Norse Arms

What Norse arms covers

This is the hub for everything hafted. If a piece has a head on the end of a shaft, it lives here or in one of the sixteen categories beneath it. Hand axes, long axes, spears, polearms and blunt heads sit together because they share a problem swords and knives do not have: a head, a haft, and a joint between the two that has to survive being swung.

The Norse label is honest for most of it and loose for some. Bearded axes, Dane axes, Viking spears and Thor's hammers are Scandinavian shapes. Halberds, poleaxes, glaives and flanged maces are later medieval forms that grew out of the same problem, which is how to reach further than a sword and still hit hard. Tomahawks and felling axes are here because they are hafted, and because people looking for Viking axes swords and spears want to see them side by side.

Almost nothing in the Norse world was made for one purpose. The axe that split firewood in the morning went to the ship in the afternoon. That is worth remembering when you wonder what splitting axes are doing on the same page as Dane axes.

The families in this collection

Sixteen categories sound like a lot until you group them: hand axes, long axes, thrown pieces, working axes, pole mounted blades and blunt heads.

Bearded axes

The signature Norse shape and the largest category here. The beard is the hook of steel dropping below the eye. It lengthens the cutting edge without adding weight above it and leaves a gap you can choke up into for fine work. Sizes run 15 to 35 inches overall with 4 to 7 inches of edge from horn to beard, weighing 1 lb 10 oz to 3 lb 4 oz complete, on pale ash, dark walnut, birch, hickory or rosewood hafts, many leather or cord wrapped.

Battle axes and war axes

Broader heads with a deeper crescent, and on several pieces a spike or hammer poll on the back. They measure 16 to 34 inches overall with 4.5 to 10 inches of cutting edge at 1.75 lb up to 4 lb 8 oz. The heavier ones are wall pieces.

Dane axes

The two handed long axe of the huscarl, a wide thin crescent on a shaft you grip with both hands. Here they run 28 to 34 inches overall with 6 to 10 inches of edge at 2 lb to 4 lb 6 oz, hafted in American ash, usually dark stained and wrapped. The head is thin for its width on purpose, because a Dane axe was made to cut rather than to split.

Double headed and medieval axes

Twin bitted heads, 19 to 34 inches overall, one measuring 11 inches from horn to horn, at 2.5 lb to 4 lb 8 oz. The medieval axes are single bitted with steel langets down the haft, 20 to 50 inches overall with 9 to 10 inch heads. Langets are the giveaway of a later piece, since they stop a blade shearing the shaft.

Throwing axes and tomahawks

Light, plain, and sold in matched sets in some cases. Throwing axes here are 14 to 20 inches overall with 3.5 to 5.5 inches of edge, about 1.1 lb each across a set. Tomahawks run 14 to 20 inches with a 3.5 inch edge on a hickory or rosewood haft. Throwing pieces are consumables: they hit frames, bounce off stone and take dents.

Splitting and felling axes

The working end of the collection: 14 to 30 inches overall with 4 to 4.5 inches of edge, 1.5 lb to 4 lb 6 oz complete, hung on American hickory, ash or walnut. A splitting head is thick behind the edge so it wedges the grain apart. A felling head is thin so it slices across it. Using one for the other job is the fastest way to ruin an edge.

Viking spears

The most common piece in the Norse world and the cheapest to make, since a spear is a little steel on a long piece of wood. Assembled lengths run 60 to 74 inches, with one at about eight feet, and heads of 5 to 18 inches including the socket. Complete weights sit at 3 lb 2 oz to 3 lb 6 oz. Shafts are straight grained ash with brass or steel ferrules. Several heads are sold on their own.

Glaives and polearms

Single edged blades on a long shaft, 34 to 62 inches overall with 18 to 26 inches of blade, weighing 2 lb 4 oz to 5 lb 4 oz. Hafts are American ash or dark hardwood, oil finished, sometimes leather wrapped with a steel butt ferrule. A glaive is a big knife on a stick, and it reads that way on a wall.

Halberds

Three things on one head: an axe blade, a spike above it and a hook behind. Hafted pieces here are 60 to 66 inches overall at 5.2 lb to 6.2 lb, with 6 to 6.5 inch crescent blades. Several heads are sold without a shaft at 17 to 19 inches including the langets and 2.6 lb to 2.9 lb, drilled for through fixing and sized for a haft of about 1.25 inches.

Poleaxes

The knight's answer to plate armour. An axe blade or hammer face on one side, a spike on the other, a top spike, and steel langets riveted down the shaft. They run 33 to 58 inches overall with 5.5 to 6 inch cutting edges at 3.2 lb to 5.2 lb, hafted in American ash or walnut. This is the one piece here designed against armour rather than against a shield.

Maces

Flanged and knopped heads on a short shaft, 26 to 29 inches overall with heads of 5.5 to 7 inches and 3 to 3.25 inches across the flanges, at 2 lb to 3.6 lb. Hafts are rosewood, walnut or ash with polished steel fittings, and one is blackened steel throughout. A flange concentrates the blow on a narrow line instead of spreading it.

Thor's hammers

Hafted hammers with a Mjolnir profile, 15 to 24 inches overall, one with a head about 6 inches across, on walnut, ash or rosewood hafts, some leather wrapped, some with a collar at the eye. A few are pattern welded 1095 and 15N20.

Sizes and weights across the range

Every figure below comes from the specification panel of a piece in this collection. These are forged and hafted by hand, so read the ranges as what to expect.

The figure people misjudge is weight, not length. Four pounds on a 34 inch haft feels nothing like four pounds held close, because almost all of it sits at the far end. If you intend to handle a piece rather than hang it, take the lighter option.

Steel, hardness and how a head is hung

Heads are 1095 high carbon steel hardened to 54 to 58 HRC. A smaller run is 1095 and 15N20 forge welded Damascus at 58 to 60 HRC, etched so the layers read as light and dark bands. A few older listings state another grade in their own specification table, and that table is the accurate answer.

An axe head is hung one of two ways here. Most are wedge hung: the haft is driven through the eye, then a wooden wedge is driven into a saw kerf in the end grain, swelling the wood outward until it locks against the taper of the eye. Some add a steel cross wedge. Others are pinned, with a rivet through head and haft. Wedge hanging is traditional and can be redone if a haft needs replacing.

The eye of a hand forged head is not a machine cut rectangle. It is drifted, punched and then opened with a tapered tool, so it is slightly irregular and tapered from bottom to top. That taper is what stops the head leaving in the direction of the swing.

Hafts, wedges and looking after wood

Hafts are white ash, American hickory, walnut, birch, oak and rosewood. Ash and hickory are the working choices because they are tough along the grain and flex slightly instead of snapping. Walnut, birch and rosewood are chosen for colour and finish, which suits a display piece.

Look at the grain on the end of the haft when it arrives. Growth rings running roughly parallel to the blade are what you want on anything that will be swung. Wood shrinks and swells with humidity, so a wedge that felt tight in a damp month can feel loose in a dry one. Check the head before every use by tapping the butt on something solid, and if it shifts, stop and wedge it again. Keep hafts out of sun and away from radiators, and rub in boiled linseed oil once or twice a year.

Edges, sharpening and rust

A hand forged head arrives with a working edge and dulls with use. The tool is a file first and a stone second. Draw a mill file along the bevel at the existing angle, from the beard to the horn, then refine with a coarse and a fine stone worked in circles along the curve.

Never grind an axe on a fast dry wheel. Carbon steel at 54 to 58 HRC overheats at the thin edge long before you feel it in the head, and a blued or straw coloured edge has been softened and will not hold.

Rust prevention is a habit rather than a product. Wipe the head dry, leave a light film of oil on the steel, and store it out of a leather sheath if it will sit for months. Grey patina is harmless. Orange spotting lifts with fine abrasive and oil.

Display, throwing and the rules where you live

Long pieces want two mounting points and a wall that will take the load. Hang a spear or a halberd so the head sits above eye height and nothing sharp is at shoulder level. Support the shaft rather than the head, and never hang a hafted piece from the eye alone. For throwing, use a target of soft end grain wood rather than plywood, and clear a lane behind you as well as in front.

Ownership and carry rules in the United States vary by state and often by city. Axes are treated differently from knives in most codes, but not everywhere, and a long hafted piece in a vehicle attracts questions the same piece at home never would. Read our state by state summary first, and treat it as a summary rather than legal advice.

Engraving and gifting

Most heads and hafts here can be engraved after they arrive in the United States. The cheek of the head takes a stave or a knot, and the haft takes lettering along the grain. The marks asked for most are a name, a date, an Elder Futhark line, a Vegvisir and a Valknut. Elder Futhark is phonetic, so a name is transliterated by sound. Engraving is permanent and cannot be returned, so send the exact spelling.

Where these pieces are made

Everything here is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Finished pieces are imported to the United States, inspected by Ransack Viking in Memphis, Tennessee, and shipped from there, with engraving cut after arrival. Differences in grain, stain colour and forge finish between two pieces of the same name are normal.

Browse every category in this collection

• Bearded axes with the hooked Norse edge
• Battle axes with broad crescent heads
• Dane axes, the two handed long axe of the huscarl
• Double headed axes with twin bits
• Medieval axes with steel langets down the haft
• War axes with spiked and hammer polls
• Francisca axes, the Frankish throwing axe
• Throwing axes sold in matched sets
• Tomahawks with light heads and long hafts
• Splitting and felling axes for firewood
• Viking spears and loose spear heads
• Glaives and polearms with long single edged blades
• Halberds, hafted and as heads alone
• Poleaxes with spike, blade and hammer face
• Maces with flanged and knopped heads
• Thor's hammers on hafted shafts
• Viking axes, the whole axe range in one place
• Swords across every medieval and Norse type
• Viking knives and seax shapes
• Viking armour, helmets and shields
• Viking round shields for the wall

Guides worth reading first

• Viking axe history: bearded axes, Dane axes and how they were used
• How to choose a Viking axe: head, haft and what it is for
• The Viking spear: the most common arm in the north
• Mace vs war hammer vs flail: what each one actually did
• How to sharpen an axe, step by step with file, stone and strop