Axe construction

Making the Head

Having not much clue on how I would create the axe head itself I sought the advice of a tutor who suggested sheet steel and having no experience with metal work I thought it would be a good thing to try out.
First I drew out the profile of the axe in the scale it would actually be.

I then traced the axe head and extended the axe blade over the handle and repeated the border 3mm inside the existing design.

It was then cut out and using spray mount I stuck it to some 6mm scrap MDF and cut that out using the band saw in the workshop.

The template was clamped to a sheet of steel which was clamped to a table. The plasma cutter was then rested upon and moved around the template to accurately cut the shape out hence why I had to trace the axe 3mm inside of the template. 

Using a file I made sure all of the edges were relatively smooth and free of excess steel from the plasma cutter. Positives to using sheet steel is that it is a very strong and durable metal and you can't get closer to the appearance of metal than real metal. Negatives that I've experienced with this so far is that it's incredibly thin for an axe blade of it's size but if the finished product is only being displayed side on then you shouldn't be able to tell much.