[Gavin Kisebach]

on the subject of stabbing, the A&A Hungarian axe is also gorgeous and looks to be a wicked stabber! I'm really taken with that on as well.

[Johan S. Moen]

In my opinion and experience, a daneaxe should be long enough so that it touches the underside of your chin when you stand upright.

Johan Schubert Moen

[Patrick Kelly]

[Mike Luke]

Please post some pics and your overall impression. I've been looking around for a good quality axe. I've looked at the AA but the wedsite is a little short on specs. Their is a rumer that Albion might introduce one so I've been waiting for that.

Here is a suggestion for you to play with flip the axe over and use it as a short pole arm. You will have greater reach than a sword and it will act more like a quarter staff. This opens the door for all kinds of fun blocking the sword steping in and hooking the back of the leg, parring the sword stepping in and striking at the head with the horn just to name a few tecniques.

[Gavin Kisebach]

Patrick,
That would bring my axe to 5'3". Thats a long axe. Might just make your Big Johnson look small.
I if and when I scrape up the dough purchase one, I'll ask A&A about a longer haft for sure, so long as it's not prohibitively expensive

Mike,
Without pics, I'm not sure I undertand what you mean by flipping it over, but I don't want to get away from the collecting aspect of the forum. I'd be happy to see the topic of longaxe usage pop up on the off topic forum *nudge nudge*

[Bob Burns]

Blade edge is 11 inches long and 6 3/4 inches deep from edge to the 55 inch haft, very light for an axe this size and has remarkable recovery from strikes. This is definately a versitile weapon that can be used as a fighting staff. Inside haft side semi circle of axe head is excellent for hooking the opponents leg. Top side edge can be used as a thrusting weapon, though not one of it's intended uses. One thing for sure, the Danish War Axe has a lot more uses than just a hacking weapon, as stated above this axe is also an excellent staff weapon, such as thrusting with the handle end and slashing with the axe head, wherein the dominant hand would be holding the haft at the axe head and the other hand 2/3 the way down towards the handle end, the thrusting motion can be done as with a bo, one of the thrusting strikes with a bo is as though you were holding a pool cue stick, allowing the haft to slide through the hand.

I could really go on and on trying to explain the many uses of this weapon, let me suffice to say that a hacking strike is only one of a myriad of possibilites.
As with all of Arms & Armor products, this axe is very well made, surprisingly light in weight which makes it one very fast axe. The haft is made of oak and is of a rounded rectangular shape, which is far better than a round pole would be, I'd say the rounds on the haft were done with a 3/4 round over router bit, the haft is exactly 1 1/2 inches wide and a true 1 inch thick.

For anyone who would like an axe head pole weapon, I highly recommend the Danish War Axe by Arms & Armor, it is $235.00 well spent. They also put the "Bob" edge on it for me as Craig termed it. LOL. I like my weapons with a deadly sharpness but not sharper than authenticity.

In summary, the Danish War Axe is nicer than I expected and has a wide range of uses as a weapon!


Happy Collecting,


Bob

[Bob Burns]

Dayum. Sorry, I mistakenly posted the above message as a new reply, when I intended it for a "New Topic".



Bob

[Chad Arnow]

[Gavin Kisebach]

I am really ignorant when it comes to wood, but why oak? I was getting the impression that ash was the norm for hafted weapons. What are the pros and cons of oak? vs ash?

[Patrick Kelly]

[Bob Burns]

Dayum, my mistake. Ash it is.


Bob

[Carl Goff]

[Gavin Kisebach]

is that a bearded axe, of an "eared" axe?

[Gavin Kisebach]

Fat fingers, sorry - is that a "bearded" axe OR an "eared" axe from Albion? I don't think I've ever seen a bearded long axe, and I'm working on a theory as to why.

[Michael G. Myers]

Much sincere thanks for all of the enlightening replies.

So....do work up the pole arm focus? My usual partner-in-crime is overseas, but I've used a static target to get a feel for basic movement on my end and such use is straightforward enough. It’s about as close as I'm able to go, barring the impossibility of coaxing a shield wall out of some of the neighbors. Maybe enlisting my wife's second-grade students in an altered version of Patrick's hand's-on-history demonstrations? [“Alright kids, now who’s a dirty Norman?!!”]

I'd agree with the comments on length if pole arm emphasis is the methodology. I had mentioned the A&A Dane axe seeming "Too short for a really good pole arm, while being too long for a really good axe". The only problem I see with a strict pole arm methodology is that the Dane axe then veers close to coming off as a little over-engineered with respect to the generally given shape on one hand; while being less than optimal on the other. Then, there's the question of haft-length. Given the notion of the various techniques of hooking, et al mentioned, we might be discussing a later bill. Even though the Dane axe may certainly perform these tasks, again, little about it seems optimized for such. The flaring blade would seem to improve weight-to-edge-contact considerations and being able to draw in is, though useful, only a by-product of this…so I've always thought. Contrast this with later pole arms, and we see a more stark design focus. The thing is, my questions wouldn't necessarily exist if we were discussing the bill, etc. Hmmp.

Gavin mentioned the Hungarian axe design and that was where I was trending (sponging up some of Sean Flynt’s research), but longer helps somewhat in correcting something like the A&A Dane Axe’s pole arm deficit. ‘Just don’t know if I’m ready for that jump, yet. Is everyone suggesting a direct evolutionary trend towards later pole arms? That is, do we see something like the Dane axe fall away (with the exceptions testing the rule as with the Varangian Guard’s Emporor’s bodyguard, or even in a possibly ceremonial sense later on) in favor of more dedicated polearms in the quest of correcting the Dane Axe's specific shortcomings (a lack of specialization, I guess)? Or, is it something like the case of the later pollaxe proper? That is, the pollaxe is developed to face a specific problem like suits of plate, but gives way when plate no longer dominates (though pieces like the bill,etc, continue)? I don’t know that I really consider the Dane axe to be in direct line as antecedent of something like the bill or even the pollaxe, these days. I don’t argue with something like Silver’s short-staff comparison, though, despite the question of length…if that makes sense giving his grouping together of all of these.

'Gonna have to ponder this; as, while the full-on pole arm techniques are certainly to hand and fairly easy to understand via rationale, I think I'm coming to see the Dane Axe as far less a hybrid than most of you. For example, the typical poll would be slightly heavier than something like A&A’s Danish Axe, requiring somewhat greater reliance on a tighter closing of lines with the thrust/poll and making slipping the haft (I think, I’ve been doing this more than most of you advise) even more valued, etc. A part of that very rationale is dependent on the development needs dictated by the aims of something relatively specialized like the pollaxe. Despite that, I think I was asking somebody to come up with a full write-up explaining the perfect melding of broader axe and pollarm in this configuration. Or, to just tell me flatly to stop thinking of it as a pole arm, which is what I've been doing. FWIW, I’ve been using Rob Lovett’s guide to Le Jeu de la Hache and several like treatises as a framework to realizing pole arm technique with a Dane axe. However, I just cannot get away from a sense that it is, indeed, more "axe" than I'd believed prior to a hands-on.

Historically, we have the Saxons and the emperor’s guard portion of the Varangian Guard to consider. The Huskarls wielding Dane axe seem to have “broken” from the shield wall in dashed forays or, at least, are mentioned as returning to the safety of the shield wall (IIRC). Even at a 60” haft, the Dane axe wouldn’t seem very useful behind or even, necessarily, among a shield wall, and the spear proper was certainly present. Is there anything specific mentioned in regard to the emperor’s English guard using the Dane Axe beyond merely stating that they used them in some sort of defend-the-standard sort of setting (a’la the Swiss bodyguard and their “halberds”)? In either case, we’d be dealing with what Patrick pointed out as a fairly specialized sort of shock or defense element. So, even though I gravitated to poll use in a formation setting at first, I don’t know if my assumptions were correct in considering this as a requirement with the Dane Axe.

Do I understand that most of you are employing the more emphasized pole arm techniques with your strong side/hand forward? What Silver would term "your right hand before and your left hand back behind”? Left forward feels more natural for me in the pole arm context; while I’ve reserved strong-hand forward for what I’m thinking of as axe/short-staff dominant usage.

I see that I'm missing out on experimenting with this in a more rough and tumble scenario. It just isn't easy to get a grip on the practical possibilities of this tool without some of that particular sort of sparring. All of it is next to useless without a defined methodology, in my case. I have a feeling that facing friendly opposition up close might dispel my misgivings about the Dane Axe, even in a two-quarters' speed environment.

Much thanks, again, for sharing your knowledge and thoughts.



Michael

[Carl Goff]

[Gavin Kisebach]

Ok Mike,

It's NOT A HALBERD, at least not IMLE. There is certainly a train of logic that says "Gee I like hitting these guys, and this meat cleaver on a stick sure is neat, next time I'll make it a bit longer... a bit longer... just a bit longer...." . If anybody has more experience with both, jump right in please. If you keep trying to compare it to later polearms, it's always gonna seem inadequate. Consider first the age, the application, the defenses against it, the overall context. The halberd is a different tool for a different age.

I will take a couple of pics ASAP showing how I was taught to hold the weapon, and then you can judge it up or down. Bob, I'd love to see you do the same, mostly so I can drool at my monitor, wishing I had $250 just lying around. Furthermore, can anyone scrape up references to technique? All of the tapestries seem to just show the overhand chop, maybe for good reason, but there must be more to it.

My theory on bearded axes: (please hold your booing and giggling till the end)

I think the bearded axe is designed so you can grip it right beneath the head and use it as a planing tool. I suspect the beard has any advantage in combat; in fact one of the funniest things I ever saw in a battle was two guys with bearded axes get locked up and beat to death by third parties while they frantically tried to detach one from the other. Hooking has its place, but can get you into deep deep trouble (boy that sounds bad out of context) .

I've yet to see any evidence of a really large two handed bearded axes, but the eared axes abound: of course you can't prove a negative, but I'm beginning to suspect that there is a reason for this. If I have a bearded hand axe and my weapon gets tangled up, I have a second or two to take shelter behind my shield - no such luck with a "zweihander". In my hypothetical planing tool scenario, why would I want a monstrous axe if I'm shaping a plank or an oar? The eared axe, on the other hand, can both hook and thrust, and is much less likely to bind at the wrong moment. Of course i have no solid evidence for this notion, so feel free to throw rotten fruit at me.

[Michael G. Myers]

[Bob Burns]

First let me apologize for getting the kind of wood wrong, I was tired from a long day at work, was thinking ash and wrote oak, it is an ASH haft!
I am a medieval weaponry novice, but again and hate to keep alluding to this as it makes me sound egotistical, but that is not it. Earning a black belt in martial arts I learned a lot about using things as weapons. All I have to do is look at the Danish War Axe and it is immediately obvious to me that in one of it's aspects this is a formiddable "hooking" weapon, wherein the head of the axe is beyond the opponent and pulled back into his flesh. You can pool cue stick the opponent with either end of this weapon. It can be revolved in figure 8s. In fact, you can strike the opponent backwards after a forward strike. Say you do an overhead strike and you miss, the axe head is now down at his feet, pull up on the weapon and you will either impale him on the top edge of the blade and or castrate him in this motion. You can pool cue stick it past his head either intentional or unintentional miss, pull back and you have hooked him by the back of the neck, from here you can slam him head first into the ground, now he is face down, heel stomp the lumbar spine, recoil the axe overhead and split his skull open.
Your imagination is the only limitation on how this weapon can be used. Actually, I like the length of the haft, too long and it is less effective in close range fighting, shorter and there are more limitations to the way this weapon can be used. Maybe 6 inches longer but no more than that, but I think 55" or 56" is optimum.
Instead of thinking of this weapon as an "axe" think of it as a fighting staff with a double pointed 11 inch blade!

Happy Collecting,

Bob

[Gavin Kisebach]

So this morning before work I took some pictures to try and explain how I have been using this axe, as well as the importance of a longer haft. I didn't have a shield on hand, but I hope this will answer questions, or better yet, spawn new questions. My thanks to my friend Noah, who is camera shy, for helping out.

The silver axe is four foot long, made from a broken rattan greatsword (SCA standard). I thought that four feet would be plenty, but I find that in practice, it puts me in a bad way against sword and shield. The longer blue mockup gives me better chances against such foes. Notice that even fully extended, moreso than I would ever try, Noah still can't quite reach me, whereas I am right in his grill. Again, due to the lack of a shield I need to protect myself (especially my legs) with distance. A slung shield might come in handy, but my legs are a trouble spot.

I've also tried to show what I think is the proper grip. Its quick, can be very powerful, blocks/parries/hooks/thrusts without adjusting the grip, and even makes crisscut fries! If anyone has another grip, please let me know. Oh yes, and footwork on this is extremely important. You really need to vary your distance and keep moving. I have a lot of trouble with that, as I was never light on my feet (you probably guessed that) and I have bad feet. Oh well.

Anyhow I hope that helps.