Axes and Hatchets.

Ok, the first thing to do is gather the supplies....

Understand of course, that these supplies will yield *several* axes of different types....and that each axe won't require all of these supplies. For a list of required supplies for each specific axe, I suggest you read through the section for that axe and gather what you might need.

Let's start off with a very simple brass "self-axe".

A "self-axe" is any sort of axe that's made up of just a simple blade that's either used as is or tied or glued to a handle shaft in some way. Most self-axes are very early designs but the idea is still in use today in the form of military-issue or civilian survival equipment. An "eye-axe" is any of the later designs that had an eye for slipping a shaft through for the handle.

Slice a rifle shell casing off at the base with your dremel and then up one side and beat it out flat on your anvil. Notice how the base-end of the shell is thicker than the shoulder and throat....you'll want to use the thicker end as the back-side of your axe blade. If you bought the brass sheet from your local hobby shop, skip the shell casing steps. Once it's flat, let's mark and cut a 1 inch diameter circle from it.

I personally prefer shell casings or even "shim" brass for these due to the thickness and taper, but flat sheet is perfectly fine.

Next step is to cut it like this....that's one straight cut across the top then a second 1 inch diameter circle on the lower edge of our brass disk then cut/file the back edge flat.



Use your files to smooth all the edges down but don't sharpen it yet.

The next step is simply to slot one end of a 4 inch length of our wooden dowel for the axe to slip into and then glue/tie it into place.

Add some wrapped thread or linen cord for decoration on the handle and you're done.



To upgrade that axe a bit, we can use our dremel and files to open a single slot in the axehead to make tying easier and neater.



Our next upgrade is to cut a 1/2 inch length of 1/8 inch brass tubing or cut the base off of a .22cal shell casing, then use your razorsaw or dremel to *carefully* make a slit right up one side of the brass tubing.

In this case, brass tubing is your best bet because you can get tubing with different wall thicknesses whereby the .22 shell casings are a bit thin for some axes.

Next, we slot one end of our wooden dowel (a piece about four inches long again) to accept the axe blade we cut. Don't glue it into place yet since you still need to test fit all the pieces. Next, with the axe blade in the slotted dowel end to force it open, carefully file/taper the end of the dowel back down to round so you can slip the slitted brass tubing down over the axehead with a perfect fit.



File the brass tubing down so its ends are even with the upper and lower edges of the axehead, then fit it all back together and cyanoacrylate it all together. Last step is to sharpen it with files and sandpaper and wrap the handle with some cotton craft string or thread and polish/stain it all.

Those look far better if you leave them unpolished and they get better looking as they build up a patina. Remember, you can blacken brass with an ammonia dip if you like the black look. This axe design we've been working with so far is a "viking bearded axe" style but it makes a great medieval axe, tomahawk, and hatchet if you vary the sizes a bit.

Congrats on your first axe or axes whichever the case may be!

Next one, let's do the same design with a nickle-silver blade and a piece of chromed antenna instead of the brass tubing. Try leaving the bottom end of the tubing a bit longer and filing it into a spiked shape like these....and use craft pins for rivets. Both are historically accurate.

Here, again, I prefer hammer-beaten nickles for the thickness and taper but nickle-silver sheet is perfect, too.



Our next axe will be the same basic design but upgrades the tubing step to cut and bent sheetmetal that's then soldered.

Start off with the 1 1/2 inch circle axehead as in the previous steps and then cut a 1 inch long strip of sheetmetal that's just a hair wider than the axehead is tall just like the tubing from the previous project.

Next, bend that strip of metal around a drillbit of the exact same diameter as your wooden dowel and crimp it down tight with some pliers. This step can take a bit of time and effort until you get a bit of practice at it....but trust me, it gets easier the more of them you do.



Next step, solder the axehead between the ends of the bent/crimped metal strip and then file everything down smooth. You can drill through the strip/axehead and add craft pin rivets or use your dremel/sandpaper to taper the soldered strip down the blade for a forged look.

You can do a double-bitted axe by making two blades and soldering/riveting on two strips instead of the one band-shaped one....just solder/rivet them to each side of the axehead.



Makes a great fantasy-type axe but none in real life that I know of looked like that. As always, use your imagination on the blade design!

Our next one is another step upward to make a medieval battleaxe.

Start off with a 1 inch nickle-silver disk again and cut it like this. That's two 1/2 inch diam circle cuts on the top and bottom and then file/cut the back edges flat.



Medieval battleaxes were small-bladed axes so we use the 1 inch diameter blade for a 1/6 scale 6 inch blade. Change the measurements to suit yourself, of course.

Next, cut and bend a 1 inch strip of nickle-silver around a drillbit exactly as before and solder/rivet it to the blade. Remember, you can add whatever filework you want to the band....it's all up to you how it looks. I just drew these as squared off because they're easier to draw that way.



Next, carefully drill a 1/8 inch diameter hole centered in the back side of the band....or use a drillbit that perfectly matches the diameter of your coathanger wire. Drill it about halfway through the wood dowel handle.

Next, we take a 2 inch length of your 1/8 inch diameter wire or your coathanger and chuck it in your dremel and taper 1 inch of it down to a spike and cut it off at approximately 1 1/8 inch long. Glue that into the hole you drilled in the band. You want the spike to be as close to one inch as you can....or if you changed your sizes, as long as the axe edge is from the handle to make sure it's balanced.



The last step up for medieval battleaxes was the addition of a steel shaft instead of the wooden one. We can make that from our 1/8 inch steel wire or coathanger.

Make your blade and spike exactly as before....but the band, fold and crimp it around a 1/8 inch diameter drillbit instead of the larger one we've been using. Solder it to your blade exactly as before and center and drill your hole in the back of the band.

For the handle shaft, cut a 5 inch length of your 1/8 inch wire and chuck and turn the back end to a shallow-angled point as in this picture. Next, use your dremel to cut a notch exactly halfway through it as in this same picture. The notch is where your spike will glue when we assemble it all.



Next, we wrap some leather thong around the shaft and soak it in some cyanoacrylate to make it permanent....then trim that leather tube down to 3/4 inch long and slip it off the handle.

To assemble the handle, we slip a 3/8 inch diameter washer (1/8 inside diameter) onto the shaft, then slip the leather grip we just made on, then one more washer and cyanoacrylate them all in place. To finish the axe, we slip the head on and glue the spike in the notch (it may need filing to fit snugly).



To be continued....


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