Why People Enjoy Collecting the Viking Axe

There are many reasons why someone would want to own a Viking axe. These ancient tools of battle were an early attempt at pole arms and were used to devastating effect by wood cutters, hunters, and Vikingr alike. There are many pop-culture references to these axes being gigantic two-fisted things with twin blades larger than a man's chest is broad.

The Viking Axe in Myth and Fact:

Myth: A Viking axe is a large weapon that can only be lifted by the mightiest of men. These men will have arms the size of your run-of-the-mill Hulk Hogan shaped individual so that they can continually lift and attack with these massive weapons. A truly well crafted weapon of this stripe could take off a horse's head or cleave a lesser man in twain without any need for the massive warrior wielding it to ever stop and catch his breath.

Fact: Viking axes rarely weighed more than four pounds at the most. Typically they weighed closer to two pounds. These weapons were shaped and honed in such a way that they had more in common with a meat cleaver than a wood cutting axe, though they could quite easily be used for both.

The typical weapon of this type was set on a long shaft of stout wood, oak was a favorite type. The shaft for a close quarters war axe was typically three to four feet long. Those made as a status symbol were around five and six feet but rarely had the flaring along the edge that a true battle axe had. The axe head itself was designed to be thin, often less than 2mm, for maximum cut and penetration. A few other names for this long hafted axe are the Danish axe, Dane-axe, English long axe, and the hafted axe.

There were several main types of these weapons such as the mammen axe that had a more triangular head, and the bearded axe that had an extra bit of material that dipped down giving the axe head an appearance of having a beard. This beard was not solely decorative as it added a tearing effect to the cleaving nature of the axe as well as a hook for dragging in some instances.

There were also throwing versions of these weapons like the Francisca. The Francisca was co-opted from the French, the original crafters of this weapon, by the Vikingr when they went out on their Viking raids. The Francisca had a backswept shaft and a thing curved axe head that allowed for enough torque when thrown to give the weapon a capability that terrified many warriors of the era. This was an axe that could consistently penetrate the best of mail armor.

The Dane-axe, or Viking axe if you will, is not the kind of weapon often seen in the hands of a dungeons and dragons style dwarf berserker. There were instances of double headed axes but by and large most of them were single headed, very sharp, and got the Vikingr whatever his mighty beating heart desired. Anyone who wishes to stand above their fallen enemies in masculine pride before taking all their belongings and possibly their virgin daughters as a prize would do well to own this piece of history.

Viking Weapons