Damascus Viking Bearded Axe, 24 Inch Hickory Handle

Hold one in each hand and the difference turns up in the wrist before it turns up in the wood. Hickory is heavier than ash and stiffer with it, so more of the swing lands and less of it flexes away. That is the argument between the two woods. This one is 24 inches overall on hickory, the head Damascus over a high carbon core, with five inches of edge under the beard.

Specification

The head

Damascus is layers of steel forged into one bar. For a ladder the bar is cut across in grooves and forged flat again, so the lines lie in even rungs, and acid opens them out. The pattern is decoration. Under a raking light the rungs step across the head. Under it is a high carbon core, and that takes the edge. The etch runs to the edge with no bare bevel showing. Seven inches of head, most of it the thin beard below the eye. Bare carbon steel colours with work and spots if left damp.

The handle

Hickory is heavy for its size and stiff, so it hands the blow on rather than soaking it. Ash gives more and tires a hand less over an afternoon. Neither is better. Pick by how hard you swing and how long you work at a time. The eye is wedged. The handle is driven up through from below, a wooden wedge goes into the top to spread it tight against the steel, then a steel wedge crosses that. At 24 inches there is room for one hand or two.

The leather head cover

Vegetable tanned leather, cut to the outline of this head, beard and all, so nothing sits loose in it. A welt in the seam keeps the stitching off the edge, and it is stitched by hand. The face is stamped in a basket weave, one press at a time, with a snap strap to hold it shut. Put it on dry. Damp leather on an etched head is how a pattern ends up orange.

Who it suits

Most people arrive knowing they want hickory, usually because a handle let them down once.

• Buyers who want a stiff handle under a patterned head
• Anyone who found ash too soft for their swing
• People who like a beard on a longer handle
• Anyone giving an axe rather than using it

What comes in the box

• The Damascus bearded axe on hickory
• The stamped leather head cover
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

The rungs land where the grooves were cut, so no two heads read alike and the pattern runs its own way over the beard. Hickory varies as well, pale sapwood in one handle and browner heartwood in the next. Nothing here is repeated. Yours will sit close to the photograph without matching it.

Looking after it

Wipe the head down and leave a thin film of oil on the pattern. The cover goes on dry. A new hickory handle wants boiled linseed oil, three to five coats over as many days, then once a year. Never varnish it, and never soak a loose head in water. Oily rags lie flat outside, because a rag bundled up indoors can start a fire alone. The care and sharpening page has more.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving costs 20 dollars a piece. About 30 characters is the room you get, a name or a year. On an etched head it goes on the cheek where the pattern is quietest. A proof goes out before the laser runs, adding 3 to 5 business days. Order ten or more and there is no charge. The engraving page has the detail.

Questions buyers ask

Hickory or ash? Hickory if you swing hard and want the hit to land. Ash if you work all afternoon and want some of it taken back.

Does hickory last longer? Not really. Both fail in the same place, the top of the handle, and that is a miss not a wood.

Will the pattern wear off? The etch is in the steel, not on it. Sharpening takes it back at the very edge, which is normal.

What stops the head coming loose? A wedged eye. A wooden wedge opens the top of the haft against the eye, and a steel wedge sets across it.

Will it rust? It can. Plain carbon steel lies under the pattern. Wipe it down and leave oil on it.

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

The same head in plain steel is the bearded axe on ash, and for a shorter handle with brass in it there is the olive wood axe with brass inlay. It sits under viking axes, etched steel in Damascus axes, older outlines in historical blades.