The Old German Carpentry Axe

[Ernest DuBois]

This old axe out of Germany, it must be a carpentry axe and I have put a Mountain Ash handle aka Rowen on. It's a wood used frequently out in Scandinavian countries and well liked there for its flexibility in use.

At one point I noticed the handle was probably thicker than need be so I thinned it down to something slimmer and it may be noticeable in this picture

or not.
Here are the important informative shots, giving an idea of the lightness of the blade and a clue or two that it may be an axe for squaring up timbers, or an axe meant for slicing wood.

So giving that idea a try I had to conclude ok, it's functional but it will take some time using it to get to really like it.
It looks like a late date modification has taken place with a joining at the extension area and that was unfortunately not done in the best way having gotten an electric weld, as the mess in the middle seems to show. I do like very much the quirk forged in at the inside tip of the incursion which forms the beard as well as the unique stamping at the side of the eye, though I can't make out what it is supposed to be representing.

 

[Kevin Houtzager]

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[Ernest DuBois]

That's interesting Kevin> I wonder what else it could be, it came from the area around Cologne not far from the boarder with Holland.Are you saying it is Dutch in origin? When you look in close it does seem that the appendage really is cut from the neck area and bent down in front of the eye indicating the axe is a single unit having suffered a poor quality repair or reinforcement. Perhaps someone mistook one of those old forged welds we often see that are in fact solid but because less than perfect raise fears in our modern thinking minds that there is some kind of non-existent defect, and went a bit crazy with their welder and since I have little understanding of this kind of welding would never be able to say if it is MIG or PIG or electrolyte JiG.

 

[Kevin Houtzager]

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[kvaughn]

Looks like it was made from 2 axes.--KV

 

[Ernest DuBois]

I understand your confusion Kevin and it's entirely my own fault. I should pass on more detailed information and the pictures are really insufficient for getting that clear an idea. They might even be in a strange way deceptive, the wide planks of my workbench making the axe appear more diminutive that it is. The edge length of this axe is coming in at 150mm with an overall length of nearly 300 mm poll to cutting edge. Not really suitable for one-handed use. No relation to these two pictures you've posted up unless we could agree that the axe in question is indeed some kind of fantasy mongrel made up from arbitrary pieces but I see no indication as a basis for this kind of assumption. The form of the eye is in fact not so different to that famous axe on display down at the Rijksmuseum recovered from a shipwreck up there off Nova Zembla and dated to 1590-1596. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure at all that this axe of mine is dating from then but there are similarities between them, also the very thin blades both ±3 mm, though the museum piece has an integral reinforcement more apparent if you saw the other side.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/zoeke...ndisplay=True&st=Objects&ii=3#/NG-NM-7784,159
The axes are plenty different from each other but also not completely dissimilar in the general concept of the eyes, a sort of elongated trapezoid.
Examples enough showing the Russians were not the only ones involved in splitting that sliver off the blade part and bending it down in front of the eye.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

Looks like it was made from 2 axes.--KV

Hi KV, look again at the last top down perspective picture, first posting-up you will see in the neck area a continuation of the core iron and the coating of the newer welding material overflowing the top edge from both sides. The articulation along the top edge, looking at the axe in profile is most likely intentional and typical of axe construction for range of central European axes, the thickening there is only a logical consequence of the added material from the weld.

 

[Kevin Houtzager]

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[kvaughn]

Hi KV, look again at the last top down perspective picture, first posting-up you will see in the neck area a continuation of the core iron and the coating of the newer welding material overflowing the top edge from both sides. The articulation along the top edge, looking at the axe in profile is most likely intentional and typical of axe construction for range of central European axes, the thickening there is only a logical consequence of the added material from the weld.

Are you saying it was originally and intentionally forged from two pieces of steel? I could certainly see that. The blade portion appears to be considerably less corroded than the poll/eye portion. Two different kinds of steel? It certainly wouldn't be the first axe maker to do that.--KV

 

[Steve Tall]

...Examples enough showing the Russians were not the only ones involved in splitting that sliver off the blade part and bending it down in front of the eye.

I seem to recall an old video of Swedish blacksmiths making an axe that way, and after some searching I think a portion of the process is shown in this video (from 1924) at 0:46 and 7:26

You can see the part that was split and bent down where it will end up at the front of the eye. Unfortunately, the film jumps around to different axes.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

I seem to recall an old video of Swedish blacksmiths making an axe that way, and after some searching I think a portion of the process is shown in this video (from 1924) at 0:46 and 7:26

You can see the part that was split and bent down where it will end up at the front of the eye. Unfortunately, the film jumps around to different axes.

Really that spur he nicks off is something impressive and ingenious though not the appendix in question Steve. I've got a few similar axes and it's apparent that this is used as a kind of strap to further reinforce the closure of the collar by extending the material around and beyond the seam.

The technique is Different than the one here, coming from a different forge of course, but it shows what I am trying to get at and also the ingenuity involved. By the way it is a deception that the youtu be film implies some connection with this forging to Wetterlings axes. The forge in the old film is a small one south of Stockholm that still exists today and not Wetterlings.

Are you saying it was originally and intentionally forged from two pieces of steel? I could certainly see that. The blade portion appears to be considerably less corroded than the poll/eye portion. Two different kinds of steel? It certainly wouldn't be the first axe maker to do that.--KV

For reasons the smid could better lay out than I can, axes of this size are as a rule made up from smaller sections forge welded together. The axe as originally forged was certainly made up of a number of separate components.

Sometimes as many as 6 or more pieces going into a single axe. Just off the top of my head I would say my German axe probably consists of 4 separate parts to include a high carbon content section at the cutting edge. These last pictures I took recently at a forging session of a difficult to forge axe undergoing a renewal.

So now you're saying it's a Russian axe, Kevin?

 

[Agent_H]

That is an interesting axe Ernest. I would not have passed that up if I had happened upon it – but I also have hoarding issues lol.

Your handle shaping/fitting is terrific. I don’t have any concrete ideas as to what pattern it is but several patterns did come to mind when I initially saw it. The eye is more triangular than what I associate with a Topor (The Axes of Mordor). The eye reminds me a bit of this guy but on a larger scale:


Gestalt by Agent Hierarchy

Could it be Scandinavian/influenced? I had to re-hunt this site down but there are some examples of “Bila/o” that made me think of certain aspects of your axe.

https://www.miljolare.no/data/ut/album/?al_id=2085

You and Jake Pogg appear to have had some discussions here:
https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/25500-merovingian-axe/

https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/in...erovingian-axe/&do=findComment&comment=241493

The tine/horn/spike or whatnot does seem to speak to “Russian” but I would imagine there was crossover and sharing of styles?

Strömfors did make patterns with the “horn”:

http://northernwildernesskills.blogspot.com/2017/11/stromfors-bruk-old-school-axe-maker-in.html

I can’t speak to it being a union of two different axes or how it’s put together welding-wise but for some reason the mark on the eye looks familiar – familiar from searching things on the internet, not anything I have personally come across of course. I am a bit "all-over" but your axe brought several things to mind and I've not had a chance to sit down until now.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

If you ever do retrieve a version of this stamping I hope you will pass it on, that would be just great AH.