I'd take the axe into a dark area and hold your smallest (least spread of light beam)
penlight flat on the axehead. Slightly raise the light while keeping it pointed at the
writing.
At a shallow angle or close to flat with the part, the shadow in the stamping can help to make it more readable.
If you drop a small pill on the floor, turn off the overhead lights and lay the flashlight on the floor. Makes the pill cast a more noticeable shadow.
Hopefuly we don't step on the dang pill before we see it!