"Cruso" Camp Axe?

[Col Defender]

Hi - have an old rusty camp axe/boy's axe here and when I took off the rust I found the marking "Cruso" near the very top of the head. Never heard of them before. Can anyone tell me anything about the company? USA I hope? Still in business?

Thanks

Steve

 

[Steve Tall]

CRUSO was a brand name used by the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company (HSB), a hardware distributor. According to the following history of the HSB company, the CRUSO brand was introduced in 1902.

http://www.thckk.org/history/hsb.pdf

The following 1922 catalog from HSB shows CRUSO boys axes, CRUSO hatchets...
(see catalog pages 13 and 14):

http://www.roseantiquetools.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/hsb1.110.pdf
courtesy of Rose Antique Tools

 

[Col Defender]

Wow Steve, thank you for all that.