What a beautiful piece of equipment that is - lovely juxtaposition of steel and wood. Reeks of yesteryear.

When was this wonderful looking axe made?

It is so beautiful that I can't bring myself to use it! It was hand made in Grindelwald for me by BHEND. On the other side of the pick is my name. I have a Charlet Moser step cutter for work....

Pure craftsmanship, not often seen these days!

It was made probably ten years ago.

Sorry Toon, that was answering Deepstar, not a sarcastic reply to you! We must have posted at the same time. But you are right, of course.

:-) no worries. I have got to admit, I don't think I could bring myself to using it either, it's like a piece of sculpture!

Great piece of kit. Does the firm that made it still exist. Do you have any details?
RN

It does still exist but they only make a batch from time to time (if indeed they still do)they tend to concentrate on light steelwork for construction now. Google Bhend.

Here you go: http://alpen.sac-cas.ch/fr/archiv/2002/200210/af_2002_10_17.pdf

Wow this is fun - My father while doing some gentle hiking on Mt Rainier in Washington State, US found a Bhend axe made like this but much older. It was sticking out of a snow bank. It is 3 feet in length, with an aluminum slider with old pieces of leather to attach to a belt? Says "Bhend Made in Switzerland". That was probably 30 years ago and it is clearly much much older than that. How long have they been around? I still have the ax at our cabin. I googled Bhend and found myself in this forum. Any information about Bhend would be appreciated.