Axes

Axes

This article's completion rating is 1 out of 5. Article planned for future work. No real progress to date.

This article's completion rating is 1 out of 5. Article planned for future work. No real progress to date.

Axe Typology

Throwing axes

Francisca Wheeler 1927

Leather axe loops

A strip of waste leather with a slit cut down its center tucked through the belt. The axe is dropped through the two slit holes. Ideally leather should be thin enough to snap if a firm tug is made upon the axe handle. Art
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Literature
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Archaeology

• 11 finds of calf skin strips with a slit at each end have been found at York and dated to the C10th / early C11th (15715-25). [MOULD, CARLISLE and CAMERON 2003: p.3401]
• Similar finds have been found in Hedeby and London. [MOULD, CARLISLE and CAMERON 2003: p.3401]

Discussion
Although the exact use of these strips is impossible to deduce and Cameron suggests uses such as a method of knife sheaf suspension or a way of making a longer daisy chain style of leather strap.
We never see axes suspended from the waist in manuscripts. Even so it is felt that some mechanism for wearing an axe at the waist must of existed as just simply tucking the axe through the belt would have been hindering to movement and not secure.

References

<nocite> MOULD2003 WHEELER1927 </nocite> <biblio force=false>#Template:Bib</biblio>