Hi Theob, welcome to our small community. 
I have the felling you were asking about an option like the gizmos/manipulators we find in other 3D app:

If so, there is no such thing in Wings3D. In case of need for non standard axis operations we have the option to pick them (axis and reference point) by choosing the commands using different mouse buttons (check the Information line for that)

Theob Wrote:... could not figure out how set default axis/point worksI'm not sure the answer is about what you are looking for, but in main menu Tools you are going to find the Set Default Axis option which will allow you to set these references to be used in the commands like move, scale and rotate where you can find the "default axis" option available.
I have the felling you were asking about an option like the gizmos/manipulators we find in other 3D app:

If so, there is no such thing in Wings3D. In case of need for non standard axis operations we have the option to pick them (axis and reference point) by choosing the commands using different mouse buttons (check the Information line for that)