Hardened Polls

Lieblad said:
Thats right the eye is relatively thin & normally not hardened much if at all.
Anyway, Manufacturers dont sell axes to guys who worship them.
If they make a hard poll axe, its for a guy who is going to beat on stuff as an expedient over a regular hammer.

Fast forward some years later as its battered & misshapen, The guy buys another.
Leaves the old one in a shed to be found decades later on by somebody caught up in the Internet Axefad who will marvel on & on about its history and wonder how to "restore" it.
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With rafting axes I don't think that's how it happened. Like you I've become cynical about 'so called' modern tools that are more designed by fashion than by practicality. But 'rafting' axes were created 120+ years ago for log drivers to set metal dogs (steel spikes with an open and round eye for tying cables or ropes) to secure river rafts. I don't know whether these were issued by the employer, or whether drivers had the wherewithal to invest in them, but they are uncommon to be sure. Old catalogues indicate that these cost about 50% more than ordinary axes so it's unlikely the manufacturers were merely treating the polls while dipping the blades. Square_Peg has a checkered poll version of one (a Permabond Plumb (ie post 1955)) that tells me other industries embraced that design and made good uses of them.
Hardened poll feature would have been no big deal or advantage until you'd ruined a bunch of ordinary axes and discovered there were options available to address this.

Undercutter axes and Pulaskis are other examples of choppers that had specific commercial origins and uses.
 
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300Six said:
Old catalogues indicate that these cost about 50% more than ordinary axes so it's unlikely the manufacturers were merely treating the polls while dipping the blades. Square_Peg has a checkered poll version of one (a Permabond Plumb (ie post 1955)) that tells me other industries embraced that design and made good uses of them.
Hardened poll feature would have been no big deal or advantage until you'd ruined a bunch of ordinary axes and discovered there were options available to address this.
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Here's is one of my waffle poll Plumbs on its original Permabond handle.

Plumb%201.jpg



Here's my other waffle poll after re-milling the poll face.

Waffle%20Finished.jpg
 
Axe nut said:
I've got one:eek::D its unmarked though
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We need pictures! Many of these otherwise 'dark horses' have some sort of recognizable profile. And we need some knowledge of the poll being hard (file skates over it) or is chipped rather than mushroomed from use.
 
Temper line work instead of chips/ deformed pole

Here's the pol the shiny spots are where the file skipped across




The whole thing, before I cleaned it up there was some light blue paint showing under the rust, about the same color Forrest king used to use
 
Wow, are you sure that's a 3.5-lber? it looks huge? That's a really cool axe. After seeing them on the forum more often, I now want one for my truck! :)
 
Square_peg said:
Here's is one of my waffle poll Plumbs on its original Permabond handle.



Here's my other waffle poll after re-milling the poll face.

Waffle%20Finished.jpg
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I used to do the same when I was a broke young framer. I have never seen anyone else take a file to a milled face. I got to were I would just buy a new one but you can't do that with one of them rafting patterns. What a difference a nice sharp milled face makes.:thumbup:
 
Axe nut said:
It's just over 4 lbs hafted
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That's the littlest one I have ever seen. I come across four pounders fairly regular. Makes a guy wonder if it was the end of the bar or they just missed the cut. Regardless it would make a handy little axe that is for sure.
 
garry3 said:
I used to do the same when I was a broke young framer. I have never seen anyone else take a file to a milled face. I got to were I would just buy a new one but you can't do that with one of them rafting patterns. What a difference a nice sharp milled face makes.:thumbup:
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I thought about re-milling my framing hammer but by that time I was good enough that I could make do without the waffles. I still have that old 24 oz. Vaughan straight-claw framer. The poll is almost completely smooth - you have to look for the remains of the waffling. One day I slammed home 50 pounds (a full box) of 16d vinyl sinkers with that hammer. I was building interior partitions in a big rambler that day.
 
Axe nut said:
It's just over 4 lbs hafted
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That's what you've got! That temper line along the poll clinches it. Typically Rafting axes were 5 or 6 lbs and Constructor versions (the construction and mining industry saw fit to adopt these) were available in lesser weights of 4 lb but a 3 1/2 lb head is a new one on me. Your's ought to be a handy little devil for cutting and splitting, and driving wedges.
Always bugged me when it came to driving a piece of rebar or a spike into cribbing or retaining wall material when the only 'hammer' nearby was a well cared for (but ordinary) axe. Myself would go looking for a sledge but most everyone else onsite would conveniently grab the axe. Any nice axe was never the same after a day of such pounding and the mushrooming poll only further encouraged abuse.
 
Square_peg said:
I thought about re-milling my framing hammer but by that time I was good enough that I could make do without the waffles. I still have that old 24 oz. Vaughan straight-claw framer. The poll is almost completely smooth - you have to look for the remains of the waffling. One day I slammed home 50 pounds (a full box) of 16d vinyl sinkers with that hammer. I was building interior partitions in a big rambler that day.
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I have a an old Vaughn straight claw fiberglass handle that was relegated to just siding. With the advent of engineered wood siding and trim some of that stuff will sure bend a galvanized nail. Can't use a fresh waffle face but one that is worn just enough to provide some traction with out leaving what we used to call the union label works pretty well. Even less likely to leave marks on regular wood trim than a smooth face. Not sure what I would do without it if I had to nail off some siding today. Maybe go buy one of those Titanium ones. They look half worn out new...
 
I always like Vaughan's 20 oz. straight claw ripping hammer for siding work. I could even frame with it in a pinch. Great hammer. Now I mostly use the Vaughan 16 oz. straight claw ripping/finish hammer. Love that thing. I'd sooner loan out my toothbrush than my 16 oz. Vaughan.
 
Axe nut said:

The whole thing, before I cleaned it up there was some light blue paint showing under the rust, about the same color Forrest king used to use
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That is a good looking axe. Looks like it would get the job done without too much hesitation.
 
I don't no what the correct name of these axes are., I call them fellers axes. Maybe in the correct vernacular they would be fallers axes? I really don't know. I will tell you about what I know of them and what I remember.

I had several friends that went logging right out of high school(1970's). Most of these guys quickly moved up the food chain from choker setters to fellers(fallers?).
Any way I would go up to their logging camps during elk season for obvious reasons. What I saw at that time was short straight handled axes that seemed to be full sized heads on shorter handles. Steel wedges were clipped to there belts by a chain(vintage , new?). The axes either hung from a leather and steel hammer swing or were carried in a tool pouch handle up behind them.

I have no idea how recent this type of axe is or exactly how far back it goes, certainly post chain saw. It is neither common nor rare here in the north west. I do think that somewhere in this period(70's or early 80,s) Council Tool went from a hardened poll to a soft one on there miners Dayton pattern axe which I strongly suspect my friends were using to drive their wedges. This is the lightest one I have ever seen. It is around two pounds by my guestimation.The hardened poll and over strike wear on the handle leaves little doubt in my mind what it was used for. Unfortunately if it had a stamp it is long gone.


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