A crazy Scandinavian friend and I though it would be fun to order a couple of these one-handed bearded axes from Wechter Arms. We got them on sale. I have beaten this one up for over a year now and its time to share my thoughts.
The Good
These bearded axe trainers are better than everything else I have tried to date. Plastic trainers suck. There are a number of methods of stopping a sword blade and defending with the top of an axe that don’t work with plastic trainers. This axe design uses a soft rubber core sandwiched between a thick and strong outer leather outer. These things do a great job binding and blocking when plastic trainers just buckle, flop, and slide all over the place.
On the other hand, I have seen some rubber trainers be too rubbery and these seem to be nicely ridged yet still somewhat soft on impact. That’s a hard balance to strike and I like what they have going here.
The profile of the axe head is absolutely awesome. This is not trying to be a generic, neutral shaped axe. It is bearded axe without apologizing. More bearded axe techniques work with this than the other trainers I have used. It features a wonderfully pronounced blade.
This trainer is suited for contact free play, and it has enough head weight and blade profile to showcase what the bearded axe can do. I wish you could see how brutal of a disarm this thing can do in a hanging position. Just come visit and ask, I’ll show you.
The handle is interesting. Its not a conventional shaped handle compared to others but it is really functional and I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. It has proven sturdy too. Just be careful, it’s a literal club that you are swinging at your friend. You might want to pad part of it if you are not the kind of group that practices control.
The Bad
I talked about a balance between being impact friendly vs ridged. True axes were very ridged. The historical axe’s beard was designed to hook and pull on things. I think this axe is better than many, but the beard is still too soft to do some techniques. Once it starts hooking things like shields and legs, I found it to be inadequate and unrealistic. Those kinds of targets are really important and I wished the hook part of the axe could be improved in some way without compromising the impact friendliness. I have a plastic trainer that does a perfectly adequate job pulling and hooking compared to this … but it is way too light so I guess I can’t have it all.
I also found the axe to be lighter than I want it. Some will disagree with me here. I know that would make it less friendly during impact, but in freeplay I want to learn what a weapon can do. If it is too light, I’m not getting an accurate picture of what it can do.
Really, the rigidness bothers me more than the weight. I can always wrap some heavy gauge electrical wire around the head to bring the weight up.
The Ugly
The screw covers have busted off in parts. The rubber that the axe is made out of is soft and sloppy like recycled tire rubber. It looks like it was cut with a tin can shank. When it hits wooden wasters and shields it leaves a nasty black streak and mares everything up.
Now, you probably think I’m being critical of the axe here. I’m not. Let me explain. While you read that section if you were thinking to yourself “Ew, yuck, that sounds ugly. I don’t want that.” then this is not for you. This weapon simulates what was used, historically speaking, by Vikings. If you are bothered by the look of black rubber gunk on your shield or screw covers that you busted over your friend’s mask; then you should probably study something else. Perhaps you would be happy with a nice f2 flex small sword. You could study the gentleman’s rules for dueling to first blood or some crap like that. Let the barbarians of the world study the bearded axe. This is not for pansies.
Conclusion
In short, the idea of blending leather and rubber to make something that strikes this unique balance of impact, rigidness, and weight is unique. It is a clever solution to a problem that has really not been fully solved. I like this thing. I’m using it. When comparing it to other options, this is a pretty good choice.