35 degree axe head?

N

Norwood

Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
27
I found this axe in a local junk shop. I haven't seen one like this and not sure how this was used. Looks very old, there is scale and metal fatigue. The thickness at the cheek is about 7/16". Toe to heel is 6 3/8" and from the poll to the bit is 10 7/8", weighs 5 1/2 lbs. The blade is angled way out, about 35 degrees off the center line and the angle seems to be left handed, if I'm right about that? Has anyone seen an axe similar to this? Reminds me of a wing.
https://imgur.com/3bLryTW
https://imgur.com/OYvn3wP
https://imgur.com/5UZ4klE
https://imgur.com/0UhK2s7
Hope the links work. Thanks for the comments!
 
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Well...While it's not that common to see this...it isn't all that dissimilar from the kind of a twist that goosewing axes have.
With the blade is so thin in must be a hewing tool,the manner in which it's been sharpened is not clear from photos.The twist though would make it a right hand job(unless photos got reversed)...

Axe has an appearance of having come from a smaller forge,could even be a custom job/modification coming out of some in-house shop of a largish cooperage,or shipbuilding wharf...

If i had to guess i'd agree with Square_peg and say shipbuilding(more radical twist to get into the steeper of inside curves,like maybe sawn frames?),but for some reason i want to say England,rather than France...
 
Over-all the form reminds me of Elwell's felling axes, in other words I'd be personally inclined to back up what Jake has guessed concerning its England origins. Given the pictures it seems clearly to be a side-axe for hewing timbers though straight-on 90 degree shots with the camera generally make identifying the features easier, for example the relationship of the blade to what seems its asymmetric eye 'n all the rest. Also, when there are some clues about where you have found this axe it can be helpful and reduce the full-on speculative nature of any attempts at giving answers.
 
Norwood said:
made a new link
https://imgur.com/zcGt9in
Click to expand...
jake pogg said:
Well...While it's not that common to see this...it isn't all that dissimilar from the kind of a twist that goosewing axes have.
With the blade is so thin in must be a hewing tool,the manner in which it's been sharpened is not clear from photos.The twist though would make it a right hand job(unless photos got reversed)...

Axe has an appearance of having come from a smaller forge,could even be a custom job/modification coming out of some in-house shop of a largish cooperage,or shipbuilding wharf...

If i had to guess i'd agree with Square_peg and say shipbuilding(more radical twist to get into the steeper of inside curves,like maybe sawn frames?),but for some reason i want to say England,rather than France...
Click to expand...
jake pogg said:
Well...While it's not that common to see this...it isn't all that dissimilar from the kind of a twist that goosewing axes have.
With the blade is so thin in must be a hewing tool,the manner in which it's been sharpened is not clear from photos.The twist though would make it a right hand job(unless photos got reversed)...

Axe has an appearance of having come from a smaller forge,could even be a custom job/modification coming out of some in-house shop of a largish cooperage,or shipbuilding wharf...

If i had to guess i'd agree with Square_peg and say shipbuilding(more radical twist to get into the steeper of inside curves,like maybe sawn frames?),but for some reason i want to say England,rather than France...
Click to expand...
 
Ernest DuBois said:
Over-all the form reminds me of Elwell's felling axes, in other words I'd be personally inclined to back up what Jake has guessed concerning its England origins. Given the pictures it seems clearly to be a side-axe for hewing timbers though straight-on 90 degree shots with the camera generally make identifying the features easier, for example the relationship of the blade to what seems its asymmetric eye 'n all the rest. Also, when there are some clues about where you have found this axe it can be helpful and reduce the full-on speculative nature of any attempts at giving answers.
Click to expand...
 
It is no conventional hewing axe with this excessive off-set plus the eye projecting out like that means no clearance and so useless in the longitudinal direction even with a symmetric bevel I would imagine, though my spacial interpretation abilities are that poor and in that way I'd like to see a shot, you holding by the handle just beneath the head , cutting edge pointing away, looking down at the eye, if its possible because the axe is indeed a curiosity if not unique. The location information, not a big surprise, one of the centers of old-time timber framing work in USA - don't know about the association with boat building though. Could it have been used in some kind of coppice work, I wonder.
 
That's even more helpful, (for me anyway), raising even more questions maybe, so thank you for the extra effort. I'll try and lay out my thinking about the axe as a coppice tool because I don't see it used at all for construction work, boat or otherwise and it looks to me to have been conceived from the start with a specific intention. I see the angle along with the long thin handle as suited for chopping at a low level parallel to the ground without having to double over much. It's not such a robust tool but could well withstand cutting small circumference shoots typical in a certain type of coppice work. It could be a unique effort by someone to expand beyond the billhook or related tools.

NB18bb-2.jpg


Plenty room to question my guess work and any other explanation would be as good as mine but to me it kind of adds up. Lets hope someone who recognizes it will pipe in because it's an interesting axe, not typically present in this forum. Good work.
 
Thanks for the encouragement. Interesting statue. I can see how the axe may be for coppice work but that brings me back to the question of left/right orientation. With the blade angled as it is it seems that the axe would be swung low from left to right, but over arm would bare right to left. I'll skip the golfing bears lol. About halfway on the handle is dry rotted almost thru- I could cut off ahead of the rot, clean and linseed the handle, lightly clean and oil the steel. I've cleaned up old tools and I know not to start to chip the scale on this because of the layer that could open up. I prefer to leave it, handle and all that anyway. I have an old house, needs work, needs space.
 
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It could have been used for barking a strip along a log to be hewn. In hewing you need to make a surface to receive the mark of your chalkline or inkline. This axe could do that.
 
S P- since you brought up barking a strip for a chalk line to facilitate hewing, I would like to mention that barking is not always necessary prior to snapping a chalk line. I hear all the time that barking is necessary. It depends on the species of the stick you intend to hew. I have hewn a lot of different species. Some have bark that will allow a good chalk line without barking first. Just bump any knots, branch stubs, or high spots off first, then snap your line. When you have a lot of sticks to hew why waste time barking if it is not needed ?
 
A little more about the broad axe hewing process as I know it. If the species allows you snap a line without barking first, this is what worked for me. Put the stick to be hewn up on yoaks (two, 3-4' sections of log with a V notch cut to place your stick into) or on trestles. Rotate the stick to best advantage sweep,etc. Dog the stick to the yoaks with a log dog at each yoak, both dogs on the same side (the side opposite your first side to be hewn). Do your layout and snap your first line. Score, or juggle with axe while standing on the top bark for purchase. Hew the first side with broad axe. Move the log dogs to the fresh hewn side, move them one at a time so not to loose plumb on the stick. Hew the other side. Remove the bark from the top (where you were standing to score). It will come off very easy now with two sides already hewn. If you only need to hew these two sides as a lot of horizontal log structures were built, you only have to remove the dogs, turn the stick, and remove the remaining bark. Done, with no wasted effort. If you need to hew all four sides, dog the stick with one fresh hewn side up (easy and safe to stand on to score) and level. Repeat the hewing on the other two sides. Done.
 
I'm even more convinced that this is a hewing axe modified for a special purpose. If you look closely at the photos you can see that it is double beveled. You can also see that there is convexity on both sides of the axe.
zcGt9in.jpg

B95DCRK.jpg


It's altered shape use must have been for some sort of side-axe/hewing-axe type of work. There would have been no reason to put a double bevel and 2 convex cheeks on an axe originally forged for single side use.

And here's another example of a hewing axe modified for side-axe use. This is from Old Axeman's collection. At first appearance it's simply a masting axe or ship axe.

1.jpg


But that changes very quickly when you see it from the side.

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg



That last image clearly shows that it has convex cheeks on both sides unlike an adze or side-axe. This next photo clearly shows convex cheeks and a bevel on the backside. This is strong evidence that it started life as an ordinary masting axe and was curved, by the original smith or a later smith, into the shape we see now.

5.jpg



And the flipside.

8.jpg



Lastly, here is a picture of it next to a standard unmodified masting axe. They are very obviously kin.

9.jpg
 
It seems the principle of customizing an axe to make it suitable to a specific use or conform to a users idealized function is well established, uncontroversial and within its owners prerogatives.
 
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