Damascus Viking Axe, Olive Wood Handle with Brass Inlay
Damascus Viking Axe, Olive Wood Handle with Brass Inlay
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- Engraving adds 3 to 5 business days.
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- We send a proof image before we engrave.
- Engraved blades cannot be returned or exchanged unless the blade itself is defective.
A grip has to fill a hand and stay in it, and a smooth round stick does neither for long. This one has brass wire let into a spiral down the grip, which gives the palm something to sit against. People notice it before anything else. The axe is 19 inches overall on olive wood, the head Damascus over a high carbon core.
Specification
| Head length | 6.5 inches |
| Cutting edge | 4.5 inches |
| Overall length | 19 inches |
| Handle length | 19 inches |
| Handle wood | Olive wood with brass wire inlaid in a spiral down the grip |
| Head steel | Damascus, high carbon core |
| Head finish | Etched ladder pattern, bevel etched to the edge |
| Eye | Wedged, wooden wedge and a steel cross wedge |
| Head cover | Hand stitched leather, hand carved oak leaf and acorn face, snap strap |
| Engraving | Laser engraving, 20 dollars per piece |
| Made in | Forged and finished by hand in High Point, North Carolina. |
| Warranty | Lifetime warranty against defects, free sharpening for life. |
The head
Damascus is layers of steel welded into one bar. Ladder comes from cutting grooves across that bar and forging it flat again, so the layers lie in even rungs and acid opens them out. The pattern is decoration. The rungs run across the head. The high carbon core under it takes the edge and holds it. The etch runs to the edge with no bare bevel left showing. The head is 6.5 inches with a 4.5 inch edge, so the weight stays near your hand. The steel darkens with age and pits if stored wet.
The handle
Olive wood is dense and full of figure, dark streaks wandering through pale ground. A shallow groove is cut down the grip in a spiral, the wire is laid in and hammered until it fills the cut, then the grip is sanded back so brass and wood finish level. The eye is wedged. The handle is driven up from below, a wooden wedge spreads it tight against the steel in the top, then a steel wedge is set across. Nineteen inches keeps it one handed with the spiral under your fingers.
The leather head cover
Vegetable tanned leather, cut to this head's own outline and hand stitched, with a welt in the seam so the thread never lies on the edge. The face is cut, not stamped. Oak leaves with acorns between them, cut into damp hide with a swivel knife and worked with punches so the leaves stand off the ground. A snap strap shuts over the poll. It goes on dry, never over a wet head.
Who it suits
People buy this one with their eyes first and then find it works.
- Buyers who want brass and figure in a grip
- Anyone giving an axe as a gift
- People who like a spiral under the fingers
- Collectors who keep an axe out where it shows
What comes in the box
- The Damascus axe on olive wood
- The hand carved oak leaf and acorn cover
- A care card
- Free sharpening for life
Every piece is different
Olive wood is never twice the same, so the figure runs where the tree put it. No two handles read alike. The spiral is cut freehand, so its pitch wanders a little on each handle. The rungs in the etch land where the grooves were cut. Yours will not match the photograph.
Looking after it
Oil goes on the pattern once the head is wiped dry. The cover goes on dry. A new olive wood handle takes boiled linseed oil, three to five coats over as many days, then once a year, and the oil does the brass no harm. Never varnish it. Leave used rags flat and outside, because linseed oil in a crumpled rag can catch on its own. That page on care and sharpening has more.
Put a name on it
Laser work is 20 dollars a piece, picked here with the axe. About 30 characters go on, a name or a date. Letters go on the cheek, since a spiralled grip has nowhere flat for them. You approve a proof image first, which adds 3 to 5 business days. Ten or more and it costs nothing. The engraving page covers the rest.
Questions buyers ask
Does the brass stand proud? No. It is hammered into the groove and sanded flat, so you feel the line, not an edge.
Can the wire work loose? The cut is narrower at the mouth than at the bottom, so hammering locks the wire in. Keep the handle oiled.
Will the brass go dull? Yes, to a darker tone. Polish it back if you want it bright, or leave it to settle.
Is the head wedged or pinned? A wedged eye. Wood swells the haft into the eye and a steel wedge across it holds that.
Will it rust? It can. It is carbon steel under the etch. Keep it dry and keep it oiled.
How long does delivery take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.
Brass around the eye rather than down the grip is the rosewood axe with a brass collar, and the same ladder on a longer handle is the Damascus bearded axe on hickory. It sits in viking axes, etched steel in Damascus axes, older outlines in historical blades.