ME graduate students received an award at the 2019 Viking Axe Challenge

MSU Viking Axe Design

A team of Mechanical Engineering (ME) graduate students from the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) at Mississippi State University (MSU) participated in the Steel Founders’ Society of America first annual Cast in Steel competition held in April at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. The competition challenged universities to design, cast, and sharpen a Viking axe that was to be performance tested with edge retention and sharpness tests. In the end, 17 universities competed with 20 axes submitted for the competition. Guest judge Ben Abbot, the two-time winner of History Channel’s “Forged in Fire” and current judge on the show, showed admiration towards MSU’s design and stated it was one of his favorite axes at the competition. The MSU team received the “Most Historically Accurate Viking Axe” award. The axe was 30-inches in length with a 9-inch cutting edge, yet only weighed 2.86 pounds. Team members included graduate students Blake Stewart, William Williams, Shiraz Mujahid, David Salley and Dr. Hongjoo Rhee, faculty advisor.