Oakeshott frequently described the Danish and other large, two-handed axes as "terrible weapons" -- and he meant it as a compliment, of course. The axe had a fearsome reputation on the medieval battlefield, for the wounds it could inflict. As I have accumulated more of them in my historical arsenal, I've become curious about how they would compare with swords in familiar test-cutting mediums.
Today I went down to the infamous 'batcave' to join Gus and Alex Chin for some cutting, and brought my new A&A Danish axe with me. It recently joined the larger A&A Sparth axe in my collection; both are surprisingly light, having a historically correct blade thickness of 1/8" or so. The Danish is so light, in fact, that I wondered just how much damage you could do with one...
Some stats, before we get to the action: the cutting edge on my Danish is about 10-1/4" long, and the blade is 7" deep from edge to shaft. The shaft is 53" long, made of ash, with an oval cross section. I don't know the weight (shoulda weighed it when it was at the shop), but suffice it to say it's light. These may have been wielded by burly fellows named Magnus or Thorfinn, but anyone should be able to get this weapon up to velocity (even those who complain about 3-pound longswords being "heavy"...
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Gus was out of 1/4" plywood, but had a sheet of 1/2" plywood handy, so that become our test medium. Any doubts about the 'pop' on the receiving end of the Danish were soon dispelled... I tried hitting with various points along the axe blade, from bottom to top, and the result was the same every time: the entire blade slammed through the 1/2" plywood, easily, not stopping until it hit the shaft behind the blade (hard enough to chip small bits from the ash shaft), or the axe socket was wedged into the plywood. Frightening.
To compete with the axe, Gus brought out his heavy XVIIIb -- a powerful, broad-bladed longsword. I've cut with this one before, and knew it would be a good representative to pit against the axe in the plywood. My best cut of several with the XVIIIb came close to the axe in depth, but didn't quite match it -- and if the axe hadn't been limited by the broad socket or shaft hitting the plywood, it would have kept on going... Three other Gus swords cut well in the 1/2" plywood -- a X, XII, and XIIa, but none were close to the depth of the axe cuts.
The plywood was the main event of the day; the only other target I tried with the Danish was a heavy cardboard tube -- I don't know the thickness on these, but they're very tough. The best results I've gotten with a sword, on these tubes, is to lodge it halfway into the tube. Against this tube, the axe simply punted it across the parking lot -- a combination of the light, free-standing target with the thicker edge of the axe (as compared with a sword). Just not enough resistance there for the axe to bite into.
At the conclusion of its workout, despite some less-than-ideal strikes on my part, the Danish axe hadn't loosened a whit on its shaft...a rap of the knuckle still brought a very pleasing "ring of steel." (Well done, Craig!)
My conclusion -- axes are deadly! The martial use of axe vs. sword is a whole 'nuther discussion -- the sword no doubt being the more versatile weapon -- but the raw power of the axe is very impressive.
I've also been admiring the Albion Hebridian axe for some time, and hope to have one in my meaty little hands within the next few weeks; look for another test cutting (test-chopping?) report for this one, soon...
