Dictionary Definition
axe n : an edge tool with a heavy bladed head
mounted across a handle [syn: ax]
Verb
1 chop or split with an ax; "axe wood" [syn:
ax]
2 terminate; "The NSF axed the research program
and stopped funding it" [syn: ax]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology 1
æx.Pronunciation
- , /æks/, /
Extensive Definition
The axe, or ax, is an
implement that has been used for millennia to
shape, split and cut wood,
harvest timber, as a
weapon and a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms
and specialized uses but generally consists of an axe head with a
handle, or
helve.
The earliest examples of axes
have heads of stone with
some form of wooden handle attached (hafted) in a method to suit the
available materials and use. Axes made of copper, bronze, iron, steel appeared as these
technologies developed. The axe is an example of a simple
machine, as it is a type of wedge,
or dual inclined
plane. This reduces the effort needed by the wood chopper. It
splits the wood into two parts by the pressure concentration at the
blade. The handle of the axe also acts as a lever
allowing the user to increase the force at the cutting edge (try
using an axe head without a handle and you will see what is meant)
- not using the full length of the handle is known as choking the
axe. For fine chopping using a side axe this sometimes is a
positive effect, but for felling with a double bitted axe it
reduces efficiency. At least since the late Neolithic, elaborate
axes (battle-axes, T-axes, etc.) had a religious
significance and probably indicated the exalted status of
their owner. Certain types almost never show traces of wear;
deposits of unshafted axe blades from the middle Neolithic (such as
at the Somerset
Levels in Britain) may have been gifts to the deities.
In Minoan Crete, the double
axe (labrys) had a
special significance, used by women priests in religious
ceremonies. In 1998 a labrys, complete with an elaborately
embellished haft, was found at Cham-Eslen, Canton of
Zug, Switzerland.
The haft was 120 cm long and wrapped in ornamented birch-bark. The
axe blade is 17,4 cm long and made of antigorite, mined in the
Gotthard-area. The
haft goes through a biconical drilled hole and is fastened by
wedges of antler and by birch-tar. It belongs to the early Cortaillod
culture.
In the Roman
fasces, the axe
symbolized the authority to execute and were
often used as symbols for Fascist Italy under
Mussolini.
In folklore, stone axes were
sometimes believed to be thunderbolts and were used
to guard buildings against lightning, as it was believed
(mythically)
that lightning never struck the same place twice. This has caused
some skewing of axe distributions.
Steel axes were
important in superstition as well. A
thrown axe could keep off a hailstorm, sometimes an axe was
placed in the crops,
with the cutting edge to the skies to protect the harvest against
bad weather. An upright
axe buried under the sill
of a house would keep off witches, while
an axe under the bed would assure male offspring.
Basques,
Australians and
New Zealanders have developed variants of rural sports that
perpetuate the traditions of log cutting with axe. The Basque
variants, splitting horizontally or vertically disposed logs, are
generically called aizkolaritza (from aizkora:
axe).
In Yorùbá
mythology, the oshe (double-headed axe) symbolizes Shango, Orisha (god) of
thunder and lightning. It is said to represent swift and balanced
justice. Shango altars often contain a carved figure of a woman
holding a gift to the god with a double-bladed axe sticking up from
her head.
Parts of the axe
The axe is comprised of two primary components, the axe head, and the haft.The axe head is typically
bounded by the bit (or blade) at one end, and the poll (or butt) at
the other, though some designs feature two bits opposite each
other. The top corner of the bit where the cutting edge begins is
called the toe, and the bottom corner is known as the heel. Either
side of the head is called the cheek, which is sometimes
supplemented by lugs where the head meets the haft, and the hole
where the haft is mounted is called the eye. The part of the bit
that descends below the rest of the axe-head is called the beard,
and a bearded axe is an antiquated axe head with an exaggerated
beard that can sometimes extend the cutting edge twice the height
of the rest of the head.
The axe haft is sometimes
called the handle. Traditionally, it was made of a resilient
hardwood like hickory or ash, but modern axes often have hafts made
of durable synthetic materials. Antique axes and their modern
reproductions, like the tomahawk,
often had a simple, straight haft with a circular cross-section
that wedged onto the axe-head without the aid of wedges or pins.
Modern hafts are curved for better grip and to aid in the swinging
motion, and are mounted securely to the head. The shoulder is where
the head mounts onto the haft, and this is either a long oval or
rectangular cross-section of the haft that's secured to the axe
head with small metal or wooden wedges. The belly of the haft is
the longest part, where it bows in gently, and the throat is where
it curves sharply down into to the short grip, just before end of
the haft, which is known as the knob.
Forms of Axes
Axes designed to cut or shape wood
- Felling axe — Cuts across the grain of wood, as in the felling of trees. In single or double bit (the bit is the cutting edge of the head) forms and many different weights, shapes, handle types and cutting geometries to match the characteristics of the material being cut.
- Splitting Axe — Used to split with the grain of the wood. Splitting axe bits are more wedge shaped. This shape causes the axe to rend the fibres of the wood apart, without having to cut through them, especially if the blow is delivered with a twisting action at impact.
- Broad axe — Used with the grain of the wood in precision splitting. Broad axe bits are chisel-shaped (one flat and one bevelled edge) facilitating more controlled work.
- Adze — A variation featuring a head perpendicular to that of an axe. Rather than splitting wood side-by-side, it is used to rip a level surface into a horizontal piece of wood.
Axes as weapons
Mêlée
- Battle axe — In its most common form, an arm-length weapon borne in one or both hands. Compared to a sword swing, it delivers more cleaving power against a smaller target area, making it more effective against armor, due to concentrating more of its weight in the axehead. However, it allows much less precision than a sword does.
- Tomahawk — used almost exclusively by Native Americans, its blade was originally crafted of stone. Along with the familiar war version, which could be fashioned as a throwing weapon, the pipe tomahawk was a ceremonial and diplomatic tool. A similar type of axe is the African nzappa zap. it has traditionally been a favorite of marines since Vietnam.
- Spontoon Tomahawk - A French trapper and Iroquois collaboration, this was an axe with a knife-like stabbing blade instead of the familiar wedged shape.
- Valaška — used by Slovak shepherds, it could double as a walking stick.
- Ono — a Japanese weapon wielded by sōhei warrior monks.
Pole Arm
- Halberd — a spearlike weapon with a hooked poll, effective against mounted cavalry.
- Pole axe — designed to defeat plate armour. Its axe (or hammer) head is much narrower than other axes, which accounts for its penetrating power.
- Danish axe — A long-handled weapon with a large flat blade, often attributed to the Vikings.
Ranged
- Throwing axe — Any of a number of ranged weapons designed to strike with a similar splitting action as their Mêlée counterparts. These are often small in profile and usable with one hand.
- Hurlbat — An entirely metal throwing axe sharpened on every auxiliary end to a point or blade, practically guaranteeing some form of damage against its target.
- Francisca or Frankish axe — a short throwing weapon of the European Migration Period, the name of which may have become attached to the Germanic tribe associated with it: the Franks (see France).
Axes for other uses
- Firefighter's axe or fire axe — It has a pick-shaped pointed poll (area of the head opposite the cutting edge). It is often decorated in vivid colors to make it easily visible during an emergency. Its primary use is for breaking down doors.
- Pulaski — An axe with a mattock blade built into the rear of the main axe blade, used for digging ('grubbing out') through and around roots as well as chopping. In addition to the McCloud (a tool similar to a hoe/rake combination), the pulaski is an indispensable tool used in fighting forest fires, as well as trail-building, brush clearance and similar functions.
- Splitting maul — A splitting implement that has evolved from the simple 'wedge' design to more complex designs. Some mauls have a conical 'axehead'; compound mauls have swiveling 'sub-wedges', among other types; others have a heavy wedge-shaped head, with a sledgehammer face opposite.
- slater's axe or zax — An axe for cutting roofing slate, with a long point on the poll for punching nail holes, and with the blade offset laterally from the handle to protect the worker's hand from flying slate chips.
In the illustration to the
left, from an 1872 "Art of Travel" publication, figure 1 represents
a light axe or pick which has the
great advantage of lightness and handiness, with a single blade, or
adze, suited to
step-cutting and with a small hammer-head at the back which
balances the pick, and is useful in inserting pegs into rock and
ice. Figure 2 represents a travellers' axe, slightly heavier than
the first, and which, at least at the time, was recommended as
adapted for mountain work of all kinds.
Hammer Axe
Hammer axes (or axe-hammers) typically feature an extended poll, opposite the blade, shaped and sometimes hardened for use as a hammer. The name axe-hammer is often applied to a characteristic shape of perforated stone axe used in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Iron axe-hammers are found in Roman military contexts, e.g. Cramond, Edinburgh and South Shields, Tyne and Wear.Today they are used in many
different fields of work, completing all jobs from splitting wood
to removal engines from vans. Tungsten is often added for weight as
an upgrade, as well as six foot handles for the heavier jobs that
require added force and "massive blows" such as cutting automobile
frames, slicing brake rotors, rough body work, home construction,
home de-construction, etc.
See also
- Sagaris
- Fasces
- Battle axe people Corded Ware culture
- Nzappa zap
Literature
Neolithic axes
- W. Borkowski, Krzemionki mining complex (Warszawa 1995)
- P. Pétrequin, La hache de pierre: carrières vosgiennes et échanges de lames polies pendant le néolithique (5400 - 2100 av. J.-C.) (exposition musées d'Auxerre Musée d'Art et d'Histoire) (Paris, Ed. Errance, 1995).
- R. Bradley/M. Edmonds, Interpreting the axe trade: production and exchange in Neolithic Britain (1993).
- P. Pétrequin/A.M. Pétrequin, Écologie d'un outil: la hache de pierre en Irian Jaya (Indonésie). CNRS Éditions, Mongr. du Centre Rech. Arch. 12 (Paris 1993).
Medieval axes
- Schulze, André(Hrsg.): Mittelalterliche Kampfesweisen. Band 2: Kriegshammer, Schild und Kolben. - Mainz am Rhein. : Zabern, 2007. - ISBN 3-8053-3736-1
Superstition
H. Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (Berlin, De Gruyter 1987).References
- Section about types of axes is based on a Quicksilver Wiki article at http://www.metaweb.com/wiki/wiki.phtml?title=A_Glossary_of_Terms_For_Traditional_Timber_Framing_(Timberbee) under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
External links
axe in Old English (ca.
450-1100): Æcs
axe in Arabic:
فأس
axe in Aragonese:
Estral
axe in Assamese:
কুঠাৰ
axe in Asturian:
Hachu
axe in Bavarian:
Åxt
axe in Bosnian:
Sjekira
axe in Bulgarian:
Брадва
axe in Catalan:
Destral
axe in Czech:
Sekera
axe in Danish:
Økse
axe in German:
Axt
axe in Estonian:
Kirves
axe in Spanish:
Hacha
axe in Esperanto:
Hakilo
axe in Basque:
Aizkora
axe in French:
Hache
axe in Korean:
도끼
axe in Croatian:
Sjekira
axe in Ido:
Hakilo
axe in Bishnupriya:
মাচাডো
axe in Indonesian:
Kapak
axe in Icelandic:
Öxi
axe in Italian:
Scure
axe in Hebrew:
גרזן
axe in Kongo:
Soka
axe in Latin:
Securis
axe in Lithuanian:
Kirvis
axe in Lingala:
Nsóka
axe in Hungarian:
Balta
axe in Macedonian:
Секира
axe in Malay (macrolanguage):
Kapak
axe in Dutch:
Bijl
axe in Japanese:
斧
axe in Norwegian:
Øks
axe in Norwegian Nynorsk:
Øks
axe in Pampanga:
Palakul
axe in Polish:
Topór
axe in Portuguese:
Machado
axe in Russian:
Топор
axe in Sicilian:
Accetta
axe in Simple English:
Axe
axe in Slovak:
Sekera
axe in Slovenian:
Sekira
axe in Serbian:
Секира
axe in Serbo-Croatian:
Sjekira
axe in Sundanese:
Kampak
axe in Finnish:
Kirves
axe in Swedish:
Yxa
axe in Tamil:
கோடரி
axe in Telugu:
గొడ్డలి
axe in Thai:
ขวาน
axe in Turkish:
Balta
axe in Samogitian:
Kėrvis
axe in Chinese:
斧