Damascus Bushcraft Axe, Curved Walnut Handle, Carved Cover

Shaping a tent peg is steering work, not force. You hold the stick against a block and the edge has to land where you look. The head is small on purpose, Damascus over a high carbon core, and it sits on a curved walnut handle. At 19 inches you can choke up under the head for close cuts or swing it from the elbow.

Specification

The head

The steel is Damascus, pattern welded over a high carbon core, so the layers run through the body while the cutting part underneath is solid carbon steel. The etch pulls up a ladder pattern across the whole head, and the bevel is taken back bright and fine. The head is 5.5 inches with a 3.5 inch edge. Less steel out front means less weight to hold back. The poll is not hardened, so leave the hammering to a hammer. Carbon steel darkens with use and it rusts if you leave it wet.

The handle

The handle is walnut with a curve through it, so your palm settles into the sweep at the butt. Walnut is here because it is dense and stiff and the grain is worth looking at. The eye is wedged. The handle is driven up through the head from below, a wooden wedge is driven into the top to spread it tight against the steel, and a steel wedge is set across that. The 19 inches still gives you a swing at a log.

The leather head cover

The cover is vegetable tanned leather, hand stitched, with a welt between the two faces so the thread never sits against the bit. It is cut to this head's own outline rather than a stock shape, so it holds close. The face is hand carved with an acanthus scroll, and a brass snap takes the strap round the handle. Put it on dry. Leather traps damp against steel and that is where rust starts.

Who it suits

This suits people who do more shaping than felling.

• Campers who carve pegs and pot hangers at the fire
• Anyone who wants a small bit for close work at the block
• Buyers after a pattern welded head with a carved cover
• People giving a piece meant to get used

What comes in the box

• The Damascus bushcraft axe on its curved walnut handle
• The hand carved leather cover with its brass snap
• A care card
• Lifetime warranty against defects and free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

The head is forged, ground and etched by hand, so the ladder rungs sit at their own spacing on every one. Walnut varies as well, light in one handle and almost purple in the next. The carving on the cover is cut freehand. Yours will not match the photographs, and that is the point.

Looking after it

Wipe the head dry after use and oil it before it goes away. The cover goes on dry. The handle wants boiled linseed oil, three to five coats on a new one over as many days, then once a year. Never varnish it. Rags with linseed oil in them can catch fire on their own if they are left screwed up indoors, so spread yours outside. Never soak a loose head in water. More on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per piece and you add it on this page. Around 30 characters fits, so a name and a date sit fine. We send a proof image before the laser runs and it adds 3 to 5 business days. Clean line art marks well, photographs do not. Free on orders of 10 or more. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

Why is this head smaller than your other bushcraft axes? It is easier to steer up close. A small bit turns in the wood and stops where you put it.

Will it split kindling? Yes, on wrist sized wood. Rounds off a log want a heavier head.

What holds the head on? A wooden wedge driven into the top of the handle spreads it tight in the eye, with a steel wedge set across it.

Does Damascus rust? It does, it is carbon steel under the etch. Dry it and keep a light oil on it.

Is the scroll on the cover stamped? No, it is cut with hand tools, so no two run the same.

How long does delivery take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

For the same shape in plain carbon steel there is the hand forged bushcraft axe on curved ash, and the Damascus tomahawk with a carved cover if the carving is what caught you. The rest sits in bushcraft and forest axes, in Damascus axes, and in gifts for him.