Let's see your axes

[four.cycle]

^ When I finally discovered "Atlas" rubber-coated gloves - no more blisters.
Real game changer.
Also helps to wrap up the handle with "athletic tape" (think Hockey Stick.) Works wonders.

 

[B Halverson]

^ When I finally discovered "Atlas" rubber-coated gloves - no more blisters.
Real game changer.
Also helps to wrap up the handle with "athletic tape" (think Hockey Stick.) Works wonders.

How nice for you. 50 or so years ago, I was getting what my father had laying around and nothing else. I was glad to get a maul so I no longer had to use a hammer and wedges.

 

[Provincial]

Well, I love old mauls because I grew up using one, my old man was too cheap to buy a gas-powered log-splitter as long as he had me around to swing one of these, and I spent summers splitting so much that the skin on my hands would be torn, calloused, blistered and ****** even though wearing leather gloves. This old maul I found in the basement of an abandoned house, used it for splitting, broke it's original handle because it was probably dry-rotted inside, and made a new one out of wood from an ash-tree my brother felled in my father's woods.

Due to the joys of modern transportation and World Trade, we have now introduced the Emerald Ash Borer to the USA. Here in Oregon, the experts forecast the devastation of our Ash trees. Kind of like the fate of Elm and Chestnut trees in the past.

 

[B Halverson]

Due to the joys of modern transportation and World Trade, we have now introduced the Emerald Ash Borer to the USA. Here in Oregon, the experts forecast the devastation of our Ash trees. Kind of like the fate of Elm and Chestnut trees in the past.

Yea, the ash population is toast. My brother was cutting down ash trees as they died and making lumber out of them in his mill to try and salvage something from the dying population. Ash rots fast and if you don't cut a dying or dead tree down quickly in a matter of months the wood starts to get punky. As an experiment my father dumped a bag of lime around an old elm tree each year and that kept it from getting any blights and dying, and I was thinking of trying the same with a few ash trees and seeing how the bugs liked the taste of lime.

 

[Provincial]

That would be great if it works! Hard to do out in the forest. Lots of Ash near the streams here, and their demise may make for higher water temperatures in the summer. Not good for the fish.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

That would be great if it works! Hard to do out in the forest. Lots of Ash near the streams here, and their demise may make for higher water temperatures in the summer. Not good for the fish.

We would dump lime dust piles on frozen lakes in lower Pa to help balance the PH. Wintertime is best to let it slowly melt in the ice and ground.

 

[four.cycle]

How nice for you.

^ It was a rough learning curve.
I was doing trail work for the Park Service (with the D-ring shown above.)
I was wrapping my hands with the athletic tape in the morning before starting, and I'd still come back to camp at the end of the day with blisters all over my hands.
Not sure how I found the Atlas gloves, but it was a serious game-changer.
I probably have 20 pairs of brand new nice leather work gloves out in the garage I've never worn. (My mother sees them on sale and buys them for me, notwithstanding my repeatedly telling her I no longer wear them.)

< edit - hey thanks for that... you just gave me an idea for "secret santa" stocking stuffers! >

 

[Michigan Mike]

Michigans Ash trees are pretty well gone. I wish there was some way to bring back the elm ash and chestnut.














a

 

[B Halverson]

Another oldie, this one with a dry-rotted handle. From the design of the forging it looks like something made in the last few decades of the 19th century up to about WWI is my guess. It took me a number of years to get this axe, as the 90 year-old guy who had it used it to chop roots etc. in his garden. After he died his son who is one of my oldest friends gave it to me.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Another oldie, this one with a dry-rotted handle. From the design of the forging it looks like something made in the last few decades of the 19th century up to about WWI is my guess. It took me a number of years to get this axe, as the 90 year-old guy who had it used it to chop roots etc. in his garden. After he died his son who is one of my oldest friends gave it to me.

That is a gem. I like the unusual phantom groves. Any idea who made it?

 

[B Halverson]

That is a gem. I like the unusual phantom groves. Any idea who made it?

I always use an Occam's razor method with unmarked tools, that it is likely they were made by the nearest, most prolific and most recent manufacturer of their type. Another axe I have with this style of head is marked as being made by the Mann dynasty, which was for a time affiliated with the American Axe and Tool company near Pittsburgh, PA with offices in NYC, and which was for a while spitting out very large numbers of axes sold all around the USA. Paper labels were used a lot on axes back in the late 19th century, they were surely a lot cheaper than making forging dies with embossed names and details. Product designs did have copyrights and patents, which did run out and were copied by other manufacturers, and that makes it tough to say for sure who made something just by it's shape or design.

Collectors of old anything seem to go nuts for whatever has a brand name on it, and even more so if the name is catchy or trendy, I guess it takes a lot of the work out of identifying and researching their possessions, along with probably some other things too. I have poured through old tool catalogs trying to ID tools by their shape and design alone, and it is time consuming, but when I get a chance I am for my own curiosity going to spend some time trying to find who may have patented the design of this axe first, I am sure the information is out there.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

I totally agree with you and how people get so intrigued on the maker. And that is the fun of it all. That design is possibly the first phantom design. I think you are on to something being near Pittsburgh. Did you not find it in Pa?

 

[B Halverson]

I totally agree with you and how people get so intrigued on the maker. And that is the fun of it all. That design is possibly the first phantom design. I think you are on to something being near Pittsburgh. Did you not find it in Pa?

Actually, today I looked through an 1890s A.A&T catalog and there was nothing like this in it. Then I read that Kelly Axe patented their phantom design in the 1890s, and they were located in various places surrounding the region of the USA where AA&T was, either in WV, Kentucky or Indiana, so it may very well be an old Kelly axe that was made sometime in the late 1890s through WW1 as they are documented as having been sold with paper labels. The old guy who owned it lived closer to where AA&T was than any of the old Kelly plants, but Kelly axes were sold everywhere for sure, and a tool can travel a long way in 100 or so years.

 

[four.cycle]

this guy
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/

and these guys

BladeForums.com

BladeForums.com is the Leading Edge of Knife Discussion

www.bladeforums.com

Are great sources of information.
I think perhaps part of the reason for the fascination with "who" is the fact there were literally hundreds of small, independent axe makers in the 19th century, most of whom went by the wayside, and many of which were absorbed into...

American / American Axe & Tool Co., Glassport, PA / http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/American Axe & Tool Co..html / https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/American_Axe_&_Tool_Company /

... which became the de facto 800-pound gorilla in the axe world.

Those small independent makers were scattered all over the country, and some of them were in the immediate proximity of the men who are now avid collectors.

Part of it is just the fun of solving the puzzle - you just never know what you'll turn up when you start searching.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

this guy
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/

and these guys

BladeForums.com

BladeForums.com is the Leading Edge of Knife Discussion

www.bladeforums.com

Are great sources of information.
I think perhaps part of the reason for the fascination with "who" is the fact there were literally hundreds of small, independent axe makers in the 19th century, most of whom went by the wayside, and many of which were absorbed into...

American / American Axe & Tool Co., Glassport, PA / http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/American Axe & Tool Co..html / https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/American_Axe_&_Tool_Company /

... which became the de facto 800-pound gorilla in the axe world.

Those small independent makers were scattered all over the country, and some of them were in the immediate proximity of the men who are now avid collectors.

Part of it is just the fun of solving the puzzle - you just never know what you'll turn up when you start searching.

Wow. Thanks 4cyl. That will take a while and in many directions. See ya.

 

[B Halverson]

Part of it is just the fun of solving the puzzle - you just never know what you'll turn up when you start searching.

It is pretty easy to solve most every branded tool puzzle today with the internet in a few minutes, even the tough ones may only take a few days or weeks. So not much challenge there. The unmarked or shop-home-made tools are the real challenge that is left and what is left that is always a surprise and different, and that makes them interesting to me compared to known branded tools. Also I really enjoy having the personal rule of never acquiring any tool unless it is found locally and dirt-cheap or free. It keeps the hobby in check and if the tool has a local history to trace involving people and descendants I can research or talk to it makes it special too.

 

[B Halverson]

Two Plumb "Victory" axes. They were sold around or during WWII with a cheaper finish on them than previous Plumb axes to save resources for the armed forces. I am pretty sure that period advertisements for them mentioned the change in the finish of the axes for that purpose. The double-bit came from the estate of a very wealthy industrial family in my area and looks as if it was hardly used at all, the single-bit axe was hanging on the wall at another local estate sale. I bought saws with each of these axes, a never-used two-man felling saw with the double-bit, and a very nice first version Disston D8 was found with the single-bit. Coincidentally I found another Plumb Victory double-bit at an estate sale yesterday, but it is sort of a "beater" as it looks well used, looks to have been polished in the past, and has a replacement handle.

 

[Outlawmws]

Great finds! I love he WWII era tools!

 

[craftsman creep]

Just finished restoring this Dunlop axe to using condition.
It wasn’t bad to start but I forgot to take before pictures, filed down all of it to my liking and them have it a bath in evapo rust to got rid of the surface rust, sanded down the handle with 60G then 100G and cut a slot for the wedge, it didn’t have one to start it was just friction fit and then made a wedge and put it all back together.
-Preston

 

[Outlawmws]

Looks good Preston!

I picked up a tiny Craftsman hatchet. probably 8 oz head weight the whole thing is less than 3/4 lb!



The logo font is the Geometric font, but the green on the head screams much later?

Both haft and head have the same font:



Sorry for the terrible pic of the head, I'll try again tomorrow:

 

[four.cycle]

^ I recall @Ganymede mentioning that the "pointy A" was pre-1970-ish.

 

[Outlawmws]

Ususally the Geometric font is associated to the Long C era, but it went longer it seems for some classes of tools.

Many of the letters have angles not bends.

 

[Outlawmws]

The promised better shot of the hatchet head - I had to chalk the letters...

The C, A, and S all show distinct angles:

 

[craftsman creep]

Where y’all buy boiled linseed oil

 

[wandrur]

Where y’all buy boiled linseed oil

Any hardware store. I used the Home Depot near my house.

 

[The Bean]

Sometimes you just have it...

 

[The Bean]

Anyone heard of this brand? I need to get a handle... how long should it be?
So, Sager Chemical Axe 1943. Might be worth something on ebay.

 

[The Bean]

This maul has an unusual logo and lettering i can't read... I added this rubber sleeve to protect the handle from damage on mis-hits. It works great.

 

[The Bean]

Boyscout hatchet?

 

[The Bean]

Three more unbranded hatchets. 14", 15", 18".

 

[Beerhippie]

This maul has an unusual logo and lettering i can't read... I added this rubber sleeve to protect the handle from damage on mis-hits. It works great.

Is that a British broad-arrow variation? I know it shouldn't be, but it sure resembles one.

If you're using that for driving wedges, grind that mushroom off! Those flared edges can and will go flying with extreme force when they split off on impact.

Look at a new maul or striking hammer and you can see that the edge is chamfered to prevent splintering.

 

[The Bean]

Speaking of wedges... two of them are imprinted "Wear Safety Goggles"

 

[Outlawmws]

More grinding needed on those wedges...

 

[Outlawmws]

Boyscout hatchet?

Logo is right there, so yes.

 

[The Bean]

More grinding needed on those wedges...

Yeah, I've knocked a few chunks of metal off one or two of them in the past with sledge hammer.

 

[Beerhippie]

Yeah, I've knocked a few chunks of metal off one or two of them in the past with sledge hammer.

Time to invest in a spare grinding wheel.

I've had to pull one of those splinters out of a friend's shin. It went in to the bone.

 

[The Bean]

Well, I was once splitting wood in the driveway close to the house, using my maul. One big swing split a quarter of a round right in half sending one piece right through the basement window. Lesson learned.

 

[crguy]

Anyone heard of this brand? I need to get a handle... how long should it be?
So, Sager Chemical Axe 1943. Might be worth something on ebay.

The Sagers that are collectible are the wide narrow Puget falling axes.

 

[SRU1436]

Anyone heard of this brand? I need to get a handle... how long should it be?
So, Sager Chemical Axe 1943. Might be worth something on ebay.

Sager are good axes.

 

[FTG-05]

Where y’all buy boiled linseed oil

I prefer Raw Linseed oil. It dries a lot slower, allowing it to soak in more.