Can't figure out what this axe is

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btilma

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Feb 2, 2017
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I posted this at the end of another thread, but this is probably more appropriate.

I've got this old (I don't know how old) head that almost looks like a hudson bay pattern, but it's about 3.5 lbs with what seems to be a hardened poll. It may be hand forged, there are two markings on it I can't decipher. I had never done anything with it because it seemed clumsy to me, but I got the itch to try and figure it out. Ran across this forum and thought it might be a type of rafting or construction axe. I've sharpened it and hung it on an ash handle. None of the standard handles I could find would fit the eye, so I had to make one from scratch. I haven't the foggiest idea whether the handle pattern is even close to what it was designed for, but I took a guess.

Anyone have any thoughts on what this axe might be? What kind of handle it would take?













 
Look into Kings Superior axes. That looks close. Probably not the same manufacturer. The king looks better made, but the same pattern and or intended use perhaps.
14me4l.jpg
 
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I seriously should have posted here before wasting hours combing through the 'net. Yes, it does look like a Montreal pattern, although I've yet to find one with the hardened poll. That King's Superior looks like the same pattern but a much finer example than I have. The toe was pretty beat up. I reprofiled the edge a bit in sharpening, without drawing the temper. It seems to take and hold a decently sharp edge. I did a little chopping and splitting with it and it seems to manage either activity reasonably well.

My main concern I suppose was whether this was a really old or rare specimen that needed to be a wall axe (I don't have any and I don't plan to) or whether I could use it without feeling too badly. Sounds like I can use it without guilt. :)
 
it's a not!
not german, not french, not canadian!

swede? US ?

imo it's not enough fan shaped to be Montréal pattern!

can you see any size and weight markings to tell if US or european?
 
Some better pictures of the markings. There are no others anywhere, unfortunately.





 
What I had been thinking (in my uneducated way) was that it was made by some blacksmith to be a larger, more useful version of the Hudson Bay pattern with a hardened poll. You'll notice that the steel is not perfectly flat, and that translated to a wavy edge when reprofiling with the belt sander. It could just have been much more heavily rusted or otherwise abused before it came into my possession. It was given to me by my father several years ago. He doesn't know much about axes, but he know's I'm a fan of old ones and occasionally brings me an old hunk of rusted steel from an antique shop or auction. No provenance or other history to go with it. Usually they're pretty obvious and common, but this one had me stumped.
 
It's definitely not blacksmith made. The markings are very much industrial.
 
It's a Euro and it is not Montreal pattern. I don't know where that designation came from but Walters Axe of Hull PQ (Province de Quebec) manufactured lots of them (Montreal pattern) and was located only 80 miles away from 'le mont Royal'. Welland-Vale apparently also had an axe making facility right in City of Montreal but your's is not something of theirs either.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
It's definitely not blacksmith made. The markings are very much industrial.
Click to expand...

I think your estimation that it's a montreal with a badly worn toe is far closer than anything I'd come up with. Which tells me more about what it's designed for. I was closer there, and came up with about a 34" straight handle with a little knob on the end. I'll have to get some flatsawn 6/4 hickory at some point and replace the ash handle I made. It's just not hard enough to use for splitting, it gets banged up pretty easily.
 
300Six said:
It's a Euro and it is not Montreal pattern. I don't know where that designation came from but Walters Axe of Hull PQ (Province de Quebec) manufactured lots of them (Montreal pattern) and was located only 80 miles away from 'le mont Royal'. Welland-Vale apparently also had an axe making facility right in City of Montreal but your's is not something of theirs either.
Click to expand...

His does seem a little "vertically compressed". I agree it's quite possibly European in origin. btilma--what's the eye shape like? Conventional North American? German "D"? I'm gonna' throw a guess out and say it's probably a conventional eye, but it'll help to know.

Hults-Bruks Agdor Montreal pattern in current production, for reference:

1620-3.jpg
 
The eye:



I couldn't find a handle to fit the eye even close, so I had to start from scratch.
 
Another indicator that it may be Swedish. They tend to have a larger-than-usual conventional-shaped eye.
 
That's why I was curious about the eye shape. Perhaps German-style heads exist with ovoid eyes, but I've only ever seen them with D eyes even though many German and Austrian companies make "Yankee" axes with conventional North American eyes. I've never seen a "hybrid" model, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not out there.
 
Btilma, are you in Canada? Is the axe likely from Canada? Because several European nations exported similar axes to Canada. They were less common in the US. I'm thinking Germany or Austria.
 
I'm in NJ, but I think it was purchased in PA. Zero history, it was purchased from an antique shop for a few dollars without a handle and with the damage to the edge as pictured. The eye and head design do look German or Swedish, but there doesn't seem to be a maker's mark on it, unless you count the unintelligible ones in the pictures.

The poll is fairly wide and beveled with a slight crown, and when I first got it I thought it looked like a felling axe trying to be a splitting maul. My assumption was that it would probably not do a great job of either. I may be wrong on that score. I've been using it the last few days to process some firewood and it does a pretty decent job of splitting and cutting. My one concern with it would be trying to fell a large-ish tree the width of the poll might become a handicap.
 
I've split about a half cord of ash, hickory and maple with it, including some knotty maple and hickory. I also debarked a good bit of it and hit a goodly number of knots. Shaved some down for fun. Although my ash handle is a bit worse for the wear (hickory would have been harder but I didn't have any second growth hickory large enough) the edge shows absolutely no damage or wear. I'd have to say that the temper on the edge is pretty good in my estimation. It's still shaving sharp. A test with a 12oz hammer dropped from about 12 inches on a nail set shows roughly similar hardness at bit and poll, with slightly softer metal at the front of the cheeks. A wire brushing by hand reveals no more indications of markings anywhere except those pictured. I suppose I could strip it with the wire wheel on the grinder, but I rather doubt I'll find anything else.
 
It would be nice to figure out who made it and when, but I like it enough that I'm using it anyway. If it does turn out to be some kind of vintage thing that I've ruined the value of by doing what I've done, I probably won't care because it's a good axe I got for free. :)




I'm sort of treating its intended use like this one more or less:



Which is the "American Felling Axe" made by Hults Bruk. It's got the same weight head (roughly the same dimensions).
 
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