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This page is empty at the moment. Rather than pad it with figures that describe nothing we actually stock, everything below is about the form itself and where to look instead. If you came here for something to throw, the throwing axes page is the live category, and the bearded axes page is the largest axe collection on the site.

We would rather say that plainly than waste your time scrolling.

The axe you can identify by its outline

Most early medieval axe heads look broadly similar until you learn to read them. The francisca does not. The top edge of the head rises off the haft, arches back and then curves forward again into the toe, giving a pronounced S profile along the spine. Below that the cutting edge sweeps in a continuous arc, deepest at the front. The eye sits at the narrow end where the head meets the haft. Put a francisca head beside a bearded axe head and nobody will confuse them twice.

The other defining feature is what is missing. There is no beard, no long straight edge and no broad flat face. The head is compact and light by axe standards, and the haft that goes with it is short. Every one of those choices exists because the axe was designed to be thrown, and a heavy head on a long handle is difficult to throw accurately at any distance.

The head is also asymmetric front to back in a way that photographs flatten out. Seen from above, the eye is a narrow oval and the cheeks flare away from it toward the edge, so the head is thin where it grips the haft and thicker where it meets the target. That is standard axe geometry, but on a head this compact you can take all of it in at once.

Isidore of Seville, writing in the seventh century, gives us the name. He records that these axes were called franciscae after the Franks, which is the sort of etymology that gets repeated confidently in both directions. Whether the axe was named for the people or the people took a name connected to the axe is not settled, and anybody who tells you otherwise is filling a gap with confidence.

Why the curve matters in flight

A thrown axe rotates. That is unavoidable, and it is the central problem of throwing one, because the axe only bites if the edge happens to be facing forward at the moment it arrives. Get the distance wrong by a foot or two and the head arrives flat or spine first, and nothing happens.

The francisca profile softens that problem. Because the cutting edge sweeps through a long arc rather than sitting on a short straight line, there is a wider window of rotation in which some part of the edge is presented to the target. It does not eliminate the distance problem, and no shape does, but it widens the margin, which matters a great deal when the person throwing is moving and the target is not obligingly standing still.

The second effect is what happens on a miss. A short light axe striking ground or a shield edge tends to bounce and tumble rather than stopping dead, and it carries on in a direction nobody can usefully predict. Procopius describes Frankish soldiers throwing at the opening of an engagement to break up shields before closing on foot, and a volley of tumbling axe heads arriving at a shield wall would have been genuinely difficult to plan for.

Reading the shape

Since there is nothing on this page to measure, what follows describes how the form differs from the axe patterns we do carry. Every one of those live categories is linked below if you want to compare.

Feature On a francisca On a bearded or Dane axe
Spine profile Pronounced S curve, arching up off the haft then forward into the toe Straight or gently curved, running roughly parallel with the haft
Cutting edge Continuous sweeping arc, deepest at the front Long and comparatively straight, often with a beard hanging below
Head mass Light and compact Heavier, with mass concentrated behind the edge for chopping
Haft Short, sized for one hand and for release One handed at 19 in and up, two handed on the longer patterns
Beard None The defining feature of the bearded pattern
Intended use Thrown Held, swung and recovered

The row that decides everything is the last one. A thrown axe leaves your hand, which means light beats heavy, short beats long, and a forgiving edge geometry beats a specialised one.

Where the finds come from

Franciscas turn up in quantity in Merovingian Frankish cemeteries across what is now France, Belgium and western Germany, generally in the fifth to seventh centuries. They also appear in Anglo Saxon graves in England, which is one of the more interesting things about them, because it tells you the form travelled across the Channel with people rather than staying put with one group.

What the grave finds do not settle is how the axes were actually used in the field. A head buried with somebody tells you they owned it. It does not tell you whether they threw it, carried it as a general purpose tool, or wore it as a mark of status. Procopius gives us the throwing account and he is a good source, but he was a Byzantine writing about people at a distance, and historians argue about how much of the detail is observation and how much is expectation.

The honest summary is that the shape is unmistakable, the distribution is well documented, and the throwing use is well attested but not the whole story. That is more than we can say about most early medieval objects.

Throwing one, if you ever do

Everything about throwing an axe comes down to distance and rotation. The axe turns a fixed number of times per throw for a given release, so the target has to be standing where the edge happens to be forward. That means you do not adjust your throw, you adjust your feet. Find the distance where one rotation lands the edge, mark it, and walk to it every time.

Grip near the end of the haft and release with the hand open rather than flicking the wrist, because a wrist flick adds rotation you cannot measure and cannot repeat. Throw from the shoulder with the arm straight and let the axe leave when it wants to. Consistency is the entire skill.

Set the target board well clear of anything you value, stand behind the throwing line rather than beside it, and never walk forward to collect an axe while somebody else is still holding one.

Throwing is hard on a haft. Every miss puts the handle into the ground or the backboard, and hafts on throwing axes get replaced far more often than on any other pattern, which is why our axe handles and hafts page exists. Our guide to axe throwing for beginners covers the rest, including how to set up a target safely.

Steel and hardness, when we list one

We use two steels and there is no third. Plain 1095 high carbon is hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, which is the range that lets an edge take an impact and roll rather than chip. Damascus of 1095 and 15N20 is forge welded and acid etched, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC, which holds an edge longer and carries a pattern.

For anything thrown, the lower hardness is the right answer and it is not close. A thrown axe hits wood, ground, stone and the edge of a target board, and at 58 to 60 HRC a hard edge meeting a knot or a nail chips rather than deforms. A chip has to be ground out. A rolled edge comes back with a file in two minutes. Our steel and hardness page explains what an HRC figure measures.

Hafts, eyes and hanging a head

A thrown axe head must be hung properly or it comes off, and a head that comes off mid throw goes somewhere nobody chose. The wooden wedge is driven into the kerf at the top of the haft, spreading the tongue of wood sideways against the walls of the eye, and steel cross wedges go in afterwards at an angle to spread it front to back. Wooden wedge first, always.

Check the head before every session by holding the haft and pushing the head sideways. Any movement at all means stop and rewedge. That advice matters more on a throwing pattern than on any other axe we sell, for reasons that should be obvious.

Hafts want oil rather than varnish. A film finish cracks, wears through and traps moisture underneath, and it also makes the haft slippery, which is the last thing you want on something you are releasing deliberately. Our axe care guide covers the routine.

Care and rust

Neither of our steels is stainless. Wipe the head after a session and leave a light film of oil on it, particularly around the eye where water sits and where nobody thinks to look. Grey patina is stable and harmless. Orange spotting lifts with fine abrasive and oil, and our guide to removing rust from an axe covers the method.

Sharpen with a file and a stone rather than a grinder. A powered wheel takes the temper out of a thin edge faster than most people expect, and once the hardness is gone from the first millimetre of steel no amount of sharpening brings it back. Our guide to sharpening an axe covers the angles.

Engraving

Axe heads take engraving on the cheek, and hafts take it below the eye. Names, dates and Elder Futhark rune lines are the usual requests, and it is done in the US after a piece arrives. Text engraving is 19 dollars, a symbol is 39 dollars and a family crest is 49 dollars.

Elder Futhark is a phonetic alphabet rather than a cipher, so a name is transliterated by sound and not letter for letter, and there is no rune for the letter C. Read our guide to the runes before deciding on wording. Engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned, so send the exact spelling and check it twice.

Where our pieces come from

Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. Our axes are forged, ground, hung and finished by hand in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. Engraving is done in the US after arrival.

Because heads are forged one at a time, small differences in profile, grind and haft colour between two axes of the same name are normal and expected.

What to look at while this page is empty

If you want something to throw, go to throwing axes, which is the live category built for exactly that. If it is the early medieval profile that appeals rather than the throwing, bearded axes is the largest collection here and the closest in period. If you want reach and mass instead, Dane axes and battle axes are the pages to open.

Browse related categories

Guides worth reading first

Frequently asked questions

What is a francisca?

The throwing axe of the Franks, used across the fifth to seventh centuries. It is identified by a pronounced S curve along the spine, a cutting edge that sweeps in a continuous arc, a light compact head and a short haft. Nothing else from the period looks like it.

Where does the name come from?

Isidore of Seville records that these axes were called franciscae after the Franks. Whether the axe took the name from the people or the connection ran the other way is not settled, so treat any confident answer with suspicion.

Were they really thrown?

Procopius, writing in the sixth century, describes Frankish soldiers each carrying an axe and throwing them at the opening of an engagement to break up shields before closing on foot. Grave finds confirm how common the form was, though a buried head cannot tell you how its owner used it.

Why is the head curved like that?

Because a thrown axe rotates, and it only bites if the edge is facing forward when it arrives. A long sweeping arc of edge presents some cutting surface across a wider window of rotation than a short straight edge does, which widens the margin for error on distance.

Why is nothing listed on this page?

Because we have nothing to list at the moment, and padding the page with invented figures would help nobody. The throwing axes page is the live category for anything meant to be thrown.

What steel would one be made in?

Plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC, and that is not a compromise. For anything thrown, the softer range is correct, because a hard edge meeting a knot chips and has to be ground out, while a softer edge rolls and comes back with a file.

How often will I replace the haft?

More often than on any other pattern. Every miss puts the handle into the ground or the target board, and throwing axes go through hafts steadily. Buy the replacement with the axe rather than a month after you need it.

Where are your axes made?

Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. The axes are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago, with engraving added in the US after arrival.