Belknap chromed presentation axe....

G

gben

Joined
Nov 26, 2014
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From a local second-hand shop. My guess is it was presented to a fireman upon retirement or as some sort of award? My uneducated guess is that this is from the late 60s/early 70s.

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gben said:
From a local second-hand shop. My guess is it was presented to a fireman upon retirement or as some sort of award? My uneducated guess is that this is from the late 60s/early 70s.











19956067_1417070625050480_2457945911887215697_o.jpg
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I like that minimalist wedge! Means the haft was a 'honeymoon fit' and that the wedge is solely there as a lock. Whoever did this knew what he was doing.
 
That head has more "graceful" lines than the fire axes shown in Belknap's catalogs:

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from 1937 catalog pages (Rose Antique Tools is back online!)

The fire axe in Belknap's 1970 (ca.) catalog also has a head like the one in the 1937 catalog (page 8, with Blue Grass brand and a red handle).

Some evidence that the "Pride of Kentucky" handle is just a replacement handle:
A"Hardware Age" journal from 1966 says that "Pride of Kentucky" is a tool handle brand from Belknap.
(Snippet view from search)
 
Steve Tall said:
That head has more "graceful" lines than the fire axes shown in Belknap's catalogs:
Click to expand...
This thing had to have been 'gussied up' (via grinders, sanders and buffing wheels) before it was plated. Folks that are used to plating trophies, handguns, ceremonial shovels and classic car parts know that smooth bare metal is essential, and artistic license probably entered the equation when a 'hardware store - pedestrian' fire axe arrived for their magic touch. The OEM handle would have had to be removed in order to do this and wouldn't have survived (ie been re-used) either.
 
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In both catalog pictures, both the pick ends and the bit ends look shorter (relative to the height at the eye).
 
300Six said:
This thing had to have been 'gussied up' (via grinders, sanders and buffing wheels) before it was plated. Folks that are used to plating trophies, handguns, ceremonial shovels and classic car parts know that smooth bare metal is essential, and artistic license probably entered the equation when a 'hardware store - pedestrian' fire axe arrived for their magic touch. The OEM handle would have had to be removed in order to do this and wouldn't have survived (ie been re-used) either.
Click to expand...
The factory that made the bluegrass axes could've polished up the head and sent just it out to be hung, or possibly had the ability to chrome plate in house.

BTW, anyone else notice that the screw is Philips.
Could help narrow down an age as it doesn't appear to have never been touched with a screwdriver like one someone replaced would probably look.
 
Hickory n steel said:
The factory that made the bluegrass axes could've polished up the head and sent just it out to be hung, or possibly had the ability to chrome plate in house.

BTW, anyone else notice that the screw is Philips.
Could help narrow down an age as it doesn't appear to have never been touched with a screwdriver like one someone replaced would probably look.
Click to expand...
Henry Ford was so ticked off at not being able to buy the rights to Canadian Peter L. Robertson's revolutionary square drive screws (patented 1908) that he bought hook, line and sinker into the lesser-capable Phillips system when it became available in 1935 ( I thought it was 1918 but who's gonna argue with Wikipedia). So no, this only tells you the axe is less than 100 years old.
 
Steve Tall said:
That head has more "graceful" lines than the fire axes shown in Belknap's catalogs:
(Snippet view from search)
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. But I would never take illustrations and believe they were always going to be representative of a companies product all the time. Illustrators can take liberties, and then a company may use old illustrations for years to save money and they do not wear out like forging dies so an illustration could be used through many tooling sets.

I could believe that a company would source axe heads from one source and handles from another though as was economical and convenient to do so. The only thing I would trust would be if I found a number of marked axe heads and could compare their dimensions to each other and to this axe, then I might be able to make a real guess as to who made this head. All I had to go on was the handle label. Next time when posting about a similar axe I will be careful to leave the brand-name from the beginning of the title though....

If anyone has a marked Belknap fire-axe head or any marked head that looks similar to this one throw up the photo so we can all compare it.

Thank-you everyone for your input...
 
I think it's beenn confirmed that someone besides Kelly made axes for Belknap. I just can't recall who. I think it was a big name like Collins or Plumb.
 
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