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Posted 9 years ago
manahale
(1 item)
Blade is 9 3/4" long, 5 1/2" deep. Eye is d-shaped and is 1 1/2" x 1 1/8". Has odd cut out near end of blade. Slight taper to d hole. It is stamped but unreadable.
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Very curious about this axe head. Especially the odd cut out near the end of the blade. I believe there was a stamp but it is unreadable. Thinking of mounting it to a 20" handle.
Looks like a battle ax to me. Where did it come from ?
my dad collected smalls for his basement bar area. That's all I know. It is shaped like a battle axe and the eye is forge welded together. Seems to be in too good of shape to be european (viking).
That's a beautiful piece. I can't find any illustrations of an axe with a nearly semi-circular head like that AND no poll. It would be very difficult to swing with nothing to counter-balance the weight of the cutting edge. The design is earlier than Indian trade axes brought to the US by the French early in the settlement of the continent (and WAY earlier than axe forging in the North American colonies).
I've never seen a cut like that in an axe's edge but one suggestion, until you get a better one, is that there might have been a crack there and filing down to the origin of the crack would have prevented it from getting deeper as the tool was used, eventually breaking the tip off. Is there any distortion or tool-marking in or around the cut?
No distortion in the blade or hammer marks. The edge of the cutout is straight not rounded over, so if someone used a round file to remove a crack, they did a nice job and didn't wobble the file.
I doubt that the knowledge of stress relief by rounding out a crack goes back as far as the age we think it is from. Maybe for opening sodas ? LOL !!. Well, that thin blade certainly made for chopping wood ! I'm really impressed with the skill of that blacksmith.
Meant to say "beers" & "not made for chopping wood". Not sure which need to speed up, my mind or my fingers !
BB2: "I doubt that the knowledge of stress relief by rounding out a crack goes back as far as the age we think it is from."
It is a common misconception that we "modern" humans are a lot smarter than "ancient" people. In fact, it's the exact opposite. If electricity suddenly became inoperative 90% of the population would be dead in a month. The people who made that axe lived and breathed metal-working. It was the highest level of technology in their world. I'm sure they understood how to stabilize a crack in a piece of iron.
You de 1 wid de B.F. .50 Mon, so not arguing ! LOL !! Actually, I would expect a blacksmith to weld a plug in.
I haven't read through the comments, but it's a "Hide" scrapper, used to remove the fatty tissue off animal hide, like cattle and such
"Fleshing" tool would be better term......
Not a 400 yr. old beer opener ? What a let-down !! LOL !
Guess it would have been repaired by tig welding, Ron. LOL !! Bet Antiques Roadshow would have valued it at $6-9,000 ! LMAO !
Lucas... you didn't comment on my determination.....LOL
Kerry, if you had kept quiet, we may have had museums all around the Baltic throwing big buck bids at Manahale for his flesher (er, Viking ax) ! Kerry, you will never make Bernie Madoff grade ! LOL !!
The ID of hide scraper puzzles me. I've not seen any hide scrapers, modern or ancient that looked like this and with the eye positioned the way it is. do you have any photographic links to support this?
I like your attitude Manahale. I don't find any like this either. Why the socket when it would be easier to use without it ? I've trapped & scrapped hides.
I vote that it's definitely NOT a hide scraper. It is some kind of axe.
And yes, a blacksmith could have forged a repair but in the absence of a blacksmith the cut-out would have been a "field expedient" repair.
I'm with you Ron. Battle ax. One of G.W. Bushes ancestors may have even claimed it to be a weapon of mass destruction.
here's a couple:
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-whaling-fishing-whale-fleshing-knife
last photo on this one(Modern repo)
http://wftrapping.com/skinning_fleshing_pelter_knives.htm
and lastly another modern:
http://www.macesfursandtraplinesupplies.com/knives.php
My 2 cent on this and I am with kerry10456, was very close, I see this kind of tools, not a weapon ( definitely not a axe) at the civilization museum in Quebec City.
The handle was extended on both side of the blade to be use to remove the thick layer of fat from a whale, this very old tool from the first quarter of 19s.
Regards
Alan
Here is one post here 2 years ago
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/111394-flensing-blade-or-whale-blubber-knive
Regards
Alan
Sorry Kerry & Alan. Both of you are grasping at straws ! I DO KNOW whaling implements & all the blubber cutters I've ever seen had long handles in line with the cutting edge, more like a spade. No cigar guys !
I think it belong to Eric the Red ...and the Indians got it after they killed him here ...
https://www.google.com/search?q=battle-axes&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=923&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj94ebU2ZjNAhUCJR4KHQ5jB5oQsAQIGw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COkx6Dzs4VM
Mystery Solved...just a repo..........
Possibility, but it appears smithy forged. OK Wind, a repro what ? ax, flesher, scraper, blubber knife etc. ? LOL !!
Well if you watch the utbe the fella said they were hand forged..the copies...that is,... as far as it being a flesh tool ...lol its Slavic battle axe replica from Wulflund/Arma Epona...U were Right When U said It was a battle Ax,,,smiling
LOL Forged from a railroad spike.....
Yea, mon ! No invites & 1st class tickets to the Royal Danish Museum ? What a let-down ! (17 days & a wake-up & home bound !)
I'm not convinced it's a new one. The one in the video has an oval handle hole and it is clearly new smooth iron.
The one here has aged pits and more of a crude forging than the new one has, just say'n.
I agree Az. Either way is conjecture without expert examination & possibly testing.
google "inuit ulu" images, these people would create tools from whatever washed ashore or frozen in the ice, some of the critters they skinned weren't tiny or bare skinned