An axe-eyed adze !!!

[Brent Halverson]

I thought this was unusual, and I looked through a number of old tool catalogs and have not seen the option. An adze with an axe-eye, to take an axe style handle. Yes that would make it hard to sharpen. This looks to have been forged together from a number of pieces, Maybe a wrought iron body which looks to have been hammered around an axe-handle shaped mandrel, then a separate maybe carbon steel poll was added on the back, and a plate was welded to the front for the blade, again hopefully of carbon steel. Marked "D. Cooper", who could be British or American. From the barn of my 87 year-old father.

 

[Brent Halverson]

Looked through more old tool catalogs, American and British, and still have not found one example or option for an axe-eyed adze.

 

[Brent Halverson]

Found more old catalogs to look through and still no axe-eyed adzes found, and have not found anything on "D. Cooper" either. I am thinking it will be fun to make an adze handle someday with an adze-eye......

 

[Hickory n steel]

How do you know it didn't used to have a pick on the other end that was removed a long time ago?
It's possible that somebody modified a pick mattocks into an adze like tool.

Since you've already do that it's an Adze though I suppose there would be no convincing you otherwise.

 

[crbnSteeladdict]

How do you know it didn't used to have a pick on the other end that was removed a long time ago?
It's possible that somebody modified a pick mattocks into an adze like tool.

Since you've already do that it's an Adze though I suppose there would be no convincing you otherwise.

The eye kind of looks like single bit. He should wire wheel it and check if it has high carbon steel plate at the poll

 

[Hickory n steel]

The eye kind of looks like single bit. He should wire wheel it and check if it has high carbon steel plate at the poll

You're right, it is a single bit eye.

 

[Brent Halverson]

The eye kind of looks like single bit. He should wire wheel it and check if it has high carbon steel plate at the poll

You spoiled my fun, I wanted to ask the "gold member" to put up photos of that common pick-mattock with the single-bit axe handle eye.......

 

[rjdankert]

I looked through a number of old tool catalogs and have not seen the option.

I found this in my files:

This snip is from https://archive.org/details/IllustratedSheffieldList14thEdition1885/page/n47/mode/2up?view=theaterL:

Bob

edited to clarify sources

 

[Brent Halverson]

Thanks Rankert. Your files are Archive dot org ??? In looking up the wheelright trade I found one article that referred to the wheelwright's adze as a "wheelwright"s axe", and said it was used for hollowing out the "fellies" or the curved pieces of wood used to make the diameter of the wheel, but that practice was obsoleted by bending the curve in the wood as that made it much stronger. I will have to poke around and see why the wheelwright's or fencer's adze had to have an axe-eye instead of an adze-eye. Maybe it was not always used "upside down" so the head would slip down if those crafts used an adze with a standard adze-eye.