Bearded Axes

What the beard actually does

Hold a bearded head side on and the shape explains itself. The edge sweeps down past the eye, so the steel hangs below the haft rather than sitting square on it. The Norse called this form the skeggox, and it turns up across Scandinavia and the North Sea trading world in sizes from small belt tools to heads a foot across.

Three things come out of that shape, and all of them are practical rather than decorative. Edge length is the first. A bearded head gives five or six inches of cutting edge for the weight of a compact head half as deep, because the beard is drawn thin. Grip is the second. The open crescent behind the beard lets you choke right up under the head and use the axe like a large knife for carving, shaping and fine splitting, which is why green woodworkers still buy the pattern. The hook is the third. A curved lower horn catches and pulls, whether that is the rim of a shield in a living history display or a branch you are dragging clear of a path.

Set against a straight felling head, a bearded axe is lighter in the hand for the same amount of edge and far better at controlled work close to the head. Set against a hatchet, it has more reach along the edge and more bite at the toe.

The sizes on this page

Overall length is the figure that changes how an axe behaves, more than head shape or steel. Three bands cover everything here.

Hand axes, 15 to 16 inches

One handed pieces with cutting edges around 4 to 4.5 inches. These are belt and pack axes. Listed weights sit near 1 lb 10 oz to 1 lb 14 oz complete, which is light enough to carry all day and heavy enough to bite. Several carry a squared hammer poll behind the eye for driving pegs and tent stakes. Hafts are pale ash, hickory or rosewood, some with a leather wrapped grip band.

Belt and camp axes, 19 to 22 inches

The middle of the range and the size most buyers end up with. Cutting edges run 4.5 to 5 inches, hafts are ash, birch, oak or dark stained hardwood, and the extra shaft turns the axe from a wrist tool into a forearm tool. A 19 inch axe at about 1 lb 14 oz splits kindling, limbs a fallen branch and still hangs on a belt without dragging.

Long hafted axes, 26 to 35 inches

Two handed pieces. Cutting edges here reach 5, 7 and in the largest heads 10 inches along the crescent, and complete weights run past 3 lb and up to about 4 lb 6 oz. The swing comes from the shoulders rather than the wrists. These are display and living history pieces first, and a 34 inch haft with an 11 inch head hanging on a wall reads very differently from a hand axe in a drawer.

Sizes, steel and weights across the range

Every figure below is taken from the specification panel of a piece on this page. Heads are forged and ground by hand, so read the numbers as what to expect rather than as a guarantee to the millimetre.

Two figures deserve a second look. Cutting edge is measured around the curve on a bearded head, so a 5 inch bearded edge covers less straight line width than a 5 inch felling bit. And listed weight is sometimes given for the head alone and sometimes for the complete axe, so check which one a product page states before comparing two pieces.

1095 and Damascus in an axe head

Two steels are presented as a house standard and no others. A few older listings state a different hardness in their own specification table, and where they do, that table is the accurate answer for that piece rather than the range quoted here.

Plain 1095 is a simple high carbon steel hardened to 54 to 58 HRC at the edge, with the eye and poll left softer so the head can take a hit without cracking. It takes a keen edge, files and stones easily, and forgives a beginner because you can feel the burr forming. It also rusts, and a head left wet overnight will show orange spotting by morning.

Damascus here is 1095 and 15N20 forge welded in alternating layers, drawn out, folded and acid etched so the nickel bearing 15N20 reads as bright lines against darker 1095. Hardened to 58 to 60 HRC, it holds an edge a little longer and takes a little more work to bring back. Most of the billet is still 1095, so it rusts on the same schedule and wants the same wipe and the same film of oil. Choose 1095 if the axe will be used hard and sharpened often. Choose Damascus if the piece is a gift, a display item or something you want to look at.

Hafts, hanging and fittings

Heads on this page are hung through a drifted eye and locked with a wooden wedge, and several add a steel cross wedge driven at right angles to it. That is the construction you want. A hung head tightens as the wedge compresses and loosens if the wood dries out, so keep an axe out of direct heat and away from a radiator over winter.

Haft timbers behave differently. Ash is the traditional choice, springy and straight grained, and it takes shock well. Hickory is denser and stiffer. Oak is heavy and hard. Birch is light and pale. Walnut and dark stained hardwoods are chosen for looks on the display pieces rather than for shock absorption. Several hafts carry a leather wrap, a cord grip or a brass or steel collar behind the head, which protects the shoulder of the shaft from an overstrike.

Brass fittings darken over months. A metal polish on a cloth brings them back in a minute, or leave them alone if you prefer the aged look. Leather edge covers arrive stiff and take the shape of the head over a few weeks.

Sharpening, rust and storage

A hand forged axe arrives with a working edge and will dull. For 1095 at 54 to 58 HRC, a bastard file followed by a round axe stone restores the bevel quickly, and a fine stone or a strop finishes it. Work with the curve, moving the contact point along the crescent from the toe to the beard rather than pushing straight across, because a flat stroke on a curved edge flattens the belly and ruins the geometry. Damascus at 58 to 60 HRC wants a stone rather than a file, and takes longer for the same result.

Rust prevention is one habit repeated. Wipe the head dry, leave a light film of oil on the steel, and do not store a carbon steel head inside a damp leather cover for months at a time. Leather holds moisture against steel, which is the most common way a well cared for axe still ends up spotted. Camellia, mineral or food safe oil all work. A grey patina is stable and does no harm.

How the bearded axe sits against the other Norse patterns

A bearded axe and a Dane axe overlap at the long end of this page. The Dane axe is the two handed form with a broad thin crescent on a shaft of three feet or more, built for reach. Several of the long hafted pieces here are effectively both, a bearded head on a Dane length haft.

A throwing axe is a different tool with a compact head, a plain edge and a haft meant to be replaced. A splitting or felling axe carries a thick wedge shaped bit that pushes wood apart instead of slicing it. A tomahawk has a light head and a friction fitted haft that drops out for replacement. If you want one Norse axe that looks right and works, the bearded pattern is the answer, and that is why it outsells the rest.

Engraving and gifting

Most heads on this page can be engraved after the axe arrives in the United States. Names, dates, rune lines and Norse symbols go onto the cheek of the head or the collar, which is the flat area a bearded profile gives you plenty of. Elder Futhark is a phonetic alphabet rather than a cipher, so a name is transliterated by sound, and there is no rune for the letter C.

Engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned, so send the exact spelling and read it twice before you order. A bearded axe with a date on the cheek is one of the few gifts that neither wears out nor gets put in a drawer.

Where these axes are made

Every head on this page 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 added after arrival. Head seating on the haft, the edge and the fit of the leather cover are checked before an axe goes out. Small differences in grind, etch figure and haft colour between two axes of the same name are normal, because two people made them on two different days.

Browse related axe categories

• Dane axes, the long hafted two handed crescent
• Battle axes across the Norse and medieval patterns
• Throwing axes built for target work
• Splitting and felling axes for firewood
• Tomahawks with light heads and friction fitted hafts
• Norse arms, the full range of hafted pieces
• Viking axes across every head shape we carry
• Axe handles and replacement hafts

Guides worth reading first

• What is a bearded axe and why the beard is there
• Battle axe vs bearded axe: two different jobs
• How to choose a Viking axe: head, haft and length
• How to sharpen an axe with a file and a stone
• Axe care: keeping a head tight, sharp and rust free
• Axe against hatchet, where the line actually falls