Hi everybody

Can anyone think of a craftsman making super nice axes like those formerly made by Eric McHugh, but using wrought instead of mild steel in the construction? I also understand that the period pieces also seem to have been made of 3 or even 4 sections. Eric used 2- the head and the edge. His pieces are exquisite in terms of line and proportion but I am in love with the appearance of wrought versus mild steel. Different metal finishes have become a real focal point of the pinnacle pieces in my collection.

Any ideas?

Try contacting Michael Pikula. He has made some great pattern welded pieces so he works in different metals. I'm sure he could do an accurate axe for you. He's very skilled and great to work with.

I second the recommendation for Michael Pikula.

I hear that Barta has done an axe. Does anyone have any pics of this?

And darn it! I just realized I wrote "norman" when I meant "Danish" axe. Having a baby can reduce your brain to mush!! There I edited it. . .

:wtf:

Jeremy - this mentions using wrought for axes, & shows some dane types...

http://www.knivesbynick.co.uk/weapons_axes.htm

I have no experience with, just ran across & saved that link a year or so ago as I like the looks of some. Not an axe expert, maybe I can learn something from your quest.

I'd suggest taking a close look at Manning Imperial .They have a nice variety of axes and other gear.I've used their axes in tourney's and melees and they are lovely pieces of kit.
Ron

Hi

Try here
http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html

best
Dave

There's something I am trying to wrap my head around regarding wrought iron and the black finish I see on ases especially.

Why do so many folks either blacken their iron or just leave it with that "from the forge" look? I postulate that this is a modern artistic choice. As silly as it may sound I think they are trying to ensure that said iron looks like what people think iron looks like. We even see this on some sword folks.

Thing is iron isn't black when it's polished. It's shiny like steel- just with some structural grain. If arms-makers in the past polished steel why wouldn't they have done the same to the iron. "I question whether the just out of the forge" look is historical.

I think this is a weird habit of your contemporary craftsman. Even Patrick Barta, who has a sound knowledge of historical specimen does this- blackens some of the wrought he uses.

Isn't iron pretty enough on it's own when polished? There is no historical precedent for blackening in the early middle ages, though of course, given the state of corrosion this would be hard to tell.

Too many of reproduction axis do this black head- shiny edge and I don't tend to think it's historical. I guess that's my main point.

Jeremy-

I couldn't agree more about blackened iron, especially having a few pieces that have polised iron in them. The grain of iron is really nice. I have a new sword (that I will post pics of when I get a new camera) that has a soft iron core with steel edges welded onto it and some silver inlay. The pattern of the polished iron in the core is amazing, especially against the dull white silver. I think an axe done with iron would be amazing. I know there have been a lot of suggestions for makers but I will repeat my suggestion of Michael Pikula. His work is excellent and he is great to work with. He is also here in the USA which will make your shipping and tariffs cheaper for sure! I know that he prefers to make viking pieces so this would be right up his alley. Not sure if he's made axes before but I do know that he's a perfectionist so I'm sure he'll work until it's right.

I have documented a number of viking age axes, both big and small. Some of them belong to the group popularly known as Danish axes, although they were used in other parts of scandinavia as well. They date to the very late viking age and the period right after.
Some are crumbly with rust, but still show enough of original shape so you can get a very good idea of what they originally were. Some are very well preserved.

None of the axes I have seen (many more than the ones I have taken time to document) have showed any evidence of having marks left from the hammer. Axes were finished by filing/grinding. There is a great difference between axes for war and axes intended as craft tools. War axes have long edges for their weight, meaning they have been thinned down or cut out wherever possible, but may have a strongly defined edge that is often welded on and worked into a seeming seamless unit with the body of the axe. The edge on the "danish" axe is as a rule "reinforced": it has a ridge where it meets the body of the blade. The edge is some 5-8 mm thick at the ridge, while the body can be around 2-3 millimeter right behind the ridge. When the body is made from low carbon material, it is reasonable to think it was cold worked to increase stiffness. I know of one reconstruction made from wrought iron with a welded on edge that needed extensive cold hammering of the thin blade to avoid it folding or bending during a cut.

The surface *may* have shown some subtle grain from the wrought iron, as may also the edge. I do not think grain or structure showing in the iron was a strong visual feature however. It may not have been something that was visible at all in many cases. The most visible contrast may have been a slight color contrast between carbon rich steel of the edge and the lower carbon material in the body of the axe.

My impression is that good material was used for these axes (=material that had been thoroughly folded and reforged to remove slag and to make it more homogenous, less grainy or flaky). This opinion I base on the fact that the dimensions are so very fine and expertly drawn out: you cannot have coarse iron with much slag left in it, if an axe blade of this form is to stand up to use. The ones I have seen that has their original surface preserved (they were put in fire burials and have a resistant and uniform thin layer of black oxide that inhibits further rusting), does not show any obvious grain or inclusions in the iron.

I am also not sure the original finish was so very high or of a type that the grain would become obviously visible (possibly only as a very subtle effect, if at all). These axes were not etched, but were ground and filed to an exact and expertly designed shape. They did not use pattern welded material in the body or edge and they were only very rarely inlayed. If they were brought up to a high shiny gloss, it is perhaps reasonable to think that burnishing rather than abrasive fine grit polish was used. Burnishing "compacts" the surface, smearing and closing the grain. This would make any visible traces from the grain of the material be limited to the occasional slag inclusion or cold shut from welding. I think such flaws were rare to find in these axes. They are very well made. There are no simple farmers broad axes. These are weapons for the elite made by very skilled and specialized smiths.

So if I follow Peter's comments:

a) The axes would have been shiny from grinding and filing? (And they weren't etched and probably not burnished.)

b) The best preserved axes, such as this one at the Kulturhistorisk Museum in Oslo (link only since it's copyrighted), are similar to being black from the forge because they went through a fire burial?

-klr

Hi Jeremy.

Sorry I misunderstood your original request, and yes I do agree with your opinion on a modern aesthetic perhaps influencing axe making,much the same as our modern love of reproduced timber artifacts leaving exposed wood surfaces. I'm of the opinion that many of these items would also have been painted to enhance their appeal..

I have a nice dane axe produced by Ivor Lawton, produced some 12 years ago and unfortunetly after been loaned to a friend who left it in his garage after use :wtf: displaying rusting stains to the original polish. It is however much as Peter explains, with a v shaped steel edge of 8 1/2inches and with a hand of 38 inches, suprisingly light enough to enable use with one hand but obviously probably even more deadly weilded two handed.

Unfortunetly like so many of my own weapons, no photo to show!

best wishes
Dave

ps you could contatc Paul Binns who also makes very good dane axes, he has made a couple of nicely inlaid dane axes.

Sorry that should read 'a haft of thirty eight inches',

The axe head also has the 'fissures' as you describe them Jeremy.

best
Dave