Spike Tomahawks

M ELEY · 22nd July 2023, 04:03 AM

Sorry. I missed your response earlier. On the haft on my example, I feel that it is fairly contemporary or at least an early replacement. I confess I've studied the heads of these axes for a while, but know very little on the particular woods used for the hafts. For instance, I was convinced a pike I own had a shaft of wormy ash based on the tiny larva holes...until I learned that there is also wormy oak, wormy elm, etc. Dope! That being said, your haft does seem to reflect some age, perhaps replaced around the turn of the last century. I've read that soem of these axes were taken by Native Americans serving in WWI to act as trench axes, so hafts were sometimes replaced specifically for that period.

22nd July 2023, 04:03 AM	#16
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	Sorry. I missed your response earlier. On the haft on my example, I feel that it is fairly contemporary or at least an early replacement. I confess I've studied the heads of these axes for a while, but know very little on the particular woods used for the hafts. For instance, I was convinced a pike I own had a shaft of wormy ash based on the tiny larva holes...until I learned that there is also wormy oak, wormy elm, etc. Dope! That being said, your haft does seem to reflect some age, perhaps replaced around the turn of the last century. I've read that soem of these axes were taken by Native Americans serving in WWI to act as trench axes, so hafts were sometimes replaced specifically for that period.