Hand Forged Long Hafted Viking Axe, 40 Inch Ash Handle

Working standing up is what a long handle buys you. Limbs off a trunk on the ground, brush at the edge of a field, anything low enough that a short axe puts you on your knees. This one is 40 inches overall on ash, with a 1095 high carbon head that is wide and thin rather than heavy. Laid on a table it takes up more room than people expect.

Specification

The head

The steel is 1095 high carbon, dark from the fire with the hammer marks in it and the bevel brought up bright. Eight inches of head carrying a seven inch edge, all of it drawn thin. That is the character of the piece. A compact head puts mass behind a short edge and drives it in. This one spreads the same steel across a long arc, so it comes through green wood quickly and does not sink far into hard seasoned timber. Speed instead of mass. Carbon steel greys as it works and rusts wherever water stands.

The handle

Ash is springy and light for its length, which matters at 40 inches, since a stick that long tires an arm before the head does any work. The eye is wedged. The handle is driven up through from below, a wooden wedge is set into the split in the top to spread it tight against the steel, then a steel wedge crosses that. Forty inches is two hands and full reach. The lower hand stays near the butt and the upper one slides down as the swing comes round.

The leather head cover

Vegetable tanned leather, cut to this head's outline rather than a shape that fits anything. A welt in the seam keeps the stitching clear of it, and every stitch goes in by hand. The face is stamped in a basket weave inside a stamped border, one press at a time. No two covers take the stamp quite alike. A snap strap holds it shut. It goes on dry, never over damp steel.

Who it suits

People underestimate 40 inches on a screen. Then it turns up and the hook it was going on is too small.

• Anyone clearing brush and light limbs standing up
• Buyers who want reach more than weight
• People with wall or rack space for a long handle
• Anyone who prefers a wide thin edge

What comes in the box

• The long hafted axe on its 40 inch ash handle
• The stamped leather head cover
• A care card
• Free sharpening for life

Every piece is different

Every head is forged and ground by hand in small runs. On a head this wide the hammer texture has room to wander and lands its own way each time. Ash is sawn from a board, so grain and colour shift between handles. What arrives will be close to the photograph, not a match for it.

Looking after it

Wipe the head dry and leave a film of oil on the steel. The cover goes on dry. A new ash handle wants boiled linseed oil, three to five coats over as many days, then once a year, and there is a lot of handle here. Never varnish it. Any rag with linseed on it lies flat outside, since a heap of them can start burning. Our care and sharpening page has more.

Put a name on it

Engraving is done with a laser at 20 dollars a piece. Thirty characters or so, a name or a date. A head this size gives the letters somewhere to go, out on the cheek clear of the bevel. A proof goes out before anything is burned in, so add 3 to 5 business days. At ten pieces the charge goes away. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

How much room does it need? Forty inches overall. Measure the wall or the rack before you order.

What does a wide thin head change? It cuts a long slice rather than a deep notch. Good in green wood, less use on seasoned stuff.

Is it a felling axe? No. There is not enough mass behind the edge, and we would rather tell you now.

Can the head work loose? It is a wedged eye. Wood spreads the haft tight inside the eye and a steel wedge is driven across to hold that.

Will it rust? It can. Dry the head, oil it, and never put the cover over wet steel.

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

Half the handle with a taller edge is the 20 inch broad axe on ash, and one you can swing single handed is the 24 inch bearded axe on ash. This one sits in viking axes, plain steel in carbon steel axes, older outlines in historical blades.