Photos Greenshires hatchets, made in England...?

C

Chotiius

Joined
May 4, 2019
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Hi folks, I'm new here. I've done a bunch of Googling (and when that failed, tried DuckDuckGo) and the only thing I've been able to learn about an English company called Greenshires is that it made machetes and bolo knives, circa WWII.

But today I acquired what looks like a small camp hatchet. It originally had red paint on the head, now mostly worn away. The head is stamped 'Greenshires' on one side, 'Made in England' on the other. It's a bit dinged on the back of the head from being used to split kindling, maybe, as a wedge?

Does anyone know any more about this? Should I just use it, or find someone who wants to restore it?

I didn't see how to upload photos, so here is a link to a tweet with the photos in it:

https://twitter.com/chotiari/status/1124862610875142144

Thank you kindly.
 
Hello Chotiius and welcome.
Unfortunately I cannot help you with any information on your hatchet.
I have found that the older English tools are generally of good to superior quality , and your hatchet appears to be in good nick.
As Junkenstien says , clean it up and use it.
If the head is tight , scrape it down to bare wood and oil it.
I use raw linseed oil , but others use boiled linseed oil , both types work.
There is an old saying:-

"Raw linseed oil soaks right in , Boiled oil forms a skin"

When oiling the haft with raw linseed oil , only use a very small amount of oil at a time and rub it in and give the oil time to soak into the wood.
"Oil once a day for about a week , then once a week for about a month , then once a year" , (this advice has been floating about forever , but it works).
I have had good result on gun stocks using this method.
Cheers.
 
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