Lyras
26-01-2009, 12:38
'Badger' Trench Axe – Protectorate of Lyras
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/2821090/Badger.png
Length(folded): 20cm (8 inches)
Length(unfolded): 60cm (24 inches)
Weight: 700gm
Abstract
The Badger is a collapsible 24 inch, steel-bladed, titanium-hafted axe and entrenching tool issued to combatant personnel of the Protectorate of Lyras.
Background and conceptualisation
Entrenching tools (ETs) have, for centuries, been a staple part of a combatant's personal equipment. The utility of field entrenchments and firing pits has been known and appreciated since the American Civil War, and instruction in how to rapidly and effectively prepare a firing position (or network) thereof, continues to be taught in many military training institutions around the world.
During a large number of the conflicts in which the entrenching tool has been widely used, its utility as a melee weapon has become well-known. Particularly noted during the first and second world wars, the entrenching tool became a staple weapon of many units that favoured close-assault, ambush or night-fighting, where its ease of use, psychological effect, stopping power, and adaptability made it a popular article of equipment.
With this thought in mind, the Lyran Protectorate Research and Development Commission sought to create an piece of equipment that was not just incidentally quite capable of being used in close-combat but was actually designed to excel in that role, without sacrificing mobility or capability in the original entrenching task.
The result was the Badger Trench Axe.
Head design and composition
The axehead, developed as it was from the head of a shovel, is still 100% capable of making holes, both in people and dirt. The round-pointed nose enables all but the most solid of ground (or bones) to be driven through, while the wedge-shaped profile protects the hardened and sharpened axe-edges from incurring damage during digging. The edges of the axe, as one would expect, are designed to be able to cut down trees and hack through vegetation (as well as people, in both cases) and, being of a high-durability, thickened design, can be used for a host of other tasks requiring blunt force.
The head is made of CPM S30V steel, which is a form of hardened crystalline (martensitic) stainless steel, (originally selected for use in the Lycos combatant machete, and here carried over to the Badger) due to its highly wear- and corrosion-resistant properties. Its chemical composition allows for a more extensive and regulated formation and distribution of vanadium carbides, which are harder, more effective at cutting, and maintain a sharp edge longer than the more conventional chromium carbides used in regular high-carbon steel. Composition of non-ferrous elements is as follows:
Carbon: 1.45%
Chromium: 14%
Vanadium: 4%
Molybdenum: 2%.
Further, the edge of the axe-blades at the base of either side of the head extends rearwards in a distinctive hook, allowing the Badger a host of additional close-combat options, and also adds to the weapon's psychological impact.
Shaft design and composition
The weapon shaft is built in two parts, an upper and lower section. Both sections are hollow, and are of differing dimensions, so as to allow the lower half to slide into the upper half, and so as to allow the lower half to carry the in-built multi-tool.
The shaft is a combination of titanium and kraton polyamide. The titanium is structural, and grants the Badger its required strength and rigidity. The kraton is the outer layer, moulded over the titanium shaft and screwed into place. Kraton, a synthetic substitute for rubber, features notably higher grip, chemical-, heat- and corrosion-resistance and ease of manufacture, when compared to rubber, plastic, wood or leather. Kraton is elastometric, allowing the Badger's haft to return to shape after being subjected to deformative force (like some other bloke's bayonet or skull). The shaft's lower section is threaded, and is turn-released to slide into the upper section for easy storage and carriage, while the Badger's head can be folded back over the upper shaft, enabling the entire tool to be carried in a minimum of space. The Badger can (using an allen key and with considerable physical effort) be disassembled in case of damage or wear (or desire to change to a different, more terrain-appropriate camouflage).
At the base of the handle is a kraton-covered, steel-cored counter-weight and glass-breaker, which also doubles as a lanyard loop. The base is threaded, and can be removed, which provides access to the Badger's integral multi-tool. This multi-tool, housed as it is within the Badger's lower haft, is not dissimilar to a large swiss-army knife, and includes a number of useful accessories, such as saws, files, tweezers, bottle- and can-openers, and more.
This base can be removed, a 4 inch spike selected from the multi-tool, then re-threaded into place, upside down, providing the axe with a butt-spike which can be of great use in hand-to-hand combat, if desired. This is, however, not required, and some prefer to fight with a blunt base.
Sheath and sundries
The sheath for the Badger, as with the Lycos combatant machete, is a treated leather ventilated design, and includes an adaptor to allow it to be mounted onto the load bearing systems common to body armour-wearing militaries. The provision of plasticised straps and velcro adaptors allows the pouches on the outside of the sheath to be mounted on either side, to cater for individual combat styles, or seperate, somewhere else on the load-bearing system.
The sheath comes, as standard, with a leatherman tool and whetstone, each contained in one of the two pouches external to the sheath.
Export
Upon purchase of a Badger, the purchaser will receive;
1 x Badger Trench Axe (in a camouflage finish of choice)
1 x sheath
2 x external pouches
1 x leatherman tool
1 x whetstone
Each Badger Trench Axe is available from Lyran Arms (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=541320) at a cost of NS$80
DPRs can be purchased at NS$120m.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/2821090/Badger.png
Length(folded): 20cm (8 inches)
Length(unfolded): 60cm (24 inches)
Weight: 700gm
Abstract
The Badger is a collapsible 24 inch, steel-bladed, titanium-hafted axe and entrenching tool issued to combatant personnel of the Protectorate of Lyras.
Background and conceptualisation
Entrenching tools (ETs) have, for centuries, been a staple part of a combatant's personal equipment. The utility of field entrenchments and firing pits has been known and appreciated since the American Civil War, and instruction in how to rapidly and effectively prepare a firing position (or network) thereof, continues to be taught in many military training institutions around the world.
During a large number of the conflicts in which the entrenching tool has been widely used, its utility as a melee weapon has become well-known. Particularly noted during the first and second world wars, the entrenching tool became a staple weapon of many units that favoured close-assault, ambush or night-fighting, where its ease of use, psychological effect, stopping power, and adaptability made it a popular article of equipment.
With this thought in mind, the Lyran Protectorate Research and Development Commission sought to create an piece of equipment that was not just incidentally quite capable of being used in close-combat but was actually designed to excel in that role, without sacrificing mobility or capability in the original entrenching task.
The result was the Badger Trench Axe.
Head design and composition
The axehead, developed as it was from the head of a shovel, is still 100% capable of making holes, both in people and dirt. The round-pointed nose enables all but the most solid of ground (or bones) to be driven through, while the wedge-shaped profile protects the hardened and sharpened axe-edges from incurring damage during digging. The edges of the axe, as one would expect, are designed to be able to cut down trees and hack through vegetation (as well as people, in both cases) and, being of a high-durability, thickened design, can be used for a host of other tasks requiring blunt force.
The head is made of CPM S30V steel, which is a form of hardened crystalline (martensitic) stainless steel, (originally selected for use in the Lycos combatant machete, and here carried over to the Badger) due to its highly wear- and corrosion-resistant properties. Its chemical composition allows for a more extensive and regulated formation and distribution of vanadium carbides, which are harder, more effective at cutting, and maintain a sharp edge longer than the more conventional chromium carbides used in regular high-carbon steel. Composition of non-ferrous elements is as follows:
Carbon: 1.45%
Chromium: 14%
Vanadium: 4%
Molybdenum: 2%.
Further, the edge of the axe-blades at the base of either side of the head extends rearwards in a distinctive hook, allowing the Badger a host of additional close-combat options, and also adds to the weapon's psychological impact.
Shaft design and composition
The weapon shaft is built in two parts, an upper and lower section. Both sections are hollow, and are of differing dimensions, so as to allow the lower half to slide into the upper half, and so as to allow the lower half to carry the in-built multi-tool.
The shaft is a combination of titanium and kraton polyamide. The titanium is structural, and grants the Badger its required strength and rigidity. The kraton is the outer layer, moulded over the titanium shaft and screwed into place. Kraton, a synthetic substitute for rubber, features notably higher grip, chemical-, heat- and corrosion-resistance and ease of manufacture, when compared to rubber, plastic, wood or leather. Kraton is elastometric, allowing the Badger's haft to return to shape after being subjected to deformative force (like some other bloke's bayonet or skull). The shaft's lower section is threaded, and is turn-released to slide into the upper section for easy storage and carriage, while the Badger's head can be folded back over the upper shaft, enabling the entire tool to be carried in a minimum of space. The Badger can (using an allen key and with considerable physical effort) be disassembled in case of damage or wear (or desire to change to a different, more terrain-appropriate camouflage).
At the base of the handle is a kraton-covered, steel-cored counter-weight and glass-breaker, which also doubles as a lanyard loop. The base is threaded, and can be removed, which provides access to the Badger's integral multi-tool. This multi-tool, housed as it is within the Badger's lower haft, is not dissimilar to a large swiss-army knife, and includes a number of useful accessories, such as saws, files, tweezers, bottle- and can-openers, and more.
This base can be removed, a 4 inch spike selected from the multi-tool, then re-threaded into place, upside down, providing the axe with a butt-spike which can be of great use in hand-to-hand combat, if desired. This is, however, not required, and some prefer to fight with a blunt base.
Sheath and sundries
The sheath for the Badger, as with the Lycos combatant machete, is a treated leather ventilated design, and includes an adaptor to allow it to be mounted onto the load bearing systems common to body armour-wearing militaries. The provision of plasticised straps and velcro adaptors allows the pouches on the outside of the sheath to be mounted on either side, to cater for individual combat styles, or seperate, somewhere else on the load-bearing system.
The sheath comes, as standard, with a leatherman tool and whetstone, each contained in one of the two pouches external to the sheath.
Export
Upon purchase of a Badger, the purchaser will receive;
1 x Badger Trench Axe (in a camouflage finish of choice)
1 x sheath
2 x external pouches
1 x leatherman tool
1 x whetstone
Each Badger Trench Axe is available from Lyran Arms (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=541320) at a cost of NS$80
DPRs can be purchased at NS$120m.