Really glad you like it rich, also glad it was a surprise!
A little info on the axe:
I forged it from a high carbon RR spike (one of the guys at the blacksmith shop was giving me heck for "cheating" by using a RR spike
)
The eye was hot drifted. The handle is a cut off from a 1x2 hickory board, shaped with a rasp and finished with Olive oil.
Like half eye said, it is well balanced and just the right weight IMO, the whole thing is right under 2 lbs. To test it before mailing it I roughed out a bow with it. It made very quick work of the red oak I was hacking away at! On one hand it was hard to mail it off because I liked it so much (
) but on the other I simply couldn't wait for half eye to get it!
Rich, I forgot to mention when we were talking that the previous time we were conversing on the phone you mentioned how much you liked the Viking bearded axes. At the time I was looking at this axe (just after I had finished it) and I just knew you were going to love it. It was REALLY HARD for me to not spill the beans and ruin the surprise though
I'd post a couple of photos I took of it but my camera has walked off.