Mystery Axe

A. G. Maisey · 24th June 2020, 12:44 AM

To my eye this looks like a blacksmith's conversion of some sort of hammer head, or maybe recycling of a piece of axle.

The handle looks like it has been forge welded to the head.

The cutting edge is quite black, so maybe we're looking at a piece of steel inserted into an iron body. Can you see a joint? Inspection under magnification can assist.

Is there an eye in the head to take a timber handle? Maybe filled with a separate piece of metal? If not, then maybe its not a hammer head conversion, but that handle does look like a forge weld to the head, so it cannot be very recent, unless its a hobbyist's work.

I don't know about a war axe, I'd say something more like a case-makers hatchet.

24th June 2020, 12:44 AM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	To my eye this looks like a blacksmith's conversion of some sort of hammer head, or maybe recycling of a piece of axle. The handle looks like it has been forge welded to the head. The cutting edge is quite black, so maybe we're looking at a piece of steel inserted into an iron body. Can you see a joint? Inspection under magnification can assist. Is there an eye in the head to take a timber handle? Maybe filled with a separate piece of metal? If not, then maybe its not a hammer head conversion, but that handle does look like a forge weld to the head, so it cannot be very recent, unless its a hobbyist's work. I don't know about a war axe, I'd say something more like a case-makers hatchet.