Splitting & Felling Axes

Why a felling head is thin and a splitting head is not

Wood does not resist an axe evenly. Across the grain it holds together and has to be severed fibre by fibre. Along the grain it is already half open and only needs to be pushed apart. Those are two different jobs, they want two different head shapes, and that is the whole reason axe patterns exist at all.

A felling head is thin behind the edge. The cheeks stay low and flat for an inch or more back from the bit, so the steel slices in and keeps travelling rather than stopping dead. Swung at a standing trunk it takes a clean chip out on every stroke. Put the same head into the end of a dry round and it buries itself, sticks, and leaves you levering it back out with your boot on the wood.

A splitting head does the opposite. It swells fast into a wedge, so the moment the edge is in the wood the cheeks start forcing the halves apart. It is poor at cross grain cutting for exactly the reason it is good at splitting. It stops early and spends its energy on friction.

The axes in this collection

Seven heads, hung on hafts from 14 to 30 inches. What separates them is length, whether the head carries one bit or two, and one piece that swaps plain carbon steel for pattern welded Damascus.

Short hafts and hand axes

The shortest piece here is a bearded hand axe on a 14 inch hickory haft, with roughly 4 inches of usable edge along the beard, satin flats and a bright edge bevel. A beard is the section of edge that hangs below the eye. It buys cutting length without adding head weight, and the hollow behind it lets you choke up and put a finger right under the head for close work. This is a camp axe. It limbs and points stakes, splits kindling well enough, and will not fell anything you would call a tree.

Above it sits a 20 inch hickory haft with a swell at the end and a lanyard hole, carrying a head of roughly 1.5 to 1.75 pounds with 4 to 4.5 inches of edge measured from the beard to the top corner. Overall it comes in near 20 to 21 inches. For anyone packing rather than working a woodlot, this is the most useful single axe on the page, because it is short enough to swing in one hand and heavy enough to mean it.

Full length felling axes

Two pieces sit at about 28 inches overall. The first is hickory hafted with a rounded bit of roughly 4 inches, a thin high cheek and a chased knotwork panel worked into the side of the head. The second has red enamelled cheeks with a polished bevel and horn tip, carries a head of about 2 pounds and about 5 inches of edge including the horn, and is differentially hardened so the bit runs 54 to 56 HRC while the body and eye stay softer.

There is also a felling axe on an American ash haft, left natural and unstained, with a single bit head that runs a thin high centreline into a bearded heel, polished cheeks and a bright ground bevel. Ash is springier than hickory and a little lighter for the same section. Some people prefer that on a long haft and some do not.

Double bit axes

Two axes here carry a bit at each end. The old argument for a double bit is simple. You grind one edge keen for clean wood and leave the other stouter for roots, dirty bark and anything you would rather not put a fine edge into, then swap ends instead of stopping to sharpen.

The plain steel double bit runs about 7 inches across both edges on a 30 inch dark stained hardwood haft of oval section, with a leather wrapped grip below the head, a brass collar at the eye and a head that is wedged and pinned. Complete weight is about 4 lb 6 oz, making it the heaviest piece on the page by a clear margin. Both cheeks carry acid etched knotwork and a rune band. That etch is a surface pattern in plain 1095 rather than pattern welded steel, and the listing says so plainly.

The Damascus head

One double bit head is forge welded Damascus of 1095 and 15N20, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC, layered and etched so the weld reads through the steel instead of sitting on the surface as a print. It is hung on a straight American walnut haft with a leather wrapped lower grip, a brass collar under the head engraved with an Elder Futhark line, and a brass valknut set into the cheek. One edge is ground keen and one is left stouter. At 289 dollars it is the most expensive piece here and the one most likely to end up on a wall.

Heads, hafts and lengths across the range

Every figure below comes from the specification panel of a piece on this page. Heads are forged and ground by hand and hafts are cut from natural timber, so read the numbers as what to expect rather than as a guarantee to the millimetre. Where a listing gives no figure, the table says so instead of filling the gap with a guess.

Picking a length you can actually swing

Haft length decides two things at once. It sets how much speed the head arrives with, and it sets how well you can place that head. Longer is faster and hits harder. Shorter is more accurate and much less tiring. Everything past that is preference.

A 14 inch haft is a one handed axe. Held near the end it works from a kneeling or crouching position for limbing and kindling, and it rides on the outside of a pack without anyone noticing the weight. A 20 inch haft is the awkward middle in the best sense. It is still swingable in one hand for someone with the shoulders for it, and it is far better with two hands on a stump.

At 28 to 30 inches you are into two handed work and standing timber. That length wants room around you and a clear arc, which is why a long axe is a bad idea in dense brush and a good one in a clearing. If you cannot take a full swing without touching a branch, you brought the wrong axe.

Steel and hardness

Two steels run through the range. The plain heads are 1095 high carbon hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, with one piece listed at 54 to 56 HRC at the bit and left softer through the body and eye. The Damascus head is forge welded 1095 and 15N20, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. Neither steel is stainless and both take a grey patina that does no harm.

Fifty something on the Rockwell scale sounds low next to a pocket knife at 60, and it is deliberate. An axe edge takes impact rather than slicing pressure. Hardened much past 58 an axe bit stops rolling and starts chipping, and a chip is far worse than a roll. A rolled edge comes back with a file in a minute. A chip has to be ground out and takes real steel with it. Axe makers have been landing in the mid fifties for a century for that reason.

Hafts, eyes and wedges

Three timbers appear across these hafts. Hickory is the standard, being dense and stiff and hard to break while still absorbing shock. Ash is lighter and springier, which takes some of the sting out of a bad strike. Walnut is the softest of the three and sits on the piece least likely to be swung at a stump.

The heads are hung on a drifted tapered eye. The haft is driven through from below, a wooden wedge is driven down into the kerf to spread the wood against the walls of the eye, and a steel cross wedge is set across that to lock the lot in place. Two pieces here add a brass collar at the eye, which is partly decoration and partly a guard against the top of the haft splitting.

Sharpening a convex bit

An axe bit is not a knife edge and does not want a flat bevel. The grind is convex, curving from the cheek down to the edge, and that curve is what stops the head wedging in the cut. Grind a flat bevel onto it and the axe will feel sharper for a day and cut worse for the rest of its life.

Use a file for shaping and a stone for finishing. A ten inch bastard file, pushed from the cheek toward the edge with the head clamped or braced, takes out dings and restores the profile. Files cut on the push only, so lift on the return stroke. Once the edge is even, a round axe puck follows the same curve and takes the file marks out, coarse side first and fine side afterwards.

Do not put an axe head on a bench grinder unless you know exactly what you are doing. It is the fastest way to burn the temper out of a bit, and once the hardness has gone from the first two millimetres of edge no amount of sharpening brings it back. Heat is the enemy. Hand tools are slow, and slow is what keeps the heat treat intact.

Rust, masks and storage

Both steels here are carbon steel and both will corrode. Wipe the head dry when you finish, leave a light film of oil on the bare metal, and keep it out of the cover if the axe is going away for months. Leather holds damp against steel, which is the usual reason a carefully kept head still comes out spotted in spring. Most pieces here ship with a fitted leather mask or edge cover, and it is for transport and dry storage rather than for a wet axe.

The haft wants attention too. Boiled linseed oil, wiped on thin and left to soak in, keeps the wood from drying out and shrinking away from the eye. Do not varnish a haft. A sealed handle looks smart, then blisters your hands, because varnish is slick when wet and it hides the cracks you need to be able to see.

Engraving and gifting

Most of the heads here can be engraved after they arrive in the United States. Names, dates and short rune lines go onto the cheek or the flat of the poll, and several pieces already carry chased knotwork, an Elder Futhark band or an inlaid valknut. 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 written by sound rather than letter for letter, and there is no rune for the letter C. Send the exact spelling you want and read it back twice, because engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned.

Where these axes come from and how they ship

Ransack Viking is a US company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Memphis. Engraving is done in the US after arrival.

How to choose

If you want one axe and you camp, take the 20 inch. It packs small, splits kindling and limbs cleanly, and it will handle a small standing tree if you are patient with it.

If you are cutting firewood from standing timber, take a 28 inch felling axe and accept that you also want a splitting maul for the rounds. One axe does not do both jobs well, whatever the sign on a hardware store rack says.

Browse related categories

• Bearded axes with the edge dropped below the eye
• Battle axes, lighter heads on longer hafts
• Dane axes, the long two handed Norse pattern
• Double headed axes across the wider range
• Throwing axes, light heads on plain hafts
• Tomahawks, the light American pattern
• Replacement axe handles and hafts
• Blacksmith tools for the shed

Guides worth reading first

• How to choose a Viking axe
• How to sharpen an axe with a file and a puck
• Axe care for the head, the haft and the edge
• How to remove rust from an axe head
• Damascus vs high carbon steel, and which to buy
• Steel and hardness explained
• Axe against hatchet, where the line actually falls