[Regia-NA] Re: [Regia] Axe loops (further thoughts)

[Jon Smith]

Kim, Your logic doesn't follow...

Having spent quite some long days camping carrying a SHARP axe in a leather
belt holster - no cover - without slicing myself [and being a scout at the
time that was a lot of running, jumping , climbing trees...] I think that
this argument is flawed.

Tucking your axe into a belt is a flawed argument too... It just doesn't
hold up to water. It would depend on physique, level of activity, tightness
of belt... and when I've tried falls out of hurts....

Possibly we see the use of these weapons in a very different light - an axe
(war axe not the thing you cut down trees with) is not a thugs weapon - far
from it - its a carefully designed, well made piece of kit, with a better
balance than the average sword and very practical. I would think this may be
a 'primary' short weapon - using your sword only when you really need to.

After all you can't throw your sword - you can your axe, they break
shields..., they are cheap, keep it to hand - use it first and then get your
sword out.

How to carry it being the question - back hand on your shield as Chris
suggested. Axe covers have to be carefully made, as the leather will soon
strop away your nice edge as it moves - hence the need to put the blade
against stitching - even the commercially produced one we used we soon
ditched apart from travel as you spent all your time repairing the damage
they did to the bite - and we aren't talking those £2-99 axes from budget
hard ware stores - these were good high quality axes.

>From a more pragmatic view - we used to keep all our axes in a wood block at
base - so no need for the cover, the axe doesn't get lost and you always
know where it is. In normal usage you would not have need of that cover. If
you are carrying an axe around (and not doing other things with your hands)
then it makes a lot more sense to hold onto the head (stops it bouncing
around) with the shaft pointing upwards [try it].

This bit is OT - but I was in a discussion with an egyptologist and
discussing maces as you do. He saw I was carrying mine in a loop at my
side - and pointed out that a number of mace heads (egyptian) had been found
with an associated ring below the head, and in his research - but he didn't
have references on him, that a number of medieval [13th/14th] european [I'm
guessing eastern as thats where most of the finds actually come from] maces
had been found looking similar and it was assumed that these were
'decorative'... your guess is as good as mine - he described mine as an
interesting interpretation that fits in with the facts.

Jon