Ordinary Banana

Not so much, I'd say it's more about strength vs having a finer edge

can you elaborate?

I think the real reason is so it's heavier at the back of the blade. axes are designed to split by prying the log apart by rotating in the log, using momentum at three back of the blade

my understanding was that the “pole” (the counterweight at the back, invented around 1750) was for this

I thought that is the point of them, but apparently the timeline of axe design suggests that they’re mostly an aesthetic thing now: https://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2011/11/axe-head-geometry-phantom-bevels-and.html?m=1 …

“reduce binding” is what I’m trying to understand with my stupid drawing

what you're showing is, to some degree, a graphic of "hollow ground" (i.e. concave), which is an artifact of grinding on a wheel which has a radius < infinity too busy at work now but if you care a ton and want an engineering approach I recommend this https://www.tauntonstore.com/the-complete-guide-to-sharpening-leonard-lee-070256.html …

so in trying to draw a bevel I jumped forward a century and accidentally drew concave cheeks!

Weirdest flex yet

flexing my ignorance