I believe the melee weapons are to unbalanced and slow, In RL I swung some items similar to the ZS weapons and most were faster, here is a list of weapons I think could be improved
Axe - Way to slow, we have a spare axe about the same size (larger maybe) IRL and I tried to swing it as fast as I could, (and i'm not very strong) but it was much faster then it is atm
Plank could be more powerful.
Knife could do more damage.
the carpenters hammer is WAY to slow, I swung a fairly large hammer I had in my garage and it was faster.
Please consider.