Ashbite Hand Forged Viking Hand Axe with Struck Rune Marks | 15 Inch Ash Handle | Polished Bearded Head, Leather Edge Sheath and Pouch | Camp and Bushcraft Gift | RK-1817

Ashbite is a small hand forged Viking hand axe, sized for one hand and for real camp work rather than for a wall. The head is a compact bearded pattern with a short hammer poll behind the eye and three struck angular marks cut into the cheek in the Elder Futhark manner. The handle is pale ash with a swelled end so the axe cannot slide out of a cold hand, and it is hung with a wooden wedge and a bronze cross wedge. Stitched leather covers ship with it.

Axes of exactly this size are the commonest iron tool in the Viking archaeological record by a long way. Every farm had one and most graves that hold arms hold a small axe rather than a sword. That is not because Norse smiths could not make bigger heads. It is because a one to two pound head on a short handle splits kindling, trims a post, notches a rafter, butchers an animal and defends a doorway, and a large head does only the first of those well. The small axe was the pocket knife of the North.

Forged, ground, heat treated, hung and finished in the Czech Republic. It ships with a shaped leather edge sheath and a small stitched leather pouch, a light protective oil on the head and a care card. Free shipping within the United States and one to two weeks of processing. Kept with the bearded axes, and worth setting against the battle axes before you decide.

Specifications

How the head is hung and why it stays on

The eye of an axe head is not a straight hole. It is drifted to a shallow double taper, wider at the top and at the bottom than in the middle, so that a handle driven up into it and then spread cannot pull back out in either direction. The handle is cut with a kerf down the middle, driven home from below until the shoulder seats, and then a wooden wedge is hammered into the kerf to swell the wood sideways against the taper.

The bronze cross wedge you can see at the top goes in at right angles to the wooden one. It spreads the wood the other way and it does not shrink when the air dries out, which is the failure that loosens most axes. Bronze rather than steel because it will not rust inside end grain and split the head off in five years. This is the same method a Norse smith used and it has not been improved on.

The steel and the ash

The head is 1095 high carbon steel, forged, normalised, hardened and tempered to 54 to 58 HRC. That is a hair softer than a chisel and considerably tougher, which is what you want in a tool that meets knots and buried grit. The edge takes a stone easily and can be brought back in the field with a puck.

Ash is the traditional handle wood in northern Europe for two good reasons. Its long straight fibres run in bundles that absorb shock rather than transmitting it into your wrist, and it fails slowly and visibly rather than snapping without warning. We hang these on straight grained ash left bare and oiled rather than lacquered, because a lacquered handle raises blisters and hides the grain you would want to inspect.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this axe your line takes the place of the three struck marks on the cheek, or it can go on the ash handle or the leather sheath instead. See the engraving page.

Handling and use

A fifteen inch axe is a one handed tool and it should be treated as one. Choke up close under the head for carving, feather sticks and fine work, and hold at the swelled end for splitting kindling and light limbing. Keep the other hand and both knees out of the arc, because a short handle means a miss travels straight into your leg rather than into the ground.

The hammer poll is for wooden wedges, tent pegs and soft fasteners. It is not a substitute for a steel hammer and should never be swung against another hardened steel face.

Care

Dry the head after every use and wipe it with mineral oil or paste wax. Carbon steel picks up a light patina in normal use and that patina is protective, so do not scrub it back to bright unless you want to start the process again. Read the steel care page for how to deal with real rust if it ever appears.

Oil the ash handle with boiled linseed once or twice a year, more if the axe lives in a shed or a truck. Feed the leather sheath and pouch with a neutral balm and never dry them with heat. If the head ever feels loose after a dry winter, stop using it and send it back and we will rehang it.

Made in the Czech Republic

This is a handmade piece from the Czech Republic, made in a workshop that still forges, grinds and finishes by hand instead of stamping parts out. The smiths there have kept the older way of working, and the wood, horn and leather are shaped and fitted by hand as well. Two pieces of the same design will never be identical, and that is part of what you are buying.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We handle the import ourselves, look over every piece when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done in the United States after the piece arrives, so your design goes on before we send it out.

A note on handmade variation

This axe is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Ash is a natural material and its grain, colour and figure change from stave to stave, so some handles are near white and some carry brown streaks. The three struck marks are punched by hand and their spacing and depth vary. Hammer texture near the eye and the exact sweep of the beard differ slightly because a hand is doing the work. The leather takes its own tone. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not. We wrote up axe care separately, and there is a piece on the Viking axes worth a look as well.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp enough to use straight away

Yes. It leaves the shop with a working edge that will take a curl off a stick. It is not a razor bevel, because a razor bevel on an axe folds over the first time it meets a knot.

What do the three marks say

They are struck angular marks in the Elder Futhark manner rather than a translated word. If you want an actual rune line that spells something, use the rune converter and your text replaces them.

Can I throw it

We do not recommend it. Throwing puts the shock into the handle at the eye rather than through the grain, and repeated throws loosen a hung head. Throwing damage is not a defect and is not covered by the warranty.

Why is the wedge bronze rather than steel

Bronze does not rust. A rusting steel wedge swells inside the end grain over years and can split the handle from the inside, which is a slow and preventable failure.

Is the leather sheath fitted to this head

Yes, the edge sheath is cut and stitched around the head it ships with. The small pouch is a separate piece for a stone or a tin of wax.

How soon will it ship

One to two weeks of processing while the head is hung and cured, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• One Ashbite Viking hand axe on a pale ash handle
• Shaped leather edge sheath
• Small stitched leather pouch
• Protective oil film on the head and a care card
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See more in viking axes, bearded axes and axe handles and hafts, or read the guides on hanging and rehanging an axe.