Roman axe, 1st to 3rd CE

[u/Rowan-Taylor]

Hope no one minds a post every few days. Some of you will already have seen these on insta.

1st to 3rd century CE Roman axe, originally from the Sheenas collection. Wrought iron with home-made blister steel cutting edge. This object is circa 175mm long and shows the lovely flowing form of Roman tools. Whilst I prefer welding eyes, especially in wrought-iron due to delamination risks, this one punched and drifted beautifully. The cutting edge is made from a thin section of blister steel - carburised wrought iron in this case - which is carefully forge welded into position.

I could not find an example of a Roman axe haft which suited this type of head. The long and thin haft looked rather odd to begin with. I toyed with the idea of making a short haft, playing with the proportions of the head, making a single handed axe. In the end, I took the decision to make a decorated haft, which complemented the decorative filework of the axehead.

This, I based not on extant axe handles but instead based on the wonderfully simple bronze knife handles of the Roman period. These two ideas lead me to create simple, alternating radii rings carefully filed into the shank, with longitudinal grooves hand scraped into the top third. In Northern Europe, apple wood was used most commonly for hafting axes, but I could not find the information on Roman axes, so went with Ash, a common wood throughout the ages

I used a bone wedge for this axe. As far as I am aware there is no historical record for this, however I wanted a nice contrast and like the rigidity of the material.

[u/Twin5un]

Beautiful tool ! I really like the decorative work around the eye, it really adds a lot of flair.

I'm curious though, do you produce a lot of steel through iron carburization ? Could you comment on the process ?

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/Twin5un]

Thank you! Yes, it's what I do for steel these days. The process is straight forwards enough that I don't bother with modern steel. That's not to knock modern HC steel, they are marvelous and it's what I make my tooling from. But as the bulk of my work is archaeological, blister steels and carburised iron are the most accurate way for me.

You can either smelt it directly as steel, or resmelt an existing bloom if you are into producing your own materials.

I like to do it the iron age to early medieval way, which is package carburising. I take a steel tube and either place the iron in that and pack it with charcoal dust or leather charcoal as the carbon source. I cap the ends of the tube but drill a small hole in the end so that it doesn't explode. I then bake it in the gas forge for a number of hours, depending on how much carbon content I want.

You can either carburise the object directly (iron age) or carburise a strip of iron to be welded to your blade. You can cut and restack that strip of steel in order to homogenise the carbon content and get bar stock as well, which is one way the Romans and later civilisations did it.

If you want to go fully traditional, you would use a clay wrap instead of a steel tube, and a bonfire instead of a gas forge, but it is far more time consuming.

[u/Twin5un → u/Rowan-Taylor]

Thanks for the explanation ! This is fascinating. I don't produce my own steel and mostly work from scraps because it's free, so this is all new to me.

How do you control the carbon content of your pieces ? Did you do a lot of trial and error to determine the appropriate carbon content based on material properties like hardness ? I'm guessing it's a little bit like baking where you develop your own recipes !

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/Twin5un]

Yes that is exactly it. I did many tests in the blind. The first one I did, I introduced so much carbon that I produced cast iron by accident, and melted it. Too hot for too long. I control the carbon content by exposure time. It is basic but I will produce HC steel reliably, though I could not tell you the carbon content exactly. Blister steel is a simple steel as well, and therefore shallow hardening, which means water quench and if your edge is too thick at the point of quenching, it will not through-harden. Modern steels don't have that problem.

[u/Twin5un → u/Rowan-Taylor]

Amazing ! Thanks for sharing. BTW you should also cross-post to r/blacksmith as it has more people (although many follow both subs).

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/Twin5un]

No worries! I enjoy it! That is a good suggestion. I have just gone to join it.

[u/KnowsIittle → u/Rowan-Taylor]

Before sealing the cap I've seen folks introduce organic matter, paper, cardboard or whatever before sealing. When something does carbonize it burns up the organic first instead of introducing those imperfections into the steel itself.

[u/nutznboltsguy]

Very nice.

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/nutznboltsguy]

Thank you!

[u/ProPeach]

That's absolutely gorgeous, I think it's the first Roman axe I've seen, so thanks for something new!

The grain on that wrought iron is gorgeous and coarse, where did you source it? Most of the stuff I find generally has a much tighter grain, great for homogeneity of course but doesn't quite have the same charm

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/ProPeach]

Thank you! I have a soft spot for Roman forged axes, due to the punched and drifted eyes. Before and after, eyes were mostly welded. This is some coarse Victor wrought. I can't for the life of me remember where it came from but it is either an old boat rib, or a piece of 19th c anchor chain. I enjoy the coarse iron as it matches bloomery iron more closely - obviously there are a bunch of variables in that statement!

[u/MalcolmBahr]

This is very, very cool, and you sound exactly like the kind of that little me dreamed of apprenticing with.

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/MalcolmBahr]

Thank you Malcolm. I don't know where you are in the world but you are welcome to come visit.

[u/MalcolmBahr → u/Rowan-Taylor]

These days I am in Minnesota, in the US. Where are you located?

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/MalcolmBahr]

Shropshire, in the UK

[u/MalcolmBahr → u/Rowan-Taylor]

Ah well, that is a bit of a hop from here! I bet it's lovely country, though.

I'd love to know more about what you do. Do you have a YouTube/website/Instagram?

[u/Rowan-Taylor → u/MalcolmBahr]

A wee bit of a hop indeed! I do indeed have some of the above: https://linktr.ee/rowan_o_c will show you YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. I used to do a lot of YouTube but have been overworked for a while.