Axe Types and Uses: Every Axe Shape Explained

The battle axe is defined by what it lacks: mass. A war axe head weighs one and a half to three pounds, far less than a woodcutting head, because it must be swung repeatedly and recovered fast. Depth of cut came from a thin edge and a long haft, not from weight.

The Dane axe is the two-handed extreme of that idea: a broad, thin, crescent head on a haft of four to five feet, capable of splitting a shield and hooking a rim aside.

The bearded axe drops the lower edge into a hanging beard. That gives a long cutting edge with little added weight, and a hollow behind the beard where a hand can choke up for fine work — which is exactly why it survived from the raiding shore into the carpenter's shop.

The tomahawk is a light, straight-hafted axe with a friction-fit head. It throws well, chops above its weight, and can be re-hafted in the field with a knife and an hour.

The felling axe has a thin, sharp bit for cutting across wood grain, a head of three to four pounds and a haft of 28 to 36 inches. It slices; it does not wedge.

The splitting axe and the maul do the opposite: a thick, wedge-shaped head of four to eight pounds that forces fibres apart along the grain. Using a felling axe to split is how bits get stuck and knuckles get hurt.

The hatchet is a one-handed axe of 10 to 16 inches for limbing, kindling and camp work. It is the most useful axe most people will ever own.

The broad axe has a flat side and a single bevel for hewing round logs square. It is a carpenter's tool, not a woodcutter's.

Look at the eye. A forged head with a properly drifted eye and a haft wedged in wood and steel will outlive you. A cast head on a glued handle will loosen.

Look at the grain of a wooden haft. The growth rings should run roughly parallel to the bit, straight down the length. Runout — grain angling out of the side of the handle — is where hafts break.

Look at the bit only after the rest passes. A dull edge takes an evening to fix; a bad eye and a bad haft never get better.

Hickory is the standard haft wood in America, ash in Europe. Both are chosen for the same reason: long straight fibres that flex under shock instead of shattering. Fibreglass and composite hafts do not break, but they transmit more shock to the hand and cannot be replaced in the field with a knife.

An axe head loosens because wood shrinks in dry air. The old remedy — soaking the head in water — swells the fibres, then rots them. The right remedy is to re-wedge, or to drive the head down and fit a new wedge of seasoned hardwood.

Overstrike is what kills hafts: the swing lands past the target and the handle takes the blow instead of the bit. A leather or steel collar behind the head buys forgiveness, but the real cure is a shorter, more honest swing.

Splitting rounds of firewood: a maul of six to eight pounds, or a splitting axe of four to six with a wedge profile.

Felling and limbing standing wood: a felling axe of three to four pounds on a 31 to 36 inch haft.

Camp, kindling and pack carry: a hatchet of 10 to 16 inches, or a small forest axe of 19 to 24 inches if you want one tool for both.

Throwing and light chopping: a friction-fit tomahawk, hafted so the head can be knocked free and replaced.

Display, re-enactment and the wall: a battle axe, Dane axe or bearded axe — light, fast, and made to be looked at as much as swung.

An axe is not a knife. A felling bit wants a convex edge of roughly 25 to 30 degrees included; a splitting head wants 40 or more, blunter on purpose so it wedges rather than sticks.

Work with a file toward the edge, then a puck stone in circles on both sides, keeping the curve. Never take an axe to a high-speed grinder — the heat draws the temper out of the bit and no amount of later sharpening brings it back.