Admitting to that although I have seen fairly many of these battle axes through the years, not very many of them had the original handles. I can't remember that the few I have seen had the "flamed birch".
Flammebjerk - flamed birch was popular in Norway on the more expensive civilian rifles of the 1800s. The bottom one is actually a military rifle from 1860. But I would have thought that wood going in "all directions" could have weakened the handle. But it does make it nice to look at!
Trond