How to forge a Viking axe: A guide from the Norse forge
The heart of the forge: Gathering your materials and tools
Before the first hammer falls, before the first spark flies, a Norse blacksmith understands that creation begins with preparation. The forge is more than a hearth; it is the soul of the workshop, a roaring gateway to the past. To forge a Viking axe is to command the elements of fire and steel, but first, you must gather your arms. This is not merely about a list of items, but about understanding the purpose behind each tool and the spirit within the steel.
At the center of your world will be the forge and the anvil. The forge, whether powered by coal, coke, or gas, must be capable of reaching welding heat—a brilliant, sun-like yellow-white. This is where you will breathe life into the cold metal. Your anvil, a stout and steadfast partner, will be the surface upon which your creation takes its form. It must be solid, flat, and unyielding, a silent witness to the violent, transformative birth of the axe.
Your hand, however, will be the hammer. You will need several:
- A heavy cross-peen or straight-peen hammer (2-3 lbs): This is your primary shaping tool. The flat face moves large amounts of metal, while the peen draws the steel out, stretching it to form the blade and cheeks.
- A lighter rounding hammer: For refining the shape, smoothing surfaces, and delivering more precise blows.
- Tongs: You will need a variety of tongs to hold the hot steel securely. You cannot shape what you cannot hold. Box-jaw tongs and flat-bit tongs are essential for gripping the steel bar that will become your axe head.
- Punches and Drifts: These are critical for creating the eye of the axe—the hole where the handle, or haft, will reside. A punch starts the hole, and a drift of the proper shape expands it to its final dimension.
But what of the metal itself? The Viking smiths of old did not have access to the clean, homogenous alloys we do today. They worked with bloomery iron, a spongy, inconsistent material smelted from ore, which they painstakingly refined by folding and hammer-welding it upon itself. To create a strong cutting edge, they would often forge-weld a sliver of higher-carbon steel into the soft iron body. This was a masterful technique that conserved the precious, hardenable steel for where it mattered most.
For the modern smith, we can honor this tradition by selecting a suitable high-carbon steel. A solid piece of monosteel simplifies the process while still producing a formidable tool. Look for steels like:
- 1060 or 1075 Carbon Steel: These are excellent choices. They are relatively forgiving to forge, easy to heat treat, and hold a tough, resilient edge perfect for the chopping and impact an axe endures.
- 5160 Spring Steel: A very tough, durable steel often used for swords and large blades. Its chromium content gives it incredible resilience, making it a superb, if slightly more challenging, option for a hard-use axe.
Finally, do not forget the wood for the haft. Traditionally, ash was the wood of choice for its straight grain, flexibility, and shock resistance. A good piece of ash or hickory is the final component, waiting to unite with the steel head you are about to create.
Hammer and fire: The art of shaping the axe head
With your forge roaring and your tools at hand, the true work begins. This is a dance of heat, force, and vision. You are not simply beating metal into submission; you are persuading it, guiding it, and shaping it into the iconic form of a Viking axe. The process is methodical, demanding both strength and finesse.
Step 1: Heating the Steel
Begin with a rectangular bar of high-carbon steel, thick enough to form the poll (the back, hammer-like part of the axe) and the eye. Place it in the heart of the fire. Watch the colors change: from black to dull red, cherry red, bright orange, and finally to a brilliant yellow. This forging heat is your working window. Too cold, and the steel will resist your hammer and risk cracking. Too hot, and you risk burning the carbon out, rendering the steel useless.
Step 2: Punching the Eye
This is arguably the most defining step in forging an axe. Once at a yellow heat, bring the steel to the anvil. Using your punch and a heavy hammer, drive a hole through the section that will become the eye. This is a deliberate process—punch partway through from one side, flip the bar, and punch from the other to drive out a small plug of steel. This ensures a cleaner hole. Once the initial hole is made, you will use a tapered tool called a drift. Drive the drift through the hole, first from one side and then the other, to expand and shape the eye into its final teardrop or oval form. The metal around the eye will bulge out, forming the foundational shape of the axe head.
Step 3: Forging the Blade and Beard
With the eye established, you now focus on the blade. Reheat the section forward of the eye. Using the cross-peen of your hammer, you will begin to “draw out” the steel. This means hammering in a way that thins and spreads the metal, fanning it out to create the blade. To form the iconic “bearded” profile of many Norse axes, you will focus on drawing the lower portion of the blade downwards and back towards the handle. This requires careful, angled hammer blows. The goal is to create a wide, thin cutting edge from the thicker stock near the eye. You must constantly flip and work both sides to keep the blade centered and symmetrical.
Step 4: Shaping the Poll
While the blade is the business end, the poll provides balance and utility. Reheat the section behind the eye and use the flat face of your hammer to shape it. You can leave it as a simple, square poll for hammering or forge it into a more elegant, rounded shape. The weight and shape of the poll are crucial for the overall balance and feel of the finished axe.
Step 5: Refining the Form
Once the rough shape is achieved, the refinement process begins. This involves working at lower heats (a bright orange) with lighter hammer blows. Smooth out any deep hammer marks, perfect the lines of the beard, and establish the primary bevels of the cutting edge. Take your time here. Every hammer blow now is about perfecting the form, not just moving mass. Stand back, look at your work from all angles, and ensure it flows. This is where the blacksmith becomes an artist.
The quenching soul: Heat treating and finishing your Viking axe
You have forged a piece of steel into the shape of an axe. It looks the part, but right now, it is soft, annealed metal. It has no soul, no bite. The final steps—heat treatment and finishing—are what transform this axe-shaped object into a true, functional tool worthy of a warrior. This is the most scientific and, some would say, magical part of the process.
Step 1: Normalizing
Forging puts immense stress into the crystalline structure of the steel. Normalizing is the process of relieving that stress. Heat the entire axe head evenly to a temperature just above where it becomes non-magnetic (the critical temperature, roughly 1475-1550°F or 800-845°C). A magnet is your best guide; when it no longer sticks, you are there. Remove the head from the forge and let it cool slowly in still air. Repeat this process two or three times. This refines the grain structure and prepares the steel for a successful hardening.
Step 2: Hardening (The Quench)
This is the moment of truth. Heat the axe head one last time to that same non-magnetic temperature, ensuring the heat is even, especially along the thin cutting edge. Now, with speed and confidence, plunge the blade into your quenchant—typically a container of canola oil or a specialized quenching oil. The oil rapidly pulls the heat from the steel, freezing its molecular structure into a very hard, brittle state called martensite. The hiss, the smoke, the sudden transformation—it is a dramatic and vital moment. Water can be used, but it is a much more aggressive quenchant and carries a high risk of cracking the steel.
Step 3: Tempering
Your axe edge is now glass-hard, but also glass-brittle. A sharp impact would shatter it. Tempering is the process of sacrificing some of that extreme hardness to gain crucial toughness. Clean the hardened steel with sandpaper so you can see the bare metal. Gently heat the axe head, starting from the thick poll and allowing the heat to creep slowly towards the edge. Watch the colors. The steel will turn a light straw, then gold, then bronze, followed by purple and blue. For an axe, you are looking for a bronze or dark straw color on the very edge. This indicates a temperature of around 450-500°F (230-260°C). Once you reach this color, cool the axe to stop the process. This exchange of hardness for toughness is the final secret to a blade that can both cut deep and withstand the shock of battle.
Step 4: The Final Finish and Hafting
With the heat treatment complete, the final work begins. Use files, grinders, and sandpaper to clean up the axe head, sharpen the edge to a razor-keenness, and decide on a finish. You might leave the dark forge scale on the cheeks for a rustic look or polish the entire head to a mirror shine. Now, turn to your ash or hickory haft. Carve it to fit your hand, ensuring a comfortable and secure grip. The grain must run parallel to the blade to provide maximum strength. Fit the head onto the haft, seating it firmly. Finally, drive a wooden wedge (and perhaps a small steel wedge) into the top of the haft to expand the wood, locking the head in place for generations. Hold it in your hands. Feel the weight, the balance, the union of steel and wood. You have not just made a tool; you have resurrected a piece of history.