Introduction, and an Imp Axe

Wulf

Wulf

Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
3,351
Hi all. I've been reading quite a bit here lately (this place is great!) but haven't posted much so I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself and share one of my latest projects.

First off, my name is Derrick and I am, among other things, a bladesmith who is now venturing boldly into the world of axes because frankly they are among the most useful and storied tools man has ever built. I have a modest collection of ancient and modern axes and have ample opportunity to use these wonderful tools regularly here in my home state of Vermont - I cut my own firewood to heat my home, and also love to hike, camp, and explore the mountains and forests nearby, so a knife and an axe is always an important part of my kit whenever I venture out.

Anyway, here is one of my newest projects - the Imp Axe. It’s a compact little full-tang axe that I designed earlier this winter, and I’m now building and testing the first few prototypes.

impaxe1.jpg


One of the first things I did with this axe was to chop a cinder block in half - didn’t even have to stop to reload the thing! It did a great job of it but I’m going to spend some more time putting the first few prototypes through their paces and getting my heat treatment dialed in. This will be first and foremost a tool for tactical and survival applications so I intend to make it as effective and as close to indestructible as possible. The steel is S7, an expensive high alloy tool steel than can produce some of the toughest impact cutting tools on the planet, but proper heat treatment is absolutely critical to getting this steel up to its performance potential, so I’ve been taking my time to get it right.

The axe head is a bit over 5.5″ long with a 3″ cutting edge and a 1″ spike at the butt end. The cutting edge has a full convex grind right up to the cheeks, and the axe is about 0.30″ thick at the head. The bearded blade both reduces weight and allows the user to choke up for more delicate work, and the tang is both skeletonized and fully tapered to further reduce weight, making this axe an ease to carry and use.

I left this one with a rough and ugly finish, complete with file marks, scratches, and an oven-fresh “tempertina,” but future renditions will be prettied up a bit.

Anyway, I'm glad to be here, and any comments or ideas you might have will be warmly welcomed.
 
Interesting. May i ask about the OAL and the weight?
Looks like it's tapering down from 0.3 to 0.24" towards the pommel?

What wood on handle is that? Can you get a close-up on the spike? i see an edge on it.
 
Looks cool to me, I look forward to seeing what the production version turns out to be. Thanks for sharing
 
Thanks guys. JayGoliath, the tang actually tapers down to about 1/8" at the pommel end and the handle is made out of green canvas micarta. The spike is indeed sharpened but its edge geometry is obtuse, as it is designed not to cut, but to puncture and penetrate.

Here's one other pic - it's a fairly poor quality shot taken last night with my cell phone but it does help show the dimensions of the head with a bit more detail.

impaxe2.jpg
 
Wulf
This looks like a great little working axe.
Appears to me you have a winning design.
More questions...

Overall length?

Overall weight?
How is the weight distributed?

How well does it handle chores?

Dare I ask....how does it throw?
 
That does indeed look pretty cool, I like it. Looking forward to the finished product after your testing is completed. I will add that I also like it with the finish the one it the pics has. For some reason, to me an axe should not be pretty. Well done.
 
Thanks again for the comments.

Cicatriz, the overall length is about 11.5" so it really is quite compact. With the right carry rig you could carry this under a coat or strapped to a chest rig no problem. The balance point is just about half way between the head and the handle scales, right in the narrow part of the neck. As for weight, I can't say exactly because I don't have a reliable scale but I would estimate it to be in the neighborhood of 20 oz.

And finally, to answer your question about how it throws, well mere words really wouldn't do it justice. ;) That said maybe one of these days I'll shoot a quick video showing how it throws. Won't be able to do that for at least a week though - I leave tomorrow morning for a few days of skiing in the Colorado backcountry :D
 
Nice, When I was doing a lot of research for some projects that never got done a while back I remember thinking S7 sounded like the best steel for axes, all things considered.
(easy machinability was one)
 
That is a very cool design for a tomahawk. It looks like an excellent lightweight backcountry tool.
 
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