I hear ya Dave, it is addictive (Im ready for the zombies). I love axes but in general am a sucker for anything hand forged. Just bought a nice 18th century barkspud.

Im real leery about names for these suckers in large measure because I tend to study the late medieval and early colonial eras so the cross-over makes tool identification/naming a bit tricky. Ive seen so-called coopering axes in manuscript pictures showing timberframers, wheelwrights, cabinet/furniture makers, basket makers...the works.

At one time - building on the shoulders of Eric Sloane and company- I tried to classify axes based on shape, size and era. I had gathered dozens and dozens of images from the 14h-18th century and found that just when I thought I was seeing patterns, something would throw off that theory.

Now I think two things existed. First, good tools get passed down from generation to generation for at least a century or more before retired. And second, a good design is a good design, sprinkled with a bit of whimsy. Only when pulling back by three or four centuries do we start to see discernible differences. And yet even then Ive seen 8th or 9th century axes (what we might call viking) look suprisingly similar to 17th or 18th century ones; ergo a good design is a good design.

Not until cast iron axes in the mid to latter 19th century do we start to see large numbers of the same type of axe.