A Floating Axe

A

Alocksly

Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
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So I have this little hatchet from my grandpa's old shop. I never saw it used and he gave it to me when I was about 14 or so. The blade is stamped FLOTAXE and the manufacturer is the Continuous Casting Co. of Seattle WA, who, as it turns out, are still in business (since 1958). The FLOTAXE is hollow with a screw plug and rubber washer at the bottom of the handle (I'd assumed this was along the lines of the "survival knife" where you'd have matches and fishing line stored there). There's a bit of steel at the blade and the poll and I had assumed that the rest was aluminum. There's hardly any weight to it and so it does float well; chopping not so much. I dug it out today and Googled around and found no mention of it.

I called up Continuous Casting Co. and spoke to a gentleman who has worked there for 30 years and knew of the axe but said that they never made it while he worked there. I also learned that the handle is not aluminum, it's magnesium (He'd heard shop stories of the axe catching fire when they were grinding the blade). While I'd always though of it as a relatively useless axe due to its low weight I was also told that it was designed to be filled with sand when you got where you were going to give it some mass for chopping and then emptied before you resumed packing it. I have not had a chance to test it out filled with sand but as soon as I can get some dry sand I intend to see if this thing can actually chop.







 
Jonwal74 said:
...the Flotaxe...

flotaxe_2.jpg

flotaxe_1.jpg
Click to expand...

from
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1034930-I-need-more-information-on-this-hatchet
 
Now there is a supreme novelty that obviously never caught on but at least as an implement was properly thought-out and tasked with a specific purpose. Magnesium has never been cheap and (far as I know) is horribly brittle. With my tongue planted in my cheek it could be that a search plane or rescue party operating after dark could be alerted by the very intense white light of a torched survival hatchet!
I wouldn't be first in line to have one of these (or even consider getting in the line up) but wealthy sportsmen (bankers/lawyers/doctors) have long been known to buy into lavish gimmicks when they're compiling fishing and hunting expedition wishlists. And now this really has got to become a collectors prize.
Very nice of you to show us this "baby"!
 
I not qualified to say wether this is a useful piece of gear or not, nor do I care.
I can say that I think that is aa awesome piece of history right there that most of us would've never heard of if not for threads like these and I thank you for sharing it with us.

I bet that a modern version of that bad boy made from different materials would sell like hot cakes even if it was only halfway useful in the big box camping stores of the world and there'd be thread after thread both praising and denouncing it.

I look forward to seeing any updates from you about it, especially if you ever fill it up with sand and give it a try.

Have a great weekend.
 
Here's the patent information:



Sept 22, 1959
T. J. TRETHEWAY
Patent Number 2,905,214

HATCHET Filed Aug. 5. 1957
INVENTOR. Thomas J.Trethewoy, Seattle, Wash., assigner of onehalf to Paul Bromley, Seattle, Wash.

...producing little or no recoil upon impact of the hatchet with an object being chopped.

...unusually light in Weight and thus particularly adapting itself to inclusion in a survival kit, and wherein such light weight is attributed in part to a hollow construction enabling the implement to be easily weighted, if desired, by loading the interior with wet sand.

https://www.google.com/patents/US2905214

Image below:
US2905214-0.png
 
There is no doubt this Flotaxe is quite the critter, and conversation piece! Late 50s coincided with the height of the Cold War and the Red Menace when American and Canadian folks were encouraged to build bomb shelters and participate in all kinds of wacky stuff. I remember in early grade school having practice war drills whenever the newly-erected community air raid sirens were tested. Likely this creation came about in hopes of cashing in on government contracts for emergency and survival kits for soldiers, pilots, sailors and even sales to civilians. If memory serves me it was a little bit later on (mid-60s?) that another company started marketing a survival kit takedown 22 rifle that floats.
 
The AR-7 is around but seems to appeal to a fairly limited group. I'd venture that this ax would appeal to even a smaller group. If it was made using an aluminum alloy the price might be low enough that some would buy it but aluminum is heavier than magnesium so I doubt an aluminum one would float. The same can be said for titanium, except titanium would be a lot more expensive. However, it is a neat concept and I'm glad you shared it with us.
 
An axe designed like a deadfalll mallet. I really can't wait to try it out now.

Thanks for the patent link Steve.
 
I gotta confess. I first saw this thing and thought it was a novelty item like the $12.99 survival knife I bought as a teenager. But reading that patent application I'm impressed with the thought that went into it's design.

"The Brinell hardness of the Tenzaloy is 74 after a l0 to 14 day room temperature period of aging, being 60 after aging one day. Its tensile strength after these periods of aging is 40,000 p.s.i. and 30,000 p.s.i., respectively. The yield strength reaches 27,000 p.s.i. after l0 days of aging. "

"Two features have considerable import in a consideration of the shape `of the head. One is -that the cutting edge is so placed that rectilineal line drawn tangent to a perpendicular bisecting the tip edge 15 is substantially parallel with the longitudinal center line of the handle. The significance lies in the fact that a blow centered on the tip edge at a point midway between its ends can be so delivered that maximum leverage is achieved at the exact moment of impact. Conventional hatchets, by comparison, locate .their cutting edges such that a bisecting perpendicular is in acute angular relation to the longitudinal center line of the handle. The other feature is the provision of a wedge-shaped head, namely a head in which the ilanking faces 28 belly outwardly. Having as its function to preclude the head from becoming immovably lodged in wood or other objects being chopped, as not infrequently occurs with a head having conventional concave flanks, the shaping of the head to a double convex configuration, as employed in a splitting wedge, is practical in a hatchet only Where such head is substantially devoid of rebound. The dead metal composing the present head permits the double convex shape to be effectively employed. "
 
Alocksly: I'd be tempted to use small size steel or lead shotgun pellets to 'top'er up' when you head out for field testing. Bring an ordinary hatchet with you for comparison sake. I really don't know if or how much benefit there would be to the 'dead blow' feature when it comes to cutting or chopping wood. Could be it just keeps metal handle vibration transfer to the hand to a minimum. My experience with 'dead blow' hammers has always been good because you get no 'out of control' rebound stroke when striking something hard.
 
Russ' floataxe looks a little different than the patent. Russ' appears to have a different metal on the poll, rendering it functional vs. a magnesium poll. The patent drawings show no different metal at the poll.
 
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