In the past you all have requested a lot of Ancient weapons for your films, from Samurai Armor and Weapons, to Knight Swords,to Maces, but your thirst for ancient warfare has yet to be satiated, and the requests continue coming in. Maybe we'll decide to do a full Viking or Medieval special, but until then, here is a battle axe that could easily be modified for almost any kind of ancient battle scene you can think of. 

 

 

 

I started out with a wooden dowel that is about 3 inches in diameter. 

 

 

 

I then cut a V-Shaped notch in the end of the dowel with a hand saw, be careful if you aren't use to cutting. (You could also use a jigsaw or a dremel or something for this that could make it easier)

 

 

Now, put it on a piece of foam board (preferably black, white is going to take more paint, and I want to keep this as quick and simple as possible) and sketch out the shape of the blade you want. It can be a one-sided axe, or it can be a double sided axe, or as elaborate as you want it, so just think of what your film needs and sketch it. I am making a very basic kind of Viking-esque axe, so I want a kind of rough double-sided design. 

 

 

 

Now, cut the foam out, and push it firmly into the notch. Then hot glue (or epoxy) it in place. THEN take your finger and compress the edges of the blade to make them appear a little sharper.

 

 

I then took some brown acrylic paint, and watered it down, and stained the handle with it (you might have to do this a few times, as it soaks into the wood and gets lighter as it dries.)

 

 

 

I then wrapped twine around the top, and hot glued it in place.

 

 

I then painted it a dark silver, so I can make it look a little like metal molding. (You could paint it brown or black, and try to make it look like leather fastening if you wanted)

 

I then painted the axe with layes of black and silver (adding some darker details to the center "molded" looking section). Add lighter metallic highlights along the edge of the blade to look like battle wear. 

 

 

 

Now, add some darker "wear" streaks on the handle, and there you go, a basic battle axe that'll only cost you a few dollars.