British actor Charlie Hunnam has armed his California home with the scariest weapons in a bid to terrify burglars.

The Pacific Rim star started collecting swords and axes from second hand fairs after realising his pad had become a target for thieves following one back yard encounter with an intruder.

He recalls, "I had one of those very cheap garage doors, you know like the one-piece tin things and it was 11 o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday and the guy just ripped it up... and was just, casual as you like, walking through my back yard looking for ways into my house and figuring out how he was gonna rob me.

"At this point I only had one weapon in my house and it was a baseball bat next to my bed and so I thought, 'Let's get the bat, see what's gonna happen...' and so I grabbed the bat and I came out... just as he was rounding the side of the house and he stopped and I looked at him and I said, 'So, we got business motherf**ker?'

"It was so annoying. It turned out we didn't have business, but he was not intimidated at all. He just turned around and, casual as you like, strolled out. I said, 'Run!'

"Then I made it my business to arm myself... I just accumulated (things). I'd be somewhere, at a swap meet or something, and I'd think, 'That will be good'... I got a hatchet, I have a Samurai sword, but I also have a machete, but it's kind of old and rusty..."

The Sons of Anarchy star hopes his most recent encounter with a would-be burglar will deter other potential intruders.

Hunnam adds, "It was three o'clock in the morning and I was learning my lines... I had the machete and I stepped out and there was this big guy there (in my yard) and I was just thinking, 'God, I wish I had a bat,' because... it's not a friendly manoeuvre, hitting someone (with a machete). I was thinking that if I turned it sideways I could kind of spank him with it... Thankfully, he saw the machete and he said, 'Ok, I'm gonna get out of here'."

The actor is now convinced he is armed and dangerous, but he admits there is still an area of his home where he is vulnerable.

He explains, "My biggest fear is to be broken into when you're in the shower because then you're wet, you're naked. It's not a formidable look."