Axe head corners

As you said Isk, there must be a difference in testing Axe corners between dag and Bel, because this is what the Dag manual of arms says:

Quote :

4.1.6 - Two-inch rule: Weapon tips NOT designed for thrusting (non-stabbing sword points, flail haft tip, etc.) shall not easily pass more than 0.5 inch through a 2 inch diameter hole. This measurement shall be conducted by lowering the testing template onto the tip of the weapon perpendicular to the edge or shaft of the weapon. The intent is to test the tip of the weapon, not to search for sword and axe head corners that can pass through the template.

Konradr

It's not just axe heads. Dag frequently passes square sword tips as well, which most bel checkers would fail. The reasoning is pretty simple. The 2.5" rule is there to keep weapons from going into the eye socket and it seems to me the single most likely angle to hit someone in the eye socket is the 45 between the blade edge and the flat top. Therefore, it makes very good sense to apply the template to the corner of the tip of a sword or axe or whatever and make sure it won't go more then 1/2" into the 2.5" hole that represents your eye. It does vary, even among dag realms, but many of the biggest groups back east have a lot of square tipped swords on their fields (e.g. GvK has been pretty outspoken about not applying the template on a diagonal) so really it's up to you guys and how you feel about this safety issue.