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Post by Draven on Sept 12, 2017 2:56:45 GMT
Howdy folks, Almost 4 years back I bought a Cold Steel viking axe. I remember being quite taken with it at the time, but... times change. It was needlessly overbuilt and just too unwieldy. I've been pecking away at this for some time, tweaking here and there, but decided this past weekend to just go at it and make it the best approximation of a historical piece that I could. And here it is: The haft is ash, with the length taken from a find of a similar type of axe in Finland if I recall right. The top horn was shortened, the eye was thinned dramatically and also shortened while lengthening the langets a little. LOTS of angle grinder work. I didn't want to dedicate the time to hand polishing this, so I hit it with flap wheels, a scotch brite wheel, forced some corrosion and then went back to the scotch brite wheel. All in all, I'm very pleased with how it came out and it is finally a weapon I enjoy again, though still not perfect. The final weight for the head came in at 800g (~1lb 12oz) and total weight is 1390g (~3lb 1oz) - down from a whopping 4lb 10oz with hickory handle from Cold steel :eek: The haft length is 1.12m (44") with a cutting edge of 23cm (9"). I haven't quite decided what to do about the hole in the head - originally intended for a bolt, I used to rivet it but now would rather not do either. I would weld it if I had a welder, but for now I'm just leaving it. Pete
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Post by bigpete on Sept 14, 2017 9:17:58 GMT
Very nice Draven
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Scott
Member
Posts: 1,676
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Post by Scott on Sept 14, 2017 11:19:26 GMT
Nice work.
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Post by gruggier on Sept 22, 2017 21:50:04 GMT
I love it. Did you test it? Looks so much better but how does it handle? Awesome job just awesome!
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seth
Member
Just Peachy
Posts: 980
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Post by seth on Sept 26, 2017 15:29:06 GMT
Very nice. I ground quite a bit of material off mine too. For the holes in the head, I drilled out the 1/8" side so both holes were 1/4". Then I put a length of 1/4" brass rod through it and peened it flush to the head. I thought about using 1/4" steel rod which would have blended better but I like the look of bronze.
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Zen_Hydra
Moderator
Born with a heart full of neutrality
Posts: 2,632
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Post by Zen_Hydra on Oct 2, 2017 15:45:46 GMT
To deal with the holes, I would suggest looking at some decorative furniture tacks. Another interesting option would be drilling them wider and insetting shallow slices of a fancy mosaic pin.
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Post by g2knee on Oct 2, 2017 20:02:26 GMT
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