Damaged Boarding Axe?

mgolab · 12th June 2025, 12:07 PM

Thank you both for the responses. I received it yesterday. Definitely not a boarding axe, but fairly sure some type of weapon.

Hand forged steel. Handle is old, along with langets. Feels like a weapon in hand. Overall length is 18 inches. Length of head is 6 inches x 2.75. Overall weight is 1 pound, 3 oz. Blade is very thin.

The eye walls are too thin for a type of tool.

Found in Pennsylvania.

mgolab · 12th June 2025, 01:36 PM

I attempted to take a picture to show the thinnest of the blade.

M ELEY · 12th June 2025, 11:35 PM

The haft does indeed look very old. It could perhaps be a 'field piece', a primitive type spike axe/tomahawk. The langets not typical for -hawks, but there are so many variations based on the smith. It could still be a much earlier repurposed piece as well. I see what you mean about the thinning of the eye-

mgolab · 13th June 2025, 11:51 AM

Thanks again Mark for the comments. I found the attached image, No. 42, on the right, from the old book Armouries in the Tower of London. I though it bears some resemblance.

I gently cleaned the axe up a bit and, interestingly, the cutting edge and spike, appear to be forge welded in steel. The rest of the head what appears to be iron.

Curious piece, in my opinion.

mgolab · 13th June 2025, 01:28 PM

Also not sure whether this is a faded maker's mark. Hard to tell.

CutlassCollector · 13th June 2025, 04:23 PM

Yes, definitely looks more like a weapon with that thinness of blade, lightness helps with speed.
Fire axes/hatchets tend to be chunkier designed to break through doors or open up the roof to let smoke out. So, not a fire axe after all.

Normal, of course, to have a steel insert for the blade. Unusual that the spike maybe steel as well.

Sorry, can't help with the maker's mark.

12th June 2025, 12:07 PM	#1
mgolab Member Join Date: Jun 2023 Posts: 64	Thank you both for the responses. I received it yesterday. Definitely not a boarding axe, but fairly sure some type of weapon. Hand forged steel. Handle is old, along with langets. Feels like a weapon in hand. Overall length is 18 inches. Length of head is 6 inches x 2.75. Overall weight is 1 pound, 3 oz. Blade is very thin. The eye walls are too thin for a type of tool. Found in Pennsylvania. Attached Images

12th June 2025, 01:36 PM	#2
mgolab Member Join Date: Jun 2023 Posts: 64	I attempted to take a picture to show the thinnest of the blade. Attached Images

13th June 2025, 01:28 PM	#5
mgolab Member Join Date: Jun 2023 Posts: 64	Also not sure whether this is a faded maker's mark. Hard to tell. Attached Images

12th June 2025, 11:35 PM	#3
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,156	The haft does indeed look very old. It could perhaps be a 'field piece', a primitive type spike axe/tomahawk. The langets not typical for -hawks, but there are so many variations based on the smith. It could still be a much earlier repurposed piece as well. I see what you mean about the thinning of the eye-

13th June 2025, 04:23 PM	#6
CutlassCollector Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Scotland Posts: 355	Yes, definitely looks more like a weapon with that thinness of blade, lightness helps with speed. Fire axes/hatchets tend to be chunkier designed to break through doors or open up the roof to let smoke out. So, not a fire axe after all. Normal, of course, to have a steel insert for the blade. Unusual that the spike maybe steel as well. Sorry, can't help with the maker's mark.