As promised:
1) Project Mayhem = The Maniaxe. That's the official name. This is just the beginning.
2) The world's first truly modular axe system. There are going to be more head styles and more handle styles. Right now I believe I'm at 12 different heads and four different handles.
3) ANY head will fit on ANY handle. Total interchangeability and mission flexibility. Going camping and want a fat bit and hammer poll? I got you. Deploying and need a faster piece with a spike for breaching, punching holes in things, and possible CQB? I got you. Need a dedicated fighter with the smallest possible form factor that still has enough oomph for breaching? I got you. Just unfasten three bolts, pop the nuts, slide the old head out, and then slide the new head on. You say you broke your handles (not bloody likely), or you want different colored handles? Same deal. Total modularity. Total flexibility. Total customization.
4) Custom stainless steel fasteners heat treated for maximum durability and toughness. Bolts are T30 Torx. Nuts extend all the way through handles and heads, and bolts are solid with no vent. It's like having three solid rods of nearly 1/2" round bar holding the heads on. And that's just the heads. And oh, yeah - if you've got a Strider spanner, it will also work with these fasteners.
5) There is an internal mortise/tenon interface between the heads and the handles for maximum security and stablity.
6) Each of the two handle pieces is machined form a solid block of 1/2" G10. Excellent shock absorption. Electrically non-conductive so if you chop through a hot wire, you don't get blasted out of your boots. And damn near impervious to fluids, solvents, etc, as well as the environmental effects of heat, cold, and humidity. Handles are machined and then blasted, providing the ideal amount of traction for use with gloves or bare handed.
7) Heads are 3/8" thick S7 with a Rockwell hardness of around 56C (+/- 1). For those of you that are not familiar with this steel, it is a shock steel - this is what jackhammer bits are made of.
8) Both heads and fasteners will be blasted and then sent to Ionbond for DLC coating in black or coyote. I didn't have time before the trip to make that happen, but they'll be going out for that in the next week or so.
9) These will all come with a sheath system that provides a lot of flexible carry options. It will be a lot like these, which come with my custom axes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaD1G2eaXXc&feature=plcp
And now, what you guys really want to see, the pics. Steve did a fantastic job capturing these images of our shenanigans.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/st33ve0...259151/detail/
And here's a quick video of Matt from Grey Group and Ben Bawidamann from Bawidamann Blades reclaiming a parking space with one of the unsharpened prototypes. Can't wait to see how these perform with an actual cutting edge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-aNuf7qWbM&feature=plcp