Hardened Polls

Marcelo Cantu

Marcelo Cantu

Joined
Jan 18, 2003
Messages
3,734
Just a novice question: Does an extended poll and beveled edges behind the eye automatically mean that the poll of an axe is hardened?

Frivolous side note: I don't know if it's my computer or a V-bulletin thing but when I type axe it's undelined as misspelled and defaults to ax. I grew up using "axe". I'm mildly tempted each time to just type "ax" but perhaps that would look pretentious. Is this a regional thing?
 
It sounds like you are describing a Rafting axe pattern. Although Plumb made a pattern with a poll like that and it was made in several weights.
Some were hardened and some not. The best way to tell is to take a file to the poll. If it's hardened, it will just skate across it.

Here's one of my Plumbs.

KellyPerfectvsCouncilVelicut009.jpg



Good luck, Tom
 
Thanks Tom, That's exactly one of the heads I'm talking about! Says: "patent applied for" right? My other one is a big Collins 5 pounder. I'll try the file thing with it.
 
Rafting axes (for "rafting" together logs to float to where they were needed) had a hardened poll for hammering in metal "dogs", staples, and spikes. I still see rafts nearly a quarter mile long on parts of the Columbia river. Back in the day Washington state lumbermen would even build huge ocean going rafts for shipments to California.
 
Here are a few of my hardened poll axes.

Collins rafting axe with loggers brand welded on.

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Plumb rafting axe with waffle poll.

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Walters rafting axe.

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True Temper Dayton pattern with an 'A6' stamp. One of my favorite axes.

A6-1.jpg


First clue that the A6 had a hardened poll was the chip. A soft poll would have mushroomed instead of chipping. The file confirmed that it's hard as the dickens.
 
I figure the minute you spy an old axe head that is devoid of some sort of mushroomed poll you're halfway there. Most folks used axes (and anything else that was nearby) for purposes that those implements were not meant for.
I have never seen or hefted a hardened poll axe but can certainly see the advantage to having one. They must have cost considerably more money, or been largely unavailable, during the time that there was an axe in everyone's carriage, sleigh, shed and wood pile.
A history lesson from someone on the forum is in order here. That log raft drivers preferred and used these is understandable but that wouldn't have been a big enough market to warrant a very specific, and for sure more costly, axe.
 
300Six said:
...They must have cost considerably more money, or been largely unavailable, during the time that there was an axe in everyone's carriage, sleigh, shed and wood pile... That log raft drivers preferred and used these is understandable but that wouldn't have been a big enough market to warrant a very specific, and for sure more costly, axe.
Click to expand...

The axe catalog from the 1960s that Square_peg provided earlier (link below) has some clues. The one axe listed as a rafting axe is from Sweden and makes no mention of a hardened poll. The next two axes on the list are called "Construction Axes" and look like the typical rafting axes, with beveled and hardened polls.

From page 6 of the catalog:

True Temper Flint Edge Construction Axe... designed and built for heavy work... specially heat-treated and tempered so it can be used as a maul... head weight 4 pounds...

Plumb Construction Axe... specially designed for mine and highway work. Has broad hardened head to withstand pounding... A maul and axe combined in one tool... head weight 4 pounds or 5 pounds...

And yes, they cost about 50% more than the comparable axes without a hardened poll.

Square_peg said:
I recently received a Seattle Hardware catalog from sometime in the late 60's. I haven't figured out exactly what year yet. Still, it's fun to look at their offerings and prices. Here's a sample.

Page%202.jpg


There are 9 pages of axes and hatchets. I've scanned them into a single pdf file.

http://cedarriverforge.com/Photo-index/Tools/Seattle Hardware catalog pages/Axes Prices.pdf
Click to expand...
 
Yes, miner's axes were also hardened and also displayed the beveled poll (which makes the hardened corners less likely to chip off). I once sent Council an email to ask if their miner's axe had a hardened poll. I didn't receive a response so I'm assuming it is not hardened.
 
Hardened poll. That's a killing axe. Sometimes called a hammer poll axe. Originally for construction but they were found to be handy at the slaughter house. Each head of cattle coming up the chute was given a whack on the skull with the hammer to dispatch it. Rumor has it that as the day wore on the axe man tired and sometimes didn't strike with lethal force. There are even stories of cows wandering back home.

And yes, maul polls are typically hardened for driving wedges.
 
Marcelo, I have been trying to answer your question myself for quite some time now, mostly concerning the Plumb cedar pattern axe like yours. It seems that some of them will mushroom while others will chip first. I don't know if its an inconsistent heat treat or just an unhardened poll. The bigger cedar pattern here I just picked up, its not my hanging job. Both of the cedar patterns are just marked Plumb, with hardened polls.

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The older hewing hatchets I find interesting because there hardened polls are forge welded on.

Square Peg. I didn't know that Dayton pattern came with a hardened poll. I will pay more attention in the future.

BTW, that workman ship challenged handle on the little hewing hatchet with the knots in it is made out of high elevation yew. Its around one hundred growth rings to the inch.
 
garry3 said:
Square Peg. I didn't know that Dayton pattern came with a hardened poll. I will pay more attention in the future.
Click to expand...

I didn't know either until I found that one. Picked it up at an estate sale of a junk collector out in timber country. The seller told me there was a milk crate full of old axe heads around there somewhere but we never found them. I can only imagine what I missed out on. :sigh:

That big Plumb in the center of your photo is quite an axe.
 
Square_peg said:
I didn't know either until I found that one. Picked it up at an estate sale of a junk collector out in timber country. The seller told me there was a milk crate full of old axe heads around there somewhere but we never found them. I can only imagine what I missed out on. :sigh:

That big Plumb in the center of your photo is quite an axe.
Click to expand...

It's a 5lb but doesn't have the milled poll like yours does. The Warren is 4lb and the other Plumb is 3 1/2.

I can't tell you how many no name Daytons I have not bothered with in the past year. Does that one have ribs in the eye?
 
I just picked up two 4lb axe heads on the weekend. They both look to be rafting patterns...wide pole, bevelled corners. One is marked M4 and the other is a mastercraft. Any info on these would be great!

Cheers! Ryan
 
JARB said:
I just picked up two 4lb axe heads on the weekend. They both look to be rafting patterns...wide pole, bevelled corners. One is marked M4 and the other is a mastercraft. Any info on these would be great!

Cheers! Ryan
Click to expand...


Any chance you could post a picture? For no other reason than someone here can most likely cast a guess if they can see the heads.

Sounds like a good find though :thumbup:
 
I will try to post some tonight after work...don't have pics with me and I'm new to this
Thanks for the response

Ryan
 
JARB said:
I just picked up two 4lb axe heads on the weekend. They both look to be rafting patterns...wide pole, bevelled corners. One is marked M4 and the other is a mastercraft. Any info on these would be great!

Cheers! Ryan
Click to expand...

Presumably you live in Canada. I too found a 4 lb Mastercraft (Canadian Tire in-house tool brand) constructor axe head last week. Whatever manufacturer made Craftsman tools also seems to have made this one. As evident via the mushrooming, the poll is obviously not hardened to the same degree as many rafting pattern polls are. On the other hand I have no idea how much of a brutal pounding this axe actually received.

axe%20and%20groundcover%20008%20Medium_zpswfzbmdhu.jpg
 
Thanks 300six, I do live in Ontario...mine looks similar but I'll have to get some pics up to compare. Mine has no signs of mushrooming but I bet it wasent used very hard judging by its good shape

Ryan
 
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