The eye is drifted open to receive a wooden handle or haft. It has been case hardened and has a wax and oil finish.This axe does not come with a haft.

This is the perfect blade for hunting, historical re-enactors or to keep with your emergency supplies.This is a completely useful all around great utility axe.You will have no problem cleaving in an enemy's skull, breaking in monastery doors or busting through a shirt of chain mail!

On this axe head I can carve the word STRENGTH along the blade using the runes of the elder Futhark. If it should read " Skull Crusher", "Skull splitter" "Bone Breaker" or "Wolf Tooth" then let me know at the end of the auction.

Where the weld scar exists I have carved an irminsul or Tree of Life. The reverse side has a representative carving of a sun wheel and the makers name in runes

At the beginning of the Viking Era both the normal woodcutter's axe and the small " Bearded" axe were commonly used. Axes would be kept as tools in every Nordic household, so they would be available to even the poorest free-born warrior; but they soon developed into a symbol of the terror the Vikings spread among their enemies.

In latter years saw the invention of the notorious so-called "Danish-Axe" - long or broad axe - specifically a battle weapon, perhaps developed in response to the more widespread use of ringmail armor. Swung by a strong man, it could easily bring down a rider or smash shields. It also allowed thrusts with the axehead and could be hooked behind a shield and pulled to break an opposing shield wall.

This is the perfect blade for hunting, historical re-enactors or to keep with your emergency supplies, or for WHACKING THE HEADS OFF DANDELIONS !!!

This is a completely useful all around great utility axe. Once again, I make these myself at my Smithy. Every care and strength goes into building one. I do not fashion these to be too sleek and shiny or without hammer marks. If you want authenticity then please, look here. If you want period then I can be of service. My pieces look rustic and worn and used...by WARRIORS! If you do not like what you see then please DON'T BID on this!!! This is a reproduction. A genuine facsimilie! An authentic reproduction! Please write with any questions and thanks for watching.

The eye is wrapped over a mandrel and welded. It is then drifted open to receive a wooden handle or haft. It has been case hardened and has a wax and oil finish. This axe does not come with a wooden haft!

This is the perfect blade for hunting, historical re-encators or to keep with your emergency supplies.This is a completely useful all around great utility axe. It can be used as a throwing axe for competition. You will have no problem cleaving in an enemy's skull, breaking in monistary doors or busting through a shirt of chain mail!

The francisca (or francesca) is a throwing axe used as a weapon during the early middle ages by the Franks, among whom it was a characteristic national weapon at the time of the Merovingians from about 500 to 750 AD and is known to have been used during the reign of Charlemagne (768 - 814). Although generally associated with the Franks, it was also used by other Germanic peoples of the period including the Anglo-Saxons, and several examples have been found in England.

The Roman historian Procopius (c. 500 - 565) described the Franks and their use of throwing axes:

"...each man carried a sword and shield and an axe. Now the iron head of this weapon was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides while the wooden handle was very short. And they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and thus shatter the shields of the enemy and kill the men."

Procopius makes it clear that the Franks threw their axes immediately before hand to hand combat with the purpose of breaking shields and disrupting the enemy line while possibly wounding or killing an enemy warrior. The weight of the head and length of the haft would allow the axe to be thrown with considerable momentum to an effective range of about 12 m (40 ft). Even if the edge of the blade were not to strike the target the weight of the iron head could cause injury in any event.

Another feature of the francisca was the tendency to bounce unpredictably upon hitting the ground due to its weight, unique shape, lack of balance and slight curvature of the haft, making it difficult for defenders to block. It could rebound up at the legs of opponents or against shields and through the ranks. The Franks capitalized on this by throwing the franciscas in a volley in order to confuse, intimidate and disorganize the enemy lines either before or during a charge to initiate close combat.
Today, the francisca remains in popular use as a throwing axe in competitions or as a weapon for reenactors of medieval warfare.

The base of the blade holds the runes ansuz and ihwaz, associated with Odin. Ihwaz, or the yew tree or Yggdrasil associated with the under world or the tree of life in which Odin hung for three days and Ansuz or the word for god, or Odin. This blade is perfect for your ceremonies, blots and rituals or wild boar hunts!

According to chapter 51 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Odin will ride in front of his Einherjar while advancing on to the battle field at Ragnarök wearing a gold helmet, an impressive cloak of mail and carrying Gungnir. He will then attack the wolf Fenrir with it.

In Skáldskaparmál, more information regarding the spear is presented. The spear was fashioned by the dwarves known as the Sons of Ivaldi under the mastery of the blacksmith dwarf Dvalin. The spear was obtained from the dwarves by Loki, the results of a scheme he concocted as a partial reparation for his cutting of Sif's hair. The spear is described as having the ability to always hit its mark.

This blade has been forged and shaped by hammer and anvil in a technique known as hard packing the edge. That is,it is not shaped by material reduction like grinding. All the original steel is still there. This makes for a very dense and sturdy blade. After heat treating and tempering in a heat bath for one hour at 520 degrees the blade is let to air cool. The over all length of the blade is 7 including the handle. The blade thickness is about 1/8th of an inch.

The practice of naming swords is an old one. The Norse myths and sagas speak of the names of swords, spears, seaxes and axes. Some were descriptive in some way of the sword's appearance or it's abilities. Along the spine of this seax I have carved the name of this blade in runes of the elder futhark. It reads "Gut Ripper". For this auction if you'd like me to carve a name please, let me know at auction's end. Also, names can be carved along the spine of the blade but I need to know before tempering what that should be.Please no more than 10 runes.

A Seax (also Hadseax, Sax; occasionally referred to as a Scramaseax, or Food Knife, though this definition only appears once in the entire known literary evidence), was a type of Germanic single-edged knife. They occur in a size range from 7.5cm to 75cm. The larger ones (langseax) were probably weapons, the smaller ones (hadseax)tools, intermediate sized ones serving a dual purpose. Wearing a seax may have been indicative of freemanship, much like the possesion of a spear since only free men had the right to bear arms. The seax was worn in a horizontal sheath at the front of the belt. Scram refers to food and seax to a blade (so, "food knife").[ The Saxons may have derived their name from seax (the implement for which they were known) in much the same way that the Franks were named for their francisca.

In his article on knives from the Island of Gotland, Dan Carlsson ( www.arkeodok.com) states that in the Viking Age, everybody had a knif. It was a tool used not only for eating, but also for cooking and many other activities. That the knife was frequently used can be seen from excavations of Viking Age settlements and graves. It is from his article, descriptions and photgraphic evidence that I was inspired to make these single edged knives and sheaths.

This blade will be hand forged in the fires at White Hart Forge by me, Daniel Klug. I have been making blades for over seven years now and teach blade making part-time. I used a leaf spring from an early 1960's Toyota Land Cruiser for this blade. These Springs are made of high carbon steel and extremely well suited for large blades such as this. This blade will be forged and shaped by hammer and anvil in a technique known as hard packing the edge. That is, it is not shaped by material reduction like grinding. All the original steel is still there. This makes for a very dense and sturdy blade. After heat treating and tempering in a heat bath for one hour at 520 degrees the blade is let to air cool. The over all length of the knife can range from about 20 inches to 16 inches with a blade length between 9 and 12 inches. The blade thickness is about 1/8th of an inch and the spine about 3/16. For this auction, I am using a photo of a previous blade that I made. However, they are similar in construction, size and shape. I have also built these blades to the specifications of the buyer. You decide the runes to be carved and the length.

PLEASE NOTE: Because these are all hand made one at a time, there will be slight variations in the handle and the blade. The photos used here are of previous works and are intended for descriptive purposes. Your blade and sheath will be similar to these and will be built after the auction!

Thanks for looking and I will be happy to answer any questions.