Hiya escapists.
I have a question for those of you who know something about axes.
Earlier today I went and bought myself an axe.
[sub]Yeah, I did edit the image a bit, only to counteract the shitty quality of my camera though.[/sub]
The thing is: I have no idea what kind of axe it is.
I mean, I figure it's a war axe of some kind, but the handle has some major curves, and the head does have a unique shape. Since I don't know much about axes, I was hoping one of you could help me out here.
Does the axe belong to any specific category of axes? Is there some category of axes that have this kind of curvy handle as the common denominator, or was the guy who made it just being creative?
Are axes with heads the shape of this one called anything in particular?
Tl;dr: What kind of axe is that in the picture?
Anything you might know will probably be helpful.
I have a question for those of you who know something about axes.
Earlier today I went and bought myself an axe.
[sub]Yeah, I did edit the image a bit, only to counteract the shitty quality of my camera though.[/sub]
I mean, I figure it's a war axe of some kind, but the handle has some major curves, and the head does have a unique shape. Since I don't know much about axes, I was hoping one of you could help me out here.
Does the axe belong to any specific category of axes? Is there some category of axes that have this kind of curvy handle as the common denominator, or was the guy who made it just being creative?
Are axes with heads the shape of this one called anything in particular?
Tl;dr: What kind of axe is that in the picture?
Anything you might know will probably be helpful.
So I talked to the guy who made the axe.
I'll try to explain what he told me.
The reason the handle has the shape it has is that the subject he made it from had roughly that shape, and he knew that this was a shape that worked.
The head is from a scandinavian two-handed war axe (The original handle was longer(duh) and curved backwards towards the wielder). He told me that he saw it at a museum in... Oslo, I think it was. When he then had made the handle, he figured that this axe head would suit that handle-shape; so he made a smaller version of the head and put it on there.
So, from what I gather, he didn't originally make this design with an express purpose in mind. However, he did tell me a little anecdote about this Swedish woodcarver-fellow whom he met one day. The Swede was in the business of making hand-made furniture; presumably the ornamental kind (he mentioned something about "using" the shapes of the wood in the furniture).
The Swede was interested in buying the axe, but he'd have to try it first to see if it was any good, so he went to the closest gas-station, bought a bag of firewood, and sat down and just carved for a really long time.
The Swede was happy with the axe (something about still being wieldy while holding it way up by the head.) and bought it.
Some time later (could be anywhere from some months to some years) the guy who made the axe got a phone-call. After managing to figure out what the caller was saying (Swedish dialect, you know) he gathered that the woodcarver wanted another, identical axe.
Unless I misheard him, the axe-maker has sold three axes of this kind to the woodcarver over the years.
In summary: The guy made a miniature version of a scandinavian war-axe head and stuck it on a sort of strange-shaped handle he'd made that he figured it'd look good on, and inadvertently made a carving axe. He then continued to make axes of this design.
[sub]Fun fact: An older relative of mine that came visiting today really liked it and went and bought one himself.[/sub]
Here is a search in Norwegian museums' databases. [http://digitaltmuseum.no/search?items_per_page=15&q=%C3%B8ks&commit=S%C3%B8k&also_without_pictures=1] With some luck, you might be able to find the axe he took the head from there (I recognise several of the two-handed axes he was selling.)
Some of my candidates:
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/stridsks/NF/NF.1992-1139?pos=566
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/thing/MH/SS-17673/image/63357
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/stridsks/NF/NF.1992-1122?pos=333
I'll try to explain what he told me.
The reason the handle has the shape it has is that the subject he made it from had roughly that shape, and he knew that this was a shape that worked.
The head is from a scandinavian two-handed war axe (The original handle was longer(duh) and curved backwards towards the wielder). He told me that he saw it at a museum in... Oslo, I think it was. When he then had made the handle, he figured that this axe head would suit that handle-shape; so he made a smaller version of the head and put it on there.
So, from what I gather, he didn't originally make this design with an express purpose in mind. However, he did tell me a little anecdote about this Swedish woodcarver-fellow whom he met one day. The Swede was in the business of making hand-made furniture; presumably the ornamental kind (he mentioned something about "using" the shapes of the wood in the furniture).
The Swede was interested in buying the axe, but he'd have to try it first to see if it was any good, so he went to the closest gas-station, bought a bag of firewood, and sat down and just carved for a really long time.
The Swede was happy with the axe (something about still being wieldy while holding it way up by the head.) and bought it.
Some time later (could be anywhere from some months to some years) the guy who made the axe got a phone-call. After managing to figure out what the caller was saying (Swedish dialect, you know) he gathered that the woodcarver wanted another, identical axe.
Unless I misheard him, the axe-maker has sold three axes of this kind to the woodcarver over the years.
In summary: The guy made a miniature version of a scandinavian war-axe head and stuck it on a sort of strange-shaped handle he'd made that he figured it'd look good on, and inadvertently made a carving axe. He then continued to make axes of this design.
[sub]Fun fact: An older relative of mine that came visiting today really liked it and went and bought one himself.[/sub]
Here is a search in Norwegian museums' databases. [http://digitaltmuseum.no/search?items_per_page=15&q=%C3%B8ks&commit=S%C3%B8k&also_without_pictures=1] With some luck, you might be able to find the axe he took the head from there (I recognise several of the two-handed axes he was selling.)
Some of my candidates:
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/stridsks/NF/NF.1992-1139?pos=566
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/thing/MH/SS-17673/image/63357
http://digitaltmuseum.no/things/stridsks/NF/NF.1992-1122?pos=333
