Pirate's Axe

[CNK1]

Hello everyone,

I'm clearly not an expert and this not in my (little) knowledge area but to me this axe looks to be german like the first of this page:

https://fr.pinterest.com/pin/68046644344684758/

So maybe this assumption could be a way to explore?

Best regards,
Clement

[kronckew]

i guess if you cut or broke the pointy ends off it you could make one like the subject axe, but that would hold for a lot of axe variants. german, scandi, russian is of course likely sources, but that covers a lot of ground too. i'm starting with an assumption the head was made like that and not salvaged from a broken head.

[Victrix]

I still think it looks E.European with some Germanic influence. Polish, Styrian (S.Austria), Saxon (perhaps used by settlers in Transylvania?). What's odd with it is the combination of decoration with martial style. Most war axes with wooden handles which I've seen have been undecorated tools intended strictly for business. They were probably not prestigeous and not carried by the wealthier warriors so there was little need to decorate the shaft.

[kronckew]

yes, who in their right minds would decorate a battle axe haft or blade?

your 'undecorated' ones prove your point nicely. just like these below:

(sailors especially have lots of time on their hands and can decorate the undecoratable. or noblemen, and officers who had underlings to do it for them)

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by kronckew

yes, who in their right minds would decorate a battle axe haft or blade?

your 'undecorated' ones prove your point nicely. just like these below:

(sailors especially have lots of time on their hands and can decorate the undecoratable. or noblemen, and officers who had underlings to do it for them)

I must confess to have no idea where the axe comes from. I was just pointing out that it's a fairly crude weapon akin to the bardiche. These were typically not very decorated and were presumably used by the less wealthy warriors. It seems to me that more Western European war axes/hammers had metal hafts whereas in E.Europe wooden hafts seemed more common, although of course it's difficult to generalize. The E.European wooden war axes/hammers that I saw often have undecorated hafts, although they are usually probably later replacements so difficult to know what the originals looked like! I'm not sure the axe in the post above is comparable to the Norwegian farmers's axes, although the bardiche as a weapon allegedly had Scandinavian origins. The decoration of the axe haft posted above does not seem particularly Scandinavian to me and, if anything, looks more Gothic in style. True, sailors seem to have a penchant for decoration so possible the axe was decorated by a bored one!

[Victrix]

I know this is a long shot but here we have a 17/18thC Hungarian flail. The wooden haft is decorated, and it has an interesting clip attached. Vague similarities with the “pirate’s axe.”

[CutlassCollector]

Hi Victrix,

Thanks for your input. Interesting flail and I'm not sure either what that hook is for. It does not seem to work well as a belt hook.
As for the axe blade - I think that will remain a mystery. Scandinavian or E. European are just as likely as each other. I favour the Scandinavian, only because of the greater sea going heritage.

Regards, CC