The underrated axe

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Cosmoline

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I've been doing quite a bit of work on the old compound with a variety of Swedish axes. Mainly because they're about the only things that still function below zero in the deep snow. I've gotten pretty handy with them, particularly my favorite Gransfors-Bruks felling axe. It's a real beast. If I had to choose a non-firearm weapon, it would be the felling axe. WHile it is somewhat slow to get moving, it hits with such astonishing power I can't imagine even a large sword would be able to stop it. The sharp side will cut through just about anything, while the flat side acts as a great hammer. Give me that and a Turkish bayonet and I'll feel pretty well defended. You can keep your mil-spec knives and ninja nonsense
:D
 
From the way it sounds, you must live in a rural area, or at least spend time outside. If that is where you spend most of your time, then it's the perfect non-firing weapon. I share your distain for the 'tactical' hoopla.

The problem is that I live and work in a city. In another forum I corresponded with a guy who carried a Bowie in a shoulder holster. My advice was to never wear it in my neighborhood.

First of all, it would be like asking to be arrested. You could probably talk your way out of having a jackknife clipped to your pants, but a concealed Bowie, definitely not.

Another issue is just practicality. Are you sure you want to be a 'shrapnel magnet'? I mean, if a guy whipped out a big Bowie locally, a whole bunch of guys, including my wife, would punch more holes into him than a Russian promise.

Having said that. if there were no firearms, I'd buy the Cold Steel Mace. Axes I got, but I think the mace would smash them.
 
Hmmm...

An axe takes a lot of effort to get going. And even more to stop and reverse. If your initial swing were to miss; how fast could you reverse the direction for another pass?

I spend a lot of time with an old double bit cutting cedar trees. It doesn't take long to wear yourself out with an axe. Great exercise though. The whole body gets in on the deal.

Smoke
 
The thing to remember about the axe or any heavy-swinging weapon is that you MUST stay in motion all the time while using it or you'll get creamed. Every single swing must be accompanied by footwork.

Example: dude with a shortsword of some type is up against a full battleaxe, so he's outmatched in both range and "blow impact" but he's got speed on his size...and at very close range, the axe is next to useless.

So the swordsman has to get inside the axe's range.

Axe-man is advancing, and swings, swordsman ducks back out of the way and now needs to move IN fast.

Axe backsteps while swinging again.

Result: he stays out of the sword's range, the swordsman's range-to-target is shifting so lining up a wrist-shot is far trickier, and by moving backwards while chopping overhand, the axe SPEEDS UP...not by a lot, but enough to throw the swordsman's calculations off.

Try this: stand with your feet diagonally apart some, knees bent, holding something heavy straight overhead...baseball bat or heavier. Now step back, FAST while dropping your weight a bit. What happens? The item overhead tends to stay still while you move back, and gets "whipped" down and forward because your arms don't stretch. Basically, with no additional ARM muscle work, you've put in an additional downwards swing into the axe head or whatever it is you're swinging via your LEGS and torso (remember the slight drop in body weight?).

While making "range to target calcs" far more complex.
 
I love my HB Forge tomahawk....smaller version of an axe.

Axes are nasty, but have their drawbacks.

There is no such thing as the "perfect" weapon. It all depends on the person swinging or thrusting or slashing with it.

hillbilly
 
You know, I never understood that whole thing about "plate mail".

I mean, most dinner china I've ever seen isn't very robust. And you'd look damned silly with a bunch of it strapped all over you...





































:neener:
 
That reminds me of an incident years back. Some kids were driving in a car having a great time , not paying too much attention to driving. There was a car stopped at a red light .The kids couildn't stop in time and there was a fender bender. An old guy steps out of the car and says 'car too long for you ? I'll take care of that " and proceed s to hack away the first 12" of the kids car !! Yes axes have their uses. Now that I'm and old guy I appreciate that incident much more .
 
d'oh!

Wouldn't suggest that with the Misses good china...especially if you have an axe anywhere nearby. :D
 
gransforsfelling.jpg


She doesn't look too scary--not like the big double sided axes--but man can she hit! I tried her out on an old junker car, and that blade will indeed cut through the sheet metal doors. That's some very, very good steel on that axe, and an excellent "prima hickory" handle.
 
I ahve to agree cosmoline, axes are pretty sweet weapons and even better as tools. I recieved a gransford bruks hatchet from my siblings for a x-mas present, and I recently participated in a bladeforums passaround on a veitnam tactical tamahawk. Both are great little choppers, and swing like the dickens (always wanted to use that word :) ). I would like to get one of the full size axes like yours to throw in the truck when i go camping, and if I win the tomahawk, im going to look into taking some axe fighting classes.
 
Your typical Viking axe was a hand axe, basically a large tomahawk. And they had a shield and sword as well. They covered all their bases (most had a spear and/or dagger around too).
 
MrMurphy, regarding viking weaponry.

Norwegian law at the time specified what weapons you had to own - an early example of weapons control of a slightly different kind than the one Ted Kennedy wants. :)

I don't remember exactly what these laws said, and it varied a bit between regions, but the basic minimum included a bow and a number of arrows (measured in dozens), a shield, a spear - and either sword or axe, according to individual taste.

They did use light hand axes, but this was not the type that was seen as a substitute for a sword. It was a tool that could also serve as a weapon. As far as knives are concerned, they were also just tools that could be used as weapons, they were never mentioned as "weapons", everyone, male and female, carried one all the time anyway.

The broad axe or battle axe was considerably larger and heavier than the hand axe. There were several styles. They probably discussed shape, weight and curvature of the edge just like later generations discuss 1911 vs Glock. :D

I just did some surfin'. It appears that a good broad axe around 1300 (after the viking age) cost as much as a cow. Axes, like swords, were sometimes given names, it was not uncommon to name them after the female giants of Norse mythology.

You know, I never understood that whole thing about "plate mail".
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You know, some of the vikings didn't either. They usually wore armour but all the sagas mention battles were someone threw their mail on the ground when things got hot and sweaty. Armour hampered movement. This is where the word "berserker" comes from. I think the first part of the word is the same root as the English "bare". "Serk" means "shirt". A berserker is someone who fought in "just his shirt", no armour.


Cosmoline, getting a Norwegian to say something nice about anything Swedish ain't easy. :) But that is a very nice axe, I have one of their small ones. We Scandinavians are pretty serious when it comes to the quality of things like knives and axes. A result of growing up surrounded by all those tress, I guess.

Excuse me for asking. No offence, old chap. But have you lost your marbles?
I tried her out on an old junker car, and that blade will indeed cut through the sheet metal doors.
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Reading that made my eyes hurt. Cutting sheet metal with a fine tool like that. :what:

If you ever want that axe to respect you again, you have to sit down and give her some love and care. Touching up her edge with a good Arkensas stone would be a start. :)
 
Back during the Vietnam war, there was a young Army officer who tried to convince the Army that a tomahawk was a more effective weapon then the bayonet.

He gave the brass a demonstration of throwing and fighting techniques with one.

He took on a series of Army hand-to-hand combat experts, and spectacularly proved that a man with a bayonet, fighting knife, club, or hand-to-hand stood NO chance against this guy armed with his tomahawk.

The brass was impressed, but even though he showed how easy it would be to train recruits to be as effective, the brass decided to stay with the bayonet.

SOME people listened, since certain Marine Force Recon units are legendary for use of black "Vietnam Tomahawks".

What few stories I've heard indicate the 'hawks were deadly effective, AND quiet enough to use for silent killing.

You don't hear much about this, since even for Marines, hacking somebody to death with an axe is considered VERY non-PC.
 
Reading that made my eyes hurt. Cutting sheet metal with a fine tool like that.
Click to expand...

:D Yes, I'm abusive. I also ran the axe over with my pickup and lost it in the snow more than once. I'm not nice to my tools, not nice at all. Neither, for that matter, is Alaska. So any tool that survives in my dubious care has got to be top-notch.
 
I'll take a tomahawk I can throw first. Then again, I've yet to learn how to hit anything. :p
 
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