If Tony Swatton ever took on the role of Dragonborn in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you'd sooner find him perfecting his smithing craft and selling his wares than shouting at Daedra and studying with the Greybeards. The prop maker and metal master is at it again, this time trading in the smooth, clean finish of Cloud's enormous buster sword for the rough hewn, substance over style, Orcish battle axe from Skyrim.
Since Swatton happens to be a consummate professional, the axe comes out actually looking like it was designed, smelted, and smithed by warty, green, Orcish hands. He used modern tech and tools, but only to expedite the process.
Orichalcum Ore and ingots are a little hard to come by in the real world, so Swatton substituted steel instead for the axe head's blade. Red oak makes up the shaft/handle, grinded down to look like it was shaped but anything but modern tools. In game, an orcish battleaxe will fetch about 160 coins or so, but I imagine Swatton would get more than a pretty penny from a Skyrim fan for this axe. The work even caught the eye of Bethesda's VP Pete Hines, who sent out a tweet so his followers could check it out.
This is the first on Swatton's works to feature bone, which was placed at the bottom of the handle, giving it an authentic look to how the axe appears in Skyrim. Leather is crisscrossed over the handle to provide a better grip, held in place with Swatton's own style of industrial epoxy. And yes, it actually cuts just like you think an Orcish battle axe would, requiring minimal effort to cut through a variety of bones, cans, and for good measure, all manner of melons. Armed with this fiendish weapon, it's easy to see why Tamriel's orcs are known as such barbaric and fearsome warriors.
You can check out Swatton's entire crafting process in the video below.
