MK: DIY Ragnar´s Axe

Ragnar Lodbrok was legendary ruler and king from the Viking age. In his TV portrayal he owned beautiful battle axe and I decided I must own one.

Materials: bunch of steel off cuts, ferric chloride (not necessary), 2x4x36 (50x100x900) wood, leather strips, wood stain, small nails.

Tools: angle grinder with cut off, grinding and rasp wheel, welding machine, table saw, P60&80 sandpaper, hammer.

I made the head from scrap pieces of steel I had layin around the shop. I started with the part of the head that accepts the handle. For that I cut the steel to two rectangles and four trapezoids. Then I welded them together creating irregular hexagon.

Next I cut block of steel, that matched one of the rectangles from the first part and welded it to the rectngle.

For the third part I used some 6mm (1/4") steel. I cut it to shape and welded it together. Than I clamped tho whole thing to my table and made the bevel with angle grinder and grinding wheel.

After all the welding and shaping was done I dipped the head in ferric chloride to darken it and to create more viking look. If I were to do this again I would probably use some other technique, because the FeCl3 kinda highlited the welds.

For the handle I used 2x4 that I had laying around, so I´m not sure what it is, but I think it might be pine.

I first set the blade on my tablesaw to roughly the angle that is in the hole of the axe head and cut all the edges to that angle. Then I mounted rasp wheel on my angle grinder and shaped the handle so it would taper towards the end.

For finish I used brown wood stain. I applyed three coats and immediately after each coat I wiped it down gently. This lightened the high spots and low spots were left dark. This created nice and rustic look. Finally I sprayed it down with clear lacquer.

Unfortunately I didn´t have any real leather so I used leatherette. I cut it to strips using sharp knife and metal ruler. Then I wrapped and "weaved" the strip around the handle creating nice x shapeson the sides. I used glue and small nails to secure the strips in their place.

This axe was made to simply look nice and resemble the origin, not to cut trees or kill the enemies with it and materials were choosen acordingly. The overall outcome is awesome and every time I hold it I feel like ruling the Northern Lands :-)