Pickaxe number 7

[fourjeepin]

This belonged to my grandfather and my mom gave it to me a couple of years ago. He was a farmer in west Texas (dry, very dry) and passed back in 1989.

I didn’t grab a before picture but it looks like it could have been left in the ground for a decade or two before my mom (or maybe her sister) rescued it. No telling what happened to the handle.

Today I hit it with a sanding wheel and found the “7” stamp. I was thinking of using a wire wheel next then some type of finish and a new handle.

Any suggestions for a handle? The only place I have looked thus far was Amazon and they want $40.

 

[RTM]

House handle, think they call it a mattock handle

Buy lots to reduce the pain of shipping one.

Welcome to House Handle Company

I always select the better grade, and no lacquer, the extra $$ is trivial


Does it weigh 7#? Or did it new?

Woodings-Verona Tool Works Catalogue 16 : Woodings-Verona Tool Works : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

82 p., illus., 24.4 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[2oolhound]

Maybe each tine is 7" long. I find picks around here for $5 all the time (bad memories for most folks). Pick up a used one with a good handle and switch them out. Pick handles are less common on the used market but when you see them they are the cheapest compared to anything else in that length.

 

[woody 73]

Funny story, well maybe not so funny, but buying used broken handle tools, it will cost me more for the wood handle then the whole tool I just bought.

Tool tip 101, at every garage type sale you go to, look around for wood handles for those broken hammers, I have picked up a few of over the years and trust me they come in handy; plus, the sellers most times are just happy to get rid of all that "extra wood lying in the garage".

 

[2oolhound]

Funny story, well maybe not so funny, but buying used broken handle tools, it will cost me more for the wood handle then the whole tool I just bought.

Tool tip 101, at every garage type sale you go to, look around for wood handles for those broken hammers, I have picked up a few of over the years and trust me they come in handy; plus, the sellers most times are just happy to get rid of all that "extra wood lying in the garage".

So is that where you got your name? ...or is there another reason for that.

 

[georgiadave]

Get one at Tru Value Hardware. Probably other hardware stores as well.

 

[fourjeepin]

Maybe each tine is 7" long. I find picks around here for $5 all the time (bad memories for most folks). Pick up a used one with a good handle and switch them out. Pick handles are less common on the used market but when you see them they are the cheapest compared to anything else in that length.

The pointy side is about 8-1/2 and the other is just over 8”. Possible it is weight and I will check that. It got a coat of matte black today. A different finish may have been better but this is what I had on hand.

I hit it with a wire wheel today and it looks like the maker name may have once been on the side near the 7. Here’s a picture.