Let me put your mind at rest, my axe's chop, very well. With that being said, they do look very good hanging on a wall too.
Firstly, finding quality vintage axe heads is getting harder and harder to do. That obviously pushes the price up and when you add the amount of man hours spent in making a custom axe, you are in fact getting a bargain.
I averager 6-8 hours on the axe head alone, this includes rust treatment, filing, wire brushing, reprofiling and sharpening. The custom haft/handle can take just as long with all the rasping, shaving, sanding, hanging of the head and oiling.
Shipping is from Brisbane and takes 3-5 business days for delivery to Metro areas and 7-10 days for delivery to Rural areas.