Viking/Norman small axe?
 

i don't think so!

steel head, chrome or nickle plated steel with visible forge marks, 5 in. edge, 19 in. handle. reenforcing 'languet' spur on rear of the head. wood handle tapers to get wider at the top over the head. wood appears to be stained/laquered. 580 grams total weight.

bit rusty. will clean & oil it shortly.

found it on ebay thought it was a nice modern repro throwing axe.

not so sure now that it has arrived. it looks antique to me now. the stamp on the right side is intriguing and why i posted it here. it's in an arabic script. is it perhaps turkish?

Hi Kronckew
That's a good way to fix an axe head - no splitting of wood and not much chance of it flying off. The turned down spike is unusual - I thought belt hook at first but its too sharp and not in a good place for hooking on a person. CC.

i have a dane axe made by paul binn. it has a considerably larger head on a 5 foot haft and is similarly tapered fat end up by the head. 'cold steel' tomahawks are also made this way. the more modern top down with a split end tightened by a wood or steel wedge is used on many wood axes, but to me is an inferior way to do it, as the head can indeed fly off if it is not done correctly and gets a bit loose...

the 'spike' lays flush against the wood, it's designed to take the torque (vertical twisting force) when the head hits something. the apparent gap is a lighting artifact. it can't 'hook' anything

here's a similar re-enforcing 'spike' both above and below centre on a repro russian axe:

Relatively modern Afghan axe. Script is Arabic.

good, paid next to nothing for it.

thanks for the info.

Modern or not, it's a nice piece. Several years ago, a returning GI offered two of these with replaced metal handles on ebay. (Wish I'd have bought them) He said they kept them in their Hummer. If the residents wouldn't cooperate while doing a house search, all he had to do, was go outside, and return with an axe in hand. Being a blade oriented society, the axe commanded much more respect, than the M4. Cooperation was immediately achieved. And no, I'm not trying to glorify what goes on in Afghanistan. Just relaying an interesting story.

i remember seeing (and bidding on) them. had some brass inlays if i recall. i did not win them either.

i heard a similar story from an american. the locals didn't take them serious until the command to 'fix bayonets'. he mentioned taking out a large bowie to clean his fingernails always made the locals more cooperative.

..and last century, the sultan of brunei went away on holiday, the local marxists decided it was a good time to be more revolting than usual, so they started their normal method of polite democratic persuasion - rioting, arson, murder, looting, rape, etc.

the sultan called his guard, two helicopters of gurkhas arrived, a few hours later. revolution over. the gurkhas had lined up if front of the rioters, drew their khukuris, and most of the commies suddenly decided they were really loyal subjects of his majesty the sultan and had other appointments to attend. those few remaining hard core soon got the point tho - or maybe the edge.

there was, of course, more to it than that, and a bit more combat in other places, but it was all over in short order.


...and the bean counters say that edged weapons have no place in modern combat. they, of course, have never been somewhere you needed one.

just had a reply from an email i sent the vendor suggesting the axe was likely afghani. he has replied that that may be correct, he got the batch from south asia.

p.s. - he had a sort of bearded/goose wing poll axe also for sale that i bid on and also got for the minimum price. ;) will see if it too has a cartouche when it gets here. this one has a more western haft with the blade set to the top & secured with a wedge.

A friend has been bought to my attention that these are from the Maldives and the script is the native Dhivehi language.
They are being sold in volumes in the UK and he has quite a few different ones.

Gavin

good thing they're quite cheap then. i won't mind throwing them about. still nice looking axes. my collection is a bit eclectic. i like users as well as antiques.

might strip the gunk off the wood hafts tho. wonder what kind of wood it is.

the vendor did have a fairly assorted batch of them. besides old tools, he also sells casting nets. hadn't seen them on epray b4. :)

edited:

the vendor just sent me another email. he says simply that "the language is urdu"

this makes the 'afghani' description more likely. urdu is of course spoken in no. pakistan where a lot of arms are made for the afghanis.

hard to pin these down as they have a lot of wiggle room.

Salaams kronckew,

This is Punjabi ...Not Urdu ... It says Asif Iqbal(the maker) and Kujera Waala ( a district of Punjab.) :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

ah, i've been hoping you'd comment!

شكرا لك يا سيدي
which hopefully says 'thank you, sir'

Salaams kronckew My chief accountant who is from that region and is sitting opposite says "thank you very much" ! :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Punjab has some area in modern Afghanistan. The blade is actually slightly wider than common Afghani axes, but the overall appearance is alike, including the back strap.