Hello,
It goes a ways in explaining the chip since the hard, welded steel edge is highly brittle. Also I notice that the low spot of the back seems to correlate to this troublesome chip, lots of speculations possible to be sure. Another clue to the edge profile would be the relation of the angle of the cutting edge to the eye. They don't seem to run parallel to each other, which you could expect of a hewing axe. Difficult to know for sure from my vantage point though. Take care applying mechanical power to the blade, forge welds can separate at temperatures fairly low, even to soon to detect with the bare hand.
Greetings,
Don Wagstaff
