The Story of the Chimera:

When the frost giants began to descend from their mountain reaches during the endless winter, the dwarves of Uhl (not a race to be bothered with the troubles of others) retreated deep within their mountain fortress. But not every dwarf was content to remain hidden in the dark of their mountains whilst the giants marched to Illantul. A small number of Dwarves had begun to relish the time they spent in the cities of men, especially that which they spent qualfulling mead at the lazy griffon.   One such dwarf was a smith named Gegoran, and he and a small band of like-minded kin were determined to stop the frost giants from razing the human towns of Illantul.  While most of the dwarves continued to mine deeper at the behest of their king, Gegoran and his kin spirted away a small amount of valandium from the bowels of the mountain.  From this rare and incredibly light ore Gegoran forged a magical battle axe that endowed its wielder with the strength and dexterity to fight with the speed and ferocity of three normal warriors.  Gegoran named his axe “The Chimera” after the nearly invincible legendary three headed beast. It is said that Gegoran himself wielded the Chimera to turn the tide against the frost giants in their assault of Illantul. 

Actual Design and Construction:

The axe head is a reclaimed double bit high carbon steel head that I ground back to clean steel and shaped into its current form.  Each side of the head is hand etched with the image of a chimera standing aloft a stone plateau and framed with decorative knotting.    I made a brass octagonal cap that covers the eye of the axe.  The cap is secured with an octagonal finial spike that threads to a custom steel wedge I used to hang the axe.  The bottom seven and a half inches of the octagonal hickory handle is wrapped with deer hide to form a comfortable leather grip. Finally, the bottom of the knob is covered with a decorative brass plate attached with eight brass nails.  All the brass fixtures were treated with a patina.

Specifications:

Axe Head Length: 8.5 inches

Axe Head Width at widest point: 4.25 inches

Handle Length: 20.25 inches

Overall Axe length: 22 inches

Hand grip length: 7.5 inches

Overall Axe Weight: 2 lbs, 9 ounces