For your persusal, if you like

Slight downward angle. Also, the blade has a slight skew as in the last photo. Ideas?
Thanks, John
 
It's interesting and I can only speculate intuitively since the lathing technique that might be associated with such an axe is not in detail familiar to me. Both the downward angle and the skew of the handle, (if you lay the axe down with the edge facing left the handle rises up from the surface so it's oriented for left hand use), make sense as I imagine it in use. Possibly the lath material was dimensioned, something like 1 1/2" by 1/4 ", recalling roughly from memory, and the blade used to trim around elements of the construction, exposed beams, lighting fixtures, window frames and so on and so forth.... On the other hand real lath was gotten from riven material and with this in mind an axe gets used, in part, to trim irregularities where the lath attaches to the studs to flush out the surface. Does the age of this particular axe correspond with the use of riven lath? I wouldn't go so far as making a guess on that count. This abrupt reduction at the collar/blade transition seems incongruous for such a lathing axe and who knows what led to it, possibly the pragmatics of manufacturing by the maker Mayer.
'Course this could all just be coincidental and it might just be poorly hung. But what would it matter, I once had a nice Swedish carpentry axe and the handle came out skewed to the right but for the rest it was excellent, so I gave it to a right-handed friend.
 
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Hello Ernest, and thank you so much for your evaluation of this little guy. I missed the blade transition, and also the term "riven" lath. Another tangent to pursue, but I sure wish the maker was identifiable. Sooner or later I'll need to pass it on to someone who will enjoy it more than I.
Once again thanks for a good read!
 
It's definitely a tack hammer, and it's vintage. But what trade would benefit from a tack hammer/hatchet combination?
 
quinton said:
But what trade would benefit from a tack hammer/hatchet combination?
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The plasterer.

Looking closer at the proportions this time it seems even more particularly suited to lath work than for shingling. A shingle hatchet would typically be a bigger one though there are a range of sizes according to preference and the particular shingling techniques - shingles used for gable work can differ from roofing shingles.
 
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Ernest DuBois said:
The plasterer.

Looking closer at the proportions this time it seems even more particularly suited to lath work than for shingling. A shingle hatchet would typically be a bigger one though there are a range of sizes according to preference and the particular shingling techniques - shingles used for gable work can differ from roofing shingles.
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Maybe..
The reality old plaster I've torn out had lathing that was fastened with the close equivalent of 4 penny nails. I still don't see a worker driving #4 nails all day long, or needing the precision of a hammer that small.
 
It's definitely a specialty tool from a long gone era. If I had to throw a wildassed guess out there, I would say it was used by someone along the lines of a saddle tree maker. Most, if not all of the old saddle trees I've seen have hewing marks on them, and many tacks and smaller nails holding them together.
 
This idea of saddle tree maker or something along that line is another possibility though what would be the relation of the hammer to the hatchet in the process? Probably the (rough) forming work is complete long before the tacking and in the context of a workshop it seems more probable to have separate tools near to hand for these disparate actions.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
This idea of saddle tree maker or something along that line is another possibility though what would be the relation of the hammer to the hatchet in the process? Probably the (rough) forming work is complete long before the tacking and in the context of a workshop it seems more probable to have separate tools near to hand for these disparate actions.
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Again, just a guess on what the tool was used for.

But, the saddle trees I've seen looked to be built then shaped, contoured, and sharp edges knocked off.
 
Box hatchet perhaps? So many specialty pieces made over so long a time. It's fun to wonder! lots of these thin bladed hatchets are sold as shingling hatchets regardless, or lathing, or either.

I spent a lot of money on eBay last month on a piece just because I wonder about it. Specifically the haft, this is something that seems like a long learned and purposeful design by an experienced tradesman. I've thought thought roofing over lathing, the curved haft lend itself to a hunched over stance: 20190105_143533-980x2016.jpg
 
Thanks both for the continued dialogue and interest.
Either (or both) have an opinion on how to describe (list) this on Ebay or other venue? I suppose just list a small hatchet, and indicate what I THINK it may be. I would like to use some of the opinions listed in this post if no one objects.

What about maritime applications (detail, cabinetry, etc)??
 
Here we can get some kind of loose idea of the general proceedings and work order involved in the proposition that the axe might be from the saddle tree maker. While the comparison lacks complete parallel, trades do follow a common logic developed over time and across distances and in general there is no indication the forming gets done once the construction is assembled. That one seems a stretch too far to be credible. Again, continuing in this same logic where is the need for a dual purpose tool in the context of a workshop setting?
 
I wish I had access to take a few pictures of the many old pleasure saddle trees I observed in the past. There was basically no comparison to the crude objects being crafted in the video.

The trees I observed looked to have had parts mass produced, then assembled before some final contouring, and light shaping. I wish I knew the names of the various saddle tree components. Then again, I'm not saying the tool was used in this trade, just that seems a possibility with what I've seen in the past.
 
Well, it's going a bit far a drift to get so narrowly focused and speculative given we have hardly any basis in terms of time-frame, location, specific knowledge and so on and so on. Maybe just enough to throw perspective buyers completely off track though. Another time it might be interesting, (for my part anyway), to purse out the particulars of these axe forms in detail. Something like the minutia of detail devoted to the Mann and Collins axe Co. histories. But I sign off here now because the topic has disappeared from my forum listings out front and can't be traced down without too much effort anymore
 
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