Аркан – Arkan – heroic warriors dance of Ukrainian hutsuls (instrumental)

8qa7X-NlNx4 Not a dance video despite the name…there are some interesting images shown under the song. The knife is particularly interesting.

The New and complete American encyclopedia 1808

The inhabitants ire a mixture of the descendants of the ancient Hunns, Sclavonians, Camani, Germans, Walachians, Greeks, Jews, Turks, and a wandering people called Zigduns, said to b: of uncertain origin, but probable the fame as those we call Gypsies. The Hungarians are said to be of a sanguine choleric temper, and somewhat fierce, cruel, [...]

Knives from Zakopane region

“From Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary” 1914 A picture of some knives from the Zakopane region on the Poland, Slovak border.

1844 Description of the “mountaineers” in the Carpathians.

“The mountaineers here are called Huzzulen as in Bukovina. We found two of them sitting by the fire at the inn, leaning upon their hatchets. They told us that they were never without their hatchets, that they travelled with them, danced with them, and wore them as a part of their Sunday finery. They went [...]

Mountain Axe at ISMAC XI 2011

Wow, I have really neglected this site for the last year or so haven’t I? Like anyone is reading:) So here is an update…while I may have let the site slack a bit I have been keeping up with my axe work and was lucky enough to present a class on the subject at the [...]

Cigany Botolo

Cold steel to sokyra update

I did a little more work on my converted Cold Steel Norse tomahawk…it felt nice but was just a bit too heavy so I worked on grinding the head into a lighter more historically accurate shape. After a few hours of constant grinding and quenching , I can honestly say I am overjoyed at the [...]

Another axe dance

Another great axe dance fromt he troope in Arizona with Harnas Dragoslav at the head! These guys have been getting better with every clip I see from them..an inspiration to all us axe swingers out there!

Blocking with the poll

Soe just what is the poll you may ask? The poll is the butt or back end of your axe head. A good reference site to keep handy for names of axe parts weapon or tool is the Gransfors site. So now that we know what a poll is why do we want to use [...]

Another mountain axe clip

Threw this together yesterday at the end of our regular training session. After watching this it was evident to me that i am no good at pretending to have my axe knocked out of my hands…..I look like I throw it:)