Bindwood Hand Made Hickory Axe Handle with Valknut Engraving | 19 Inch Bearded Axe Haft | Wooden Wedge and Tin of Finishing Wax Included | Norse Rehandle Gift | RK-1737

A replacement axe haft in close grained American hickory, shaped for a bearded or Viking pattern head, with a cut Valknut on the flat below the eye and a strong palm swell at the butt. It ships with the wooden wedge already cut to match the kerf in the top of the haft and a small tin of finishing wax, so everything you need to hang a head is in the box. The head itself is not included.

The Valknut is three triangles locked into each other so that no one of them can be lifted free without the other two. It appears on the Stora Hammars picture stones on Gotland and carved into a bed post from the Oseberg ship burial, and in almost every case it sits next to imagery of death, sacrifice or Odin. Nobody in the Viking age wrote down what it meant, so the name we use is a modern one, made from valr, the slain, and knut, a knot. Cutting it into an axe haft is an old fashioned thing to do and it suits a tool you intend to keep. This haft is sawn, shaped, engraved and finished in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

How an axe head is actually hung

A head does not stay on because it is a tight fit. It stays on because the wood inside the eye is being forced outwards against the walls of the eye by a wedge. The haft is cut a fraction oversized, rasped down until the top few inches slide into the eye from below and stop just short, and then driven home. The saw kerf in the top takes the wooden wedge, and driving that wedge splits the end of the haft apart from the inside and locks the whole thing.

The order matters. The haft goes in from the bottom, never from the top, because the eye of an axe is tapered and it is wider at the top than the middle. That taper is what makes the joint mechanical rather than frictional. Once the wedge is in, the proud wood and the proud wedge are sawn off flush and the end grain is sealed with oil or wax so it does not dry out and shrink.

Grain direction is the part people get wrong. Look at the end grain on the butt of the haft: the growth rings should run in the same plane as the bit of the axe, not across it. A haft hung with the rings at ninety degrees is far more likely to break, because you are asking the wood to flex across its weakest axis on every stroke. The other thing to look for is runout, which is grain that runs off the side of the haft rather than down its length. Every line of runout is a potential split. This haft is cut from straight grained stock with the rings oriented for the bit.

Hickory and why it is not varnished

Hickory is the standard for striking tool handles in North America for a reason. It is ring porous, which means each year of growth lays down a band of large open cells followed by a band of dense ones, and that alternating structure is very good at absorbing shock. It bends a long way before it breaks and it gives you warning when it is going. Ash behaves similarly and is the European equivalent. Neither one is chosen for looks.

This haft is sanded and waxed rather than varnished, and that is deliberate. A thick varnish or lacquer film does three bad things. It raises blisters on your hands because it does not let the wood grip. It cracks and lets water in under the film, where it cannot dry out. And it hides the grain, which conveniently hides runout and short grain from anyone inspecting the handle before buying it. A waxed haft shows you exactly what the wood is doing.

The tin in the box is a blend of wax and oil. Rub it in with a cloth, let it sit, and buff it off. Do this once when you first fit the head and once or twice a year afterwards, and pay particular attention to the end grain at both ends, because end grain takes on and gives up moisture far faster than the sides.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On a haft the usual placement is the flat below the eye where the Valknut currently sits, or down the side of the palm swell where a hand will feel it. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

Before you order, measure the eye of your axe head. Put a rule across the top opening and take the long dimension and the short dimension. Most bearded and Viking pattern heads sit somewhere around two and a quarter to two and a half inches long by three quarters of an inch wide, and this haft is cut to fit that family with material left on for fitting.

Expect to fit it. A haft that drops straight into an eye with no work is a haft that was cut too small, and it will not hold. The top few inches should need a rasp and a rough file to bring down, working a little at a time and offering the head up repeatedly until the haft passes through and the shoulder is close to seating. Take the wood off the flats first and leave the ends of the oval alone, since that is where the wedge needs material to push against.

The 19 inch length is a one handed working length, which suits a bearded axe used for carving, splitting kindling and camp work. If you want it shorter, cut from the butt and reshape the swell rather than trying to take length off the head end.

Care

Wax it when you hang it and once or twice a year afterwards. Keep it out of a hot car and out of direct sun, because heat drives moisture out of the wood, the wood shrinks, and a shrunken haft is a loose head. Store the axe head down or hanging rather than resting on the haft.

Check the head for movement every few weeks in the first season. If it starts to move, do not simply drive the wedge harder, because a wedge with nothing left to bite on will crush the fibres and make it worse. Take the head off, clean the eye, and rehang it with a new wedge. If the haft has been kept dry and waxed you should not need to do this at all. Never soak an axe in water to swell a loose head. It works for a week and rots the wood.

Made in Memphis

The stock is selected for grain, sawn, shaped, sanded, engraved and waxed in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. It is not a bulk import with a symbol burned on afterwards, and we do not send out a haft with runout in it because it looked fine under varnish. Each one is made when it is ordered, so allow one to two weeks of processing, and shipping inside the United States is free.

A note on handmade variation

This haft is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Hickory runs from near white sapwood to a warm brown heartwood and most hafts carry some of both, so the tone of yours and the exact place the colour changes will be its own. The grain pattern, the figure across the palm swell and the depth the wax pulls out of the wood all vary. The engraved Valknut is cut rather than printed, so its shadow reads differently on different grain. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is an axe head included

No. This is a replacement haft sold on its own, with the wedge and the wax needed to hang a head you already have.

Will it fit my axe

Measure the eye first. It is cut for bearded and Viking pattern heads with a standard oval eye and it is left oversized so you can rasp it to your own head.

Do I need special tools to fit it

A rasp, a coarse file, a mallet and a saw to trim the wedge flush. No specialist tooling.

Why is it not varnished

Varnish raises blisters, traps water under the film when it cracks, and hides grain faults. Wax lets the wood breathe and lets you see what you have.

Can I have runes on it instead of the Valknut

Yes. Your chosen text replaces the Valknut rather than sitting next to it. Use the rune converter above for Elder Futhark.

How long does shipping take

Processing is one to two weeks because each haft is selected and shaped to order, then shipping inside the United States is free.

What is in the box

• Bindwood hickory axe haft with a cut Valknut
• Matched wooden wedge, cut to the kerf
• Tin of wax and oil finish
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the timber selection, the shaping and the finish, with no end date and no receipt needed
• Made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the axe handles and hafts, the Viking axes, the bearded axes and the guides.