Hi Sean,

I just want to join in on the acclaim-- you've done a fantastic job! When I started in on this forum I wasn't really drawn to the idea of antiquing replicas, but your work (and the work of others on the forum) has won me over.

With regards to the "who" of your weapon-- I think you are right in thinking that such a weapon could have been employed by a gallowglass. The picture with the two gallowglass, the kerne (and the chieftain?) could be a bit ambiguous, as well, but I suspect that the kerne are carrying their own pole axes. For one, both gallowglass look like the swords they are carrying are their primary weapons (but I readily admit that I may be mistaken). Gallowglass are frequently described as carrying axes-- and doubtlessly enough of them did that it became a defining mark of their "guild" (so to speak). Many of the illustrations we have show them with swords, nonetheless.

Secondly, many of the contemporary illustrations we have of kerne show them bearing pole axes as their primary weapon-- (but again others show the sword). Below I will include (if it works) a detail from one of the Derrick prints that shows a party of kerne on a raid.

I'm sure, in either case, that kerne or galloglaich would be most appreciative of your weapon.

Cheers,

David

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More great information! Thanks, y'all.

Sean;

Have you tried using Lemon or Lime juice (The kind from the food store that you use on fish.) to age steel blade?
I find that you get a nice grayish patina that you can leave as is or polish to a used (Aged) but not badly coroded finish.
(I am not a chemist, but the result looks more like a patina of old, but unrusted steel.)

The way I do this is to wrap the blade with a patterned toilet paper (A pattern that will be etched on the steel to a degree.)
I then soak the toilet paper with the juice and leave it for at least a few hours.

If I burnish the surface with a smooth & hardened steel rod or needle only the highlights get polished. (Simulated Damascus Steel.) (Not meant to fool anyone, just meant to look less modern!)

Depending on how much etching is desirable I pollish & redo the whole thing a few times.

A good side effect is that "Modern grinding lines" are completely oblitarated & scratches tend to be not noticable on this finish.
I refinished a COLD STEEL Larado Bowie this way that now looks 19th century. ( The factory grind lines were very evident!)

Anyway there is a lot of room here to experiment, final results depending on what you do to it.

Amazing! I'd love to try the patterned paper approach. I probably should get a sheet of steel and try lots of little test spots with different solutions and times to get a better idea of what's possible. I haven't tried lemon juice, but I had good success with grapes! I just crushed the grapes on the steel and used them like swabs to spread the juice all over. Because the grape juice was sticky, it clung to the steel better than the vinegar/salt solution.

Sean;

Doing some tests is a good idea before risking an untried technique on an expensive piece.

The pattern from the paper does not transfer in a uniform way and repeating the process a few times does randommize the pattern somewhat. ( I wasn't expecting a pattern transfer the first time I tried this and a perfect pattern was not the goal.)

To get more perfect etching of a regular pattern on the metal would mean using a more controlable method of transfering the pattern and using a stronger acid! ???

I got the idea from the staining of carbon steel blades cutting tomatoes. I didn't have tomatoes available at the time so I whent for Lime juice that I had around.

Just a thought: Maybe tomatoe juice could also be tried? Maybe a mix of tomatoe and lime juice might even work better?

On the plus side this process is not toxic or bad odour producing. (After a few hours you can smell a mild rusting steel odour from a few feet away.)

excellent job on the axe.
I just ordered an axe head myself . Thanks for the inspiration
Chuck

Thanks! Are you going for the Kern or something else? Whatever, be sure to post with the results.

I'm going for the Kern Axe, I've wanted one since I saw the Angus McBride illustration in Celtic Warriors.
I want to try for a head that is not as rusty as yours, maybe just around the socket and the butt of the shaft banged up from whacking a couple heads in its day.
Chuck