Our axe is 

underrated

 short answer apps so freaking lutely how 

underrated

 and this is the long answer i'm going to tell you right after showing you something cool that today's sponsor sent me this is the vague vcr pendant from viking jewelry some really nice detail on that and this is made of stainless steel so it's more durable than silver we've got a little wax sealed message let's see what it says looks like it's a coupon code for you guys for quite a massive discount

On these and there's also a discount code for anything else in the store so if you prefer something else you can use the second code which is valid for 10 days after the video is published so thank you viking jewelry i very much like how this looks and if you're interested in it i'll leave a link down below so you can check it out all right so there's a staggering variety of 

axes

 from all parts of the world all time periods all sorts of shapes and sizes etc and by the way

Don't let anybody tell you that a tomahawk or a hatchet is not an axe acts is the general term it applies to everything 

axes

 have been with us for a very very long time in the bronze age you have some really interesting unusual forms like for example this fantasy looking lewistown bronze axe you have this impressively large epsilon axe from ancient egypt around 4 000 years old and so many others some specific subtypes with their own names different sizes thicknesses shapes etc you've got

So many 

axes

 so it's a quite a large topic that i can really only touch on but i want to talk a little bit about the specifics of 

axes

 compared to other weapons swords in particular because the sword usually takes precedent in people's mind the sword is the bigger status symbol between them even though 

axes

 were sometimes status symbols as well and there are some highly decorated elaborate versions but usually the sword tends to steal the show justifiably well to an extent maybe the axe

Seems to be more of an unsung hero except when it comes to vikings then it takes center stage most people when 

they

 think viking 

they

 think axe one story illustrates that particularly well that of a single norwegian warrior with a two-handed axe who supposedly held the bridge at stamford all by himself against harold's english army until somebody floated underneath the bridge and stabbed him from below with a spear now when comparing sources this seems more like a case of heroic storytelling

Which was often done of course if you're interested in knowing more i'll link the article down below in the video description but if you look at the 

battle

 of hastings 

axes

 played a pretty significant role but not in the hands of vikings but in the hands of the english you probably know about the 

battle

 of hastings in 1066 who doesn't so english infantrymen held a hill and inflicted significant casualties on the norman cavalry with their 

axes

 and william ended up using trickery to

Draw them out of that strong position by faking two retreats and then turning around and attacking them when the the english infantry came rushing down the hill so yeah these are no joke definitely an intimidating weapon to face but not the brutish heavy clunker that some people seem to think you know the way it's often portrayed in fantasy games where 

axes

 are not only gigantic but also thick this is a large axe hat obviously but it is very very thin so this thing does not weigh much at all

Especially when used with two hands it is very very easy to maneuver it so the usual comparison between sword and axe is the the sword is the more agile nimble weapon weight measurements are a little difficult to come by not many museums show detailed specs and when 

they

 do it tends to be length more often than weight but if we look at specific examples here is a 

battle

 axe from around the 1200s which weighs only 793 grams that's really not a whole lot then we've got a syrian axe here

From the late 15th century that one weighs 1.34 kilograms then there is one made entirely of steel which only weighs 40 grams more here's an iranian saddle axe weighing in at only 751 grams and reproduction acts made by albion right here weighs a pound or a bit under half a kilogram even this gigantic looking crescent axe weighs only 1.36 kilograms which is still within the range of single-handed swords now of course 

axes

 could also be pretty hefty like the swiss axe here weighing 2.55

Kilograms but it also is two meters long so this is really more of a pole arm and pole arms are a separate category for good reason so i'm mainly talking about a shorter two-handed 

axes

 and single-handed 

axes

 although you could look at the stain axe here as a pole arm i just tend to make the distinction because pole arms are usually longer and heavier so 

battle

 

axes

 were generally not as heavy as you may think part of the reason is because 

they

 tended to be either thinner than tool 

axes

 or

Smaller otherwise something like this right here is a relatively thick axe head but you can see how small it is so this one is very light this is a mere 600 something grams so this one here is extremely maneuverable but it can be misleading if you look at just the weight because these two right here the swedish axe and this german messer weigh essentially the same 

they

're both between 920 and 930 grams but i can tell you handling these is way different because an axe is basically a reverse

Sword think about it most of the weight and the sword is in the hilt the blade tends to taper quite often in thickness sometimes in profile as well and you just have more steel right here in the form of the guard the pommel etc this is the exact opposite so if i were to flip this around now it feels more similar to this you can very easily move this around in all kinds of ways and quickly change direction you can stop and redirect it quickly with this axe i can do that too i can also stop it and

Redirect but it takes more effort because there's just more momentum to deal with if you think of holding a dumbbell if you hold the dumbbell right here super easy right if you move it out with an outstretched arm and hold it now you're not going to be able to hold it as long it's much heavier simply because of the leverage the the longer the lever is the harder you have to work to keep the weight up so now if you take a stick and tie the dumbbell to the end and try to hold it out

You see the problem with a particularly light axe like this it's really not an issue you can very easily move this around it also has to do of course with the handle length the shorter the handle the shorter the lever and the easier it is so if you the more you choke up the easier it is but of course even so if this was a sword with the weight distribution reversed yeah you can imagine so a comparable weight an axe is not going to be quite as lively and quick as a sword may be and it's

Going to take more energy more effort basically but of course it also depends on exactly what you're doing there's a difference between for example a full powered committed swing like this where i rotate the entire body into it with extended arms make everything like a nice rigid connected structure or if i do this you know this is going to be quicker and easier it's not going to be as devastating of course as a committed cut like this but there are ways to increase the speed by

Sacrificing some power and this is where 

axes

 really shine raw destructive power basically 

they

 hit way harder than a sword i've done quite a number of blade tests at this point and every time it's just astonishing how much easier it is to accomplish the same thing with an axe compared to a sword especially against the zombie analog heads it takes quite a bit of effort to really cut deeply into them or even through them hack them apart etc with most swords the axe will do the same thing

Easily and that's worth keeping in mind even though i said just earlier that the axe takes more effort to use compared to the sword at least at the same speed it actually transfers the energy you put into it more effectively so you don't have to hit as hard you don't need to put quite as much muscle power into it to achieve the same thing but if you do of course it's going to be even more devastating especially if you have a design like the eagle rod axe which was used as a tool

But also to take heads from enemy warriors this one is particularly devastating because not only do you have the the sharp edge to work with you also have the point facing forward and the point will concentrate even more force on a smaller surface area when looking at the chinese dagger axe or ge i would also imagine a similar effect to that of an eager rotax so in terms of destructive power my money is always on the axe versatility not as much there are definitely more things you can do with a

Sword depending on the type of sword of course but typically you have a very effective thrust now you can thrust with a lot of 

axes

 like in this case here with the points or horns yeah you can certainly thrust with that even more so with this it's just not going to penetrate as far as a sword but even though there's a much greater variety of techniques with a sword we also have to keep in mind that for one the historical manuscripts cover swords much more some of them do cover hal birds

And pole 

axes

 but not so much shorter two-handed 

axes

 with the exception of paulo's hector meyer but no single-handed 

axes

 as far as i'm aware are in the manuscripts so we there may be a lot we don't know about the use that simply wasn't recorded so it might have been more complex and more technical or it may also have been simpler you just hit them with your axe while of course keeping in mind the fundamental basics of fighting distance timing et cetera but there's still a

Number of things you can do with these for one you can place your hands usually anywhere on the half depends some horseman's 

axes

 tend to have a dedicated grip area and a steel half but with this you can choke up to use it at a closer distance you can grapple with the half etc another interesting thing with two handed 

axes

 when using a sword with two hands you want the more dexterous main hand to be on top close to the hill for fine manipulation with an axe that's not necessary you can

Power it with this hand and benefit from the greater leverage and thereby deliver a very powerful swing and you can deliver it from your left side to your opponent's right side no less where 

they

 hold their weapon rather than the shield finally there is the issue of durability everything can break of course swords could and did break or bend or otherwise be rendered and usable same is true for 

axes

 but potentially more so because if you have a wooden half it can be damaged quite severely

From cutting into it it can just break more easily with use so that can be a problem and you sometimes see solutions for that for example here's a 17th century norwegian axe that is wrapped in with an iron band and wrapped 

axes

 are also mentioned in the old norse saga so that would be a way to strengthen it and make it less likely to be damaged and break of course it also adds some weight and there are a number of other reinforcements like the spanish horseman's axe here for example from

1500 to 1533 has a brass language on top of an oak half with this german horseman's axe 

they

 went even further and covered the entire handle in brass there's also speculation about using rawhide or leather or other organic materials to wrap the handle and make it more durable which would be hard to find evidence for because organic materials don't preserve very well we're lucky enough to find the occasional wooden half at least partially intact or even fully sometimes so covers

Like that if 

they

 were used wouldn't normally survive in the archaeological record as always there are pros and cons at some things swords are better at some things 

axes

 are better but overall i think 

they

 deserve a little more appreciation so hopefully this helped a little bit in that regard and i hope you found it interesting thanks for watching and have a good one folks you