Viking Sword with an History

[Tordenskiold1721]

Originally Posted by Lee

One thing interesting about this example is how the haft is curved. This is not warping with age as the curve continues into the iron axehead.

You are absolutely right Lee. As the Norwegian battle axe continued to develop from early Viking age trugh the centuries we know that at some time during the 16th century we start getting the curve on the shaft where the axe head is mounted.

This type of curved shaft with the shape of the axe itself, creates a blow and a slicing cut, making this type of battle axe a very nasty and effective weapon.

I tried to upload photos of some of my axes that desplays how this axes evolved but it looks like I have to downsize the file sizes

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Tordenskiold1721

...As the Norwegian battle axe continued to develop from early Viking age through the centuries we know that at some time during the 16th century we start getting the curve on the shaft where the axe head is mounted. This type of curved shaft with the shape of the axe itself, creates a blow and a slicing cut, making this type of battle axe a very nasty and effective weapon.

I tried to upload photos of some of my axes that displays how this axes evolved but it looks like I have to downsize the file sizes

Tordenskiold1721, Thank you for insight into the origin and purpose of the curvature of this form of axe. It does speak to the sophistication and skill of the makers (and I would love to see additional examples!)

If you would care to e-mail the pictures to me (ljones at vikingsword.com) I will resize them, load them on the server and send back the URLs for posting.