asymmetric wrap” technique. Here the axe billet was drawn out to a longish tang on the eye-end and