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Originally Posted by drac2k
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Can someone confirm that this is indeed a wood working ax ?
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nope. tho it could be used as such.
many soldiers battle axes were not only used as weapons, but as general tools around the camp. chopping wood, making defences, etc. the flat (or a poll) would be useful for driving in tent stakes, as well as for, as in agincourt, driving angled anti-cavalry stakes in front of archers. some of the designs were purely weapons of course, for the higher ranks i suspect.
soldiers hate carrying stuff they don't need, so why carry a tool axe AND a weapon-only axe if you do not have to. of course if you had a horse, you could have it carry & you'd likely have a groom or squire that would have a more general purpose axe. fixed defences like castles and walled cities also could have armouries with heavier more flamboyant non-tool axes. militia, and/or the levy of cannon fodder poorly trained troops would likely bring the axe or bill hook they used daily at home.
i doubt the cross was used as a nail-puller. more of a decoration.
woodworking axes tended to be well bearded, with enough room behind the beard to allow the hand to be choked up well behind the blade, for finer control. they of course could also be used as weapons.
carpenter's hewing axes can have the blade offset to one side or the other, off centre, chisel ground, to allow for easier squaring of the cuts when making square beams. less likely to be used as a weapon. sometimes even the handles are offset to the head to allow hand clearance when hewing the sides of larger objects while still presenting the edge parallel to the object...
anyhow, yours looks more like a general purpose weapon, an archer's axe or infantryman's. the handle looks a bit short & doesn't quite fit the head. i think it's a later replacement.