High carbon steel is what an axe head should be made of, and 1095 is the honest version of it. Around one percent carbon, nothing clever added, hardened to 54 to 58 HRC. That leaves a head tough enough to take a knot without chipping and soft enough to bring back with a file in the field, which is the trade every working axe has to make.
From a throwing set to a 34 inch war axe
The small end is a set of three throwing axes at 15 inches overall with 3.5 inch cutting edges, sold together because throwing one at a time is a slow afternoon. Then come the working heads: a bearded axe at 19 inches with a 4.5 inch edge, a battle axe at 21 inches with a 5 inch edge on a pale ash haft with straight grain and an oil finish, two 19 inch oak hafted pieces with a vegvisir etched head and an etched coiled serpent, a Native American style tomahawk on hickory, and a war axe at 28 inches with a 6 inch edge. A double headed axe at 28 inches carries twin 4.5 inch edges on a light wood haft with a dark leather wrapped grip. The top of the range is a runic bearded war axe at 34 inches overall with a 10 inch cutting edge on a dark leather wrapped ash haft, offered plain, with a rune carved wall mount, or with a rune carved presentation box that takes the 34 inch axe in a 38 inch case. Prices run from 165 dollars to 795 dollars.
What the hardness means in the hand
Fifty four to fifty eight is not a compromise, it is the right answer for a head that meets wood and occasionally stone. Our page on steel and hardness explains why a harder edge is the wrong choice on an axe. If the throwing set is what caught your eye, read our beginners notes on axe throwing before you drive anything into a fence, and the purpose built throwers are in throwing axes. The heavy heads are in war axes.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in North Babylon, New York. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from New York. Engraving is done in the US after arrival: text 19 dollars, symbol 39 dollars, family crest 49 dollars.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
