Does anyone know anything about 'ardex' axes?

E

EdmontonAxe

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Oct 21, 2013
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An axe has come up for sale on kijiji locally. I can't say it looks a good price or that it's in good shape, but the logo intrigues me.

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and...Ardex-axe-36-Canadian-made-W0QQAdIdZ558335435

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=558335435&Keyword=axe&ImageIndex=1

A maple leaf and the word "ARDEX".

My google skills are failing me this morning. Ardex appears to be a German chemical company or a short lived french car manufacturer. I can't find many references to ardex in the tool or axe world.

Does anyone know anything about ardex axes?
 
I gave it 5 minutes on google, unfortunately the results are overwhelmingly a floor products company of the same name. A couple references to ARDEX axes are here on bladeforums, without any info. There were some results showing chisels with the ARDEX stamp, in one case there was also a maple leaf stamp, and another case the ARDEX chisel had no maple leaf but it was stamped "Germany".
 
Steve Tall said:
I gave it 5 minutes on google, unfortunately the results are overwhelmingly a floor products company of the same name. A couple references to ARDEX axes are here on bladeforums, without any info. There were some results showing chisels with the ARDEX stamp, in one case there was also a maple leaf stamp, and another case the ARDEX chisel had no maple leaf but it was stamped "Germany".
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I found someone selling a 36" model in Canada. Seller says "MADE IN CANADA" for whatever that's worth.

Another sold an Ardex fireman's axe - with maple leaf


Ardex Group is a worldwide manufacturer of chemical construction products. It says it was founded in 1949, but an Ardex sold fire-fighting gear to the German Navy in WWII.

"Germania" hangs out at the Bernard Levine sub-forum and is a great help with German companies.
 
Looks like you were able to find about as much as I did Steve.

Thomas - I think the seller in Canada you found is the kijiji sale I have linked in my top post which started off this thread.

Seems to be a mystery axe - I googled a little more at lunch and didn't find anything new.
 
I think I've seen the stamp Ardex before, but most likely on picks, sledges and landscaper tools.
 
Sorry, the bottom of the text is cut off:

2ivihj4.jpg


From the book "Axes made, found or sold in Canada" by Allan Klenman, published 1981.
 
wdmn said:
Sorry, the bottom of the text is cut off:

From the book "Axes made, found or sold in Canada" by Allan Klenman, published 1981.
Click to expand...

Thanks wdmn, that is really helpful. I'm not sure exactly what it says, but it indicates that they have made axes in Canada since 1977 - which really seems recent.

I took that as a starting point and was able to find a reference to a catalog that notes
" H.R. Radomski & Co. Ltd., Toronto, 1964; Ardex and Iltis distributors", which doesn't mean that they made axes any earlier than '77, but at least they were involved in axes back to '64 - assuming that Iltis has always been known primarily for axes.

I was also able to track down the trademark information:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/vwTrdmrk.do?lang=eng&fileNumber=244915

"WARES:
(1) Oilers.
(2) Hammers, woodchisels, tinsmith's snips, vises, wood and metal cutting tits, hatchets and axes.

CLAIMS:
Used in CANADA since at least as early as August 1956. " With the trademark being registered in '61 and not renewed in 2006.

One other potential connection, and I think I might be reaching here, is the shape of the maple leaf logo. If you look at the logo on the axe in the kijiji ad, and look at the logo on the picture you've posted, they match as slightly asymmetrical leaves. This seems similar to the leaf logo that I've seen on Iltis axes available locally (potentially all of them imported to Canada). Probably a coincidence and a false connection that my mind made once I read that the same company that made Ardex also sold Iltis. Take a look at the sticker on this axe for sale a local surveyor company: https://www.cansel.ca/components/co...ge/product/Iltis_Ox_Head_Ax_4fc7c8a4a7607.jpg

Anyway, coincidentally I've purchased an axe from the kijiji seller in the past, so I don't want to bargain hard for it and I'm not willing to spend $25 on this particular peculiar axe. I'd like to think it has good steel, being Canadian and all, so we'll see if it moves.
 
Glad it was of some help.

14tr02v.jpg


This page shows what was likely written at the bottom of the other; that this was probably the only active axe manufacturer in Canada between 1977-1981.

Further to the Ox-head connection, this page (below) was the facing page to the Ardex one I posted previously. It only reaffirms what you already knew but...

14wy2s8.jpg
 
wdmn said:
Glad it was of some help.

Further to the Ox-head connection, this page (below) was the facing page to the Ardex one I posted previously. It only reaffirms what you already knew but...

14wy2s8.jpg
Click to expand...
I'm having difficulty trying to post a few pictures of my personal favourite axe but it was purchased new in 1992 after appearing (by accident?) in the axe rack at my local Home Hardware store. It was priced as a budget model Garant, which is the only line of axes that that hardware chain carries. Stamped on the head is Iltis Canada Orig Ox - Head made in w germany and the oxhead logo (as shown above) is stamped on either side of the words Orig Ox Head.
 
Square_peg said:
I think Garant is the Canadian Division of Ames/True Temper.
Click to expand...

Garant was bought by Hanson in the early 90's. Hanson had bought Ames in the late 80's. Ames management took over Canadian Garant facilities in the mid 90's and grew the company for a couple years before moving production out of North America. Assembly is still in Canada, but except for plastic, nothing in the axe and shovel/tool line is actually made here. Ames has been sold to another company recently, called Griffon. Griffon did not buy Garant. Garant still acts as a Canadian distributor of Ames/TT products.
 
EdmontonAxe said:
Garant was bought by Hanson in the early 90's. Hanson had bought Ames in the late 80's. Ames management took over Canadian Garant facilities in the mid 90's and grew the company for a couple years before moving production out of North America. Assembly is still in Canada, but except for plastic, nothing in the axe and shovel/tool line is actually made here. Ames has been sold to another company recently, called Griffon. Griffon did not buy Garant. Garant still acts as a Canadian distributor of Ames/TT products.
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None of this surprises me, but then again where on any of Garant's maple leaf-laden labels does it say "concocted off-shore but packaged/labelled/peddled over here". Garant (whoever they are or were) did market really nice (how's about my, for once, using the word superb) axe handles until 20 years ago and then suddenly switched over to selling unimaginative flat-sided 'strapping' milled from 1 inch rough stock. Aside from expendable snow shovels these guys lost their credibility, and my business.
Since you say there was management upheaval via Hanson, Ames, True Temper (and who-ever-else) in the late 80s and early 90s, for me to discover (in 1992) an exotic Iltis Oxhead-Canada with a factory-installed Garant handle at one of their retailers is maybe then not entirely a fluke! There were two of these in the rack (along with about 20 Garant-label axes) at the time. I scratched for the longest time about grabbing the second one for the advertised $20+ price but could not justify buying another of something that was going to last me more than a lifetime anyway.

 
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As I was browsing for a restorable axe for my son-in-law, I came across an Ardex 3 1/2 lb. SB at the ReStore for $4.00 this afternoon. I had seen it last week, but wasn't sure of the provenance of "Ardex." Now that I'm informed -- probably the last Canadian-made axe -- I can add what Mr. Paul Harvey used to call "...the REST of the story."

Doing a bit of research into the H.R. Radomski company, we have a "start date" of 1977 as reported above for the manufacture of axes by them. I also found a link to the Ontario Gazette, an official publication of the Province of Ontario, in which under "Government Notices Respecting Corporations: Certificates of Dissolution" we find that H.R. Radomski Manufacturers Ltd. was officially dissolved on June 9, 2003.
 
Highly unlikely they ever were Canadian made but nevertheless is interesting for how the Ardex line came about. Many suit and tie folks invest in stocks and bonds and then there are others (still in suit and tie though) that do their darndest to broker offshore deals that make it appear they are genuine owners/distributors of domestic manufacture.
 
300Six said:
Highly unlikely they ever were Canadian made but nevertheless is interesting for how the Ardex line came about. Many suit and tie folks invest in stocks and bonds and then there are others (still in suit and tie though) that do their darndest to broker offshore deals that make it appear they are genuine owners/distributors of domestic manufacture.
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Well, here's an interesting observation: comparing the top-down profile of the edge to a similar vintage Hults Bruk axe, the Ardex has what I would call a much more "North American" profile. It's thicker and cheekier than the Swedish axe. I guess the jury's still out but I was assuming it was probably made in Canada.

And I agree with your statment above. I've been amused -- because it takes less energy than getting pissed off -- to be told by one dealer that the Garant "Canadienne" is clearly made in Canada because of the name. Even more "amusing" was hitting a saw shop locally and being told that a display of Wetterlings were all "hand-forged in Canada."

I guess there might be a market for a Canadian axe if there are people out there trying to cash in on it (either through negligence or malfeasance). Be a pretty small market, though. Fun to think about, though.
 
I just picked up an Ardex head today at an antique shop. I have it in the vinegar, but will post pictures of the head and the crest once its cleaned up. It is in great shape and should make for a nice rehang. Stay tuned.
 
The Ardex products motif of a maple leaf as shown in the catalogue picture in the 4th post of this thread looks remarkably similar to the Austrian HGW crest! Pictured below is an HGW Iltis Forest axe from (according to Lee Valley Tools who was selling these warehouse-foundling heads in 1988) the 1950s. Somehow I very much doubt that Ardex products (the forged steel heads) were ever made in Canada. More likely German and/or Austrian-sourced heads that were assembled and marketed in Canada.

Axes001Small_zps54ee47ff.jpg
 
wdmn said:
2ivihj4.jpg


From the book "Axes made, found or sold in Canada" by Allan Klenman, published 1981.
Click to expand...

Here's a photo with the detail from the Ardex label, showing a man swinging an axe overhead toward a stump.

It says:
HAND GROUND
HAND FORGED
TEMPER TESTED
with the equivalent also written in French.

It also says:
ARDEX
CANADA

Behind the man is a red crest or shield, with crossed arrows and a plus sign (or star?) below the arrows.
The logo to the left of ARDEX shows the letters AR curved to fit in a circle.

t15a.jpg
 
Geez Steve I dunno where you found that 'fresh' axe but I'm now entirely convinced Radomski was a first class shyster with a Toronto mailing address. Truth in advertising went right out the window with this guy. Ardex Canada solely means the company that warehoused and brokered offshore goods was located somewhere there. Do the steel parts of any of these tools actually have other stamps on them or did he insist they arrive unmarked and then papered or stamped them himself?
 
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