Category: Axe

Axe

Halloween Viking(ish)

Armor, Axe, The Raider

Last Halloween I dressed in my full plate armor. It was a hit in the neighborhood. I wanted to wear some of my kit again the next year, but wanted to look completely different. So I decided, instead of 15th century knight, how about 10th century Viking? I started to let my hair and beard grow for the whole year, and this was the result:

viking
viking double

This kit was again a success in my neighborhood, and also won the best costume contest at my work. Yeah, I know it’s not historically accurate. I’m fine with that, and everyone else seemed to be fine with it, too — that is, few people know historical accuracy from fantasy.

I shaved off the beard November 1st, and cut back my hair a few days later. I did really like the look of the long hair and long beard, but it’s such a bother to maintain and live with on a daily (hourly!) business. I’m now back to my normal look.

The Old Adventurer.

Greataxe

Axe ,

This is more than a good axe, it’s a greataxe:

greataxe
greataxe

According to the crafter’s naming of this axe, this weapon is apparently designed after a fictional axe in the Wheel of Time book series — the axe belonging to Perrin Aybara. I know nothing about WoT or Perrin, but this greataxe isn’t fictional. Although I didn’t opt to have the blade sharpened — I have enough (maybe too many) sharp weapons — the blade tip and the back spike are pointedly sharp. The axe is overall 50 inches long and weighs over 5.5 pounds. This would be another useful implement for the Zombie Apocalypse.

This is a fun weapon to wield. It feels good in my hands, and the wide hexagonal shaft allows for easy and natural edge alignment when swinging. I haven’t tried (yet), but I imagine this would be fun to burst pumpkins or watermelons. I might have to sharpen the blade on this so I can get nice clean slices.

The Old Adventurer

Gothic Axe

Axe, X-Uncategorized

This is my gothic axe:

Gothic axe
Gothic axe

With an early medieval axe (“Viking” axe) in my collection, I decided to add a later medieval axe to it. To balance out the wall layout, you see. I don’t know that this axe is specifically modeled on any particular historical model, but it does have a similar design to some pole axes of the late Middle Ages. This axe head on the end of a 6-foot pole would not seem out of place on a 1500s battlefield.
This axe is 25.5 inches long, and weighs less than 2.5 pounds.


The Old Adventurer

Viking Axe

Axe, X-Uncategorized

This is my Viking axe:

Viking axe
Viking axe

I wanted a Viking style axe to go with my Viking style sword. I actually more wanted a bearded axe, but all such axes I could find in stock had laser etched Norse designs on the blade. As cool as the various knotwork designs were, they were all obviously laser etched, and that just didn’t feel authentic. Having said that, I think the leather strap work on this one might not be all that authentic, either. But I do feel there’s a difference between adding real leather straps to an axe handle, and using a laser beam to etch designs. The leather straps could have be added in its historical time period; the laser etching, not so much.


The axe head on this doesn’t look much different from a modern wood axe from the side view. But the head is a bit thinner than a wood axe head to reduce the weight. I may eventually replace this with a more Vikingy-looking bearded axe (if I can find one without the laser etching).


This axe is 24.5 inches long, and weighs 2.5 pounds. This weapon isn’t as nimble as a sword of equal weight. This weight (all at the far end) prevents quick redirection and skillful use. With a shield in one hand, and this axe in the other, yeah, a strong warrior could hack through some enemies, but it wouldn’t take long to really wear out your arm stamina. A bearded axe would probably be lighter, even with the same length of blade.


It seems pretty well made — the axe head is firmly attached, and the leather stripping hasn’t moved or come loose even with quite a bit of handling. I haven’t seen historical images with cross-stitched leather straps like this, but whether historical or not, it is useful. The edges of the leather straps gives me better grip on the handle. I do like it, and I’m fine with it on my Wall of Awesome.


The Old Adventurer