Carani axe?

[bwcaq]

I'm guessing this group gets a million "What do I have here?" types of questions, but I just can't find a thing about this one.

I found an axe deep in the woods in Northwest Ontario a few days ago. It was covered in lichens and sap, but in pretty good shape.

The stamp reads 'Carani' with 2 1/2 3S below the brand stamp. Seems to have been painted orange originally, so I'm guessing a hardware store brand of some sort.

Has anyone heard of Carani?? I'm having trouble getting a good picture, but can try again if it would help.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Steve Tall]

A search of trademarks shows that Ames (former owner of the Plumb axe brand, and current owner of the True Temper axe brand) had a Carani brand of sporting goods (golf balls were specified), so there might be some connection there.

Interesting that the axe was found in Canada, and the Ames Carani logo has what looks like half a maple leaf.

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/showData.jsp?ID=USTM.75058296

 

[Steve Tall]

It just occurred to me that the stamp might actually read
GARANT (a well-known Canadian company that sells axes and other tools)
instead of Carani.

 

[Steve Tall]

The GARANT axe trademark was also owned by Ames in the US, and the logo lettering looks the same as in the CARANI logo.

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/showData.jsp?ID=USTM.73528237

 

[300Six]

The GARANT axe trademark was also owned by Ames in the US, and the logo lettering looks the same as in the CARANI logo.

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/showData.jsp?ID=USTM.73528237

Easy to see from the depicted logo from the above link how 'Garant' could be misinterpreted as 'Carani'. I've viewed lots of Garants (brand new ones with the stickers/decals intact) over the past 35 years but don't recall ever seeing a head that was stamped as such. It is my understanding that Garant et fils farmed out their forgings (Garant only has in-house facilities for sheet steel forming (ie shovels etc)) to European makers for many decades and then (beginning in the 1990s) gravitated over to Asian forgings. Certainly the recent ones (past 20 years) are of Asian origin and display a discrete letter and number stamp (Chinese factory ID) at the back of the head. Assembly, finish and marketing has always done in Canada. Amongst a new shipment of axes at Home Hardware I discovered two Garants with Iltis-(W Germany) stamped heads back in 1992 (see bottom picture). I don't know how they slipped in there but I cheerfully scooped up one of them; seeing as the decal and the budget price sticker was the same as the others.

 

[rjdankert]

The GARANT axe trademark was also owned by Ames in the US, and the logo lettering looks the same as in the CARANI logo.

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/showData.jsp?ID=USTM.73528237

This one looks more like a "G" and a "T" to me (space under the "T"). My guess is that AMES / "CARANTI" was just an understandable mistake.


Bob

 

[Steve Tall]

From an old auction listing, the same GARANT trademark stamped/embossed on the handle, and the head was said to be stamped GARANT:

 

[rjdankert]

Old ebay listing for a Telescoping snow shovel said to be a "Carani":

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emergency-T...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


Bob

 

[bwcaq]

Thanks so much to all of you. I really appreciate all of the info and the digging around to help me figure it out.
You all really made my day! Garant.......

 

[300Six]

Garant et fils ought to have done it's homework before fielding a confusing trademark logo that can readily be misinterpreted as 'Carani' because of the amateurish graphics. Presumably when Ames bought them out 25 years ago (but retained the brand recognition (at least within the Canuck market)) the logo was altered so it couldn't be screwed up anymore.

 

[Imazagi]

To add to the confusion, there's also the German word GARANTIE, as in "[quality] guarantee" often found on trademarks, see the left two heads in my recent haul:

 

[flexo]

garantie might be a french word too

 

[rjdankert]

. . . I discovered two Garants with Iltis-(W Germany) stamped heads back in 1992 . . .

You might be interested in this. I came across these pictures I had saved. I don't remember where they came from or the context. Could this be a sample submitted to Garant, May 19, 1966? Did Garant sell HB axes?





Bob

 

[300Six]

You might be interested in this. I came across these pictures I had saved. I don't remember where they came from or the context. Could this be a sample submitted to Garant, May 19, 1966? Did Garant sell HB axes?





Bob

The company was crafty enough to solicit bids (for supply of n. American style heads) from European manufacturers for many decades and I presume your picture to be a perfect example. I've only ever seen Michigan (rounded poll) and Dayton type (square cornered) patterns. I've only viewed new Garants so I don't know if there's always an identifier stamp under the paper labels. The Ames buyout or takeover occurred in the early 1990s and it could well be that surplus and inventoried heads (such as the German Iltis that I happened to scoop up) were hurriedly assembled into finished product and distributed in advance of change in management.
Below is a shot of Garant axes at a Home Hardware in January 2016. Now that the heads are of Chinese origin there isn't much distinction between Dayton and Michigan-type!