Bridge Tool Co. 000 Adze

[Cleave]

I just picked up this adze (I think) for $8, and need to figure it out.
The stamp says "Bridge Tool Co. Cast Steel St Louis USA", then its marked "000"
I assume this is an adze - but the eye is different than what I normally see for adzes.
I would guess this is a lighter, wider adze for finer work or work overhead or on walls, and that the eye type is to make it cheaper than a forged eye adze.
I would like some advise on the type of handle to put on there. I've made a number of hammer and axe handles so that class of work is familiar to me. The eye is wider on the bottom than on the top - like a railroad pick and unlike a hammer. I could make a straight handle maybe 18-24 inches long, that the adze slips down from the top, then a thick wedge holds it in place.

 

[RTM]

Bridge tool was supposedly a 2nd line from Shapleigh Hardware. It doesn’t really look adze like, I was thinking garden hoe. More later.


“PTAMPIA-I identifies Bridge Tool co. as a second quality brand name of the Shapleigh Hardware Co. c. 1900-1960. Roger Smith does not state which company may have made the tools for them.”

Patented Transitional & Metallic Planes in America, 1827-1927

 

[RTM]

Unfortunately, the adze page, 1-51 is missing

here are some similar hoes

Shapleigh's Keen Kutter : 1959 Catalog : Volume 1 : Shapleigh Hardware Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

1518 p., illus., 27.7 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[Cleave]

Ha!
Thanks guys, Well its the best hoe I've ever had though I suppose sharpened it would cut wood too... but you couldn't hit the back with a mallet very well.

 

[RTM]

Don't throw in the towel just yet. Up until a moment ago, I hadn't seen the odd eye like yours had. Here is a first one

German Heavy Root Hoe 3.3lbs - 7.5"x 5" with 53" Ash Handle

Robust chopping hoe with 5-inch wide head. German made, and forged from a single piece of central European steel. The mass of the hoe head gives it tremendous momentum for breaking through difficult soils. A great tool for trenching, but be warned its weight may tire you out! You can assemble it...

www.farmandgardentools.com

Sharpening might be a good idea. Does yours have mass to it? Really wipe out roots.

I do sharpen some of my digging tools, which is nice for going through roots.

 

[four.cycle]

I thought "Grub Hoe" when I first saw the photo, but the sharpened edge puzzled me.
Great tool for trail work - cutting into banks and leveling trail treads.
Definitely not necessary to have a razor-sharp edge.

Handles: tennesseehickory.com

As an aside:
I've watched lots of film footage of local tribesmen carving out dugout canoes with adzes, and they don't use mallets to strike the back of them - just swing and chip, swing and chip... little by little.

 

[Provincial]

In forest fire fighting, one of the key hand tools is a "hazel hoe." Hazel is a tough shrub with large, heavy roots. Most hazel hoes that I have seen in use are very much like an adze, with a square hole for the handle, but this tool could qualify.

 

[Cleave]

I live in the western Colorado semi-desert, and there are more rocks than roots out here. To dig I loosen with the pick then move the dirt with the mattock (on a pick-mattock) or shovel. The hoe is less useful here but good to have in the arsenal.
Sharpening would be very useful for chopping roots (I grew up in upstate NY so am very familiar with that) but would dull quickly on the rocks out here. I think it would sharpen quite readily with a file.

 

[four.cycle]

^ When you're working on a trail tread, you're not swinging with all your might on every stroke - you'd destroy your shoulders here. (The Cascade Range is all volcanic, and almost all of Western Washington's geology is "alluvial glacial till" - meaning rocks, sand, gravel, and more rocks. They'll use that more like a scraper to level off trail tread surfaces, or for cutting back into a bank along a side slope.
There are work crew reports and photos on the Washington Trails Association website somewhere.