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The Broad Axe is a socketed axe with a heavy, double-beveled blade designed for hewing and jogging timber. Its sharp edge slices through wood fibers, while its weight ensures clean, precise cuts, similar to traditional hewn timbers found in old buildings worldwide.
The axe-making process begins with chiseling an eye in a mild steel billet. A wedge of Bohler K460 tool steel is inserted for a durable cutting edge. The metal is heated, fluxed with borax to remove impurities, and forge-welded. The axe head is then shaped and roughly ground before annealing.
Annealing relieves stress by heating the axe to 850°C and slowly cooling it. Next, normalizing at 800°C refines the steel’s structure, followed by hardening through heating and quenching in oil and water. To reduce brittleness, the axe is tempered at 220°C for an hour, achieving Rockwell 58-59 (HRC) hardness. A protective beeswax, linseed oil, and turpentine coating prevents rust. Finally, the blade is polished to a mirror finish, honed to razor sharpness, and ready for its custom handle.