Metal Integrated Metal Handle?

[KillerGriller]

I was putzing around looking at pictures when I came across a medival replica axe that had a handle with a metal core and wooden scales, like a tomahawk.

(This is not the axe pic I saw, just a tomahawk for visual aid). Obviously it was made for show not function, but just for fun what would be the main issues with laminating some wood on either side of flat welding steel, shaping it, inserting/wedging it in a regular axe head and finishing it as a proper handle? Would the different rate of flex between the metal and scale materials make it impossible to use?

 

[Danke42]

I was putzing around looking at pictures when I came across a medival replica axe that had a handle with a metal core and wooden scales, like a tomahawk.

(This is not the axe pic I saw, just a tomahawk for visual aid). Obviously it was made for show not function, but just for fun what would be the main issues with laminating some wood on either side of flat welding steel, shaping it, inserting/wedging it in a regular axe head and finishing it as a proper handle? Would the different rate of flex between the metal and scale materials make it impossible to use?

The main issue is when it's done right it costs a lot. If it's not done right it's better to just stick with wood.

 

[Square_peg]

The flexibility of hickory stops the vibration from impact from transferring down the haft into the users hand. Steel hafts don't have that flexibility.

 

[HollyBoni]

I have a random axe where someone welded a steel pipe in the head. It's pretty decently sized, the handle is almost as long as my splitting maul and the head is in the 3.5 pound range I think.

I absolutely hate it. When I really swing it the shock it gives me is horrible.

 

[KillerGriller]

I never considered the transference of impact shock, good point(s).

 

[BitingSarcasm]

I have a flat, full-tang axe, a Tomahook by Boker. It wasn't very comfortable to use with the stock scales, so I made a pair of wood scales that fully sandwich the handle. It reduces the shock quite a bit, but it is still an odd duck of an axe. The weight is distributed along the haft instead of behind the edge, and this makes it behave differently than you would expect. It still works fine for de-barking and shaving/planing since it is basically a knife edge on a stick, but as a straight axe I am working harder to move all that mass without adding mechanical advantage to pop chips.