Has anyone seen this type of keen kutter hatchet before?

J

Jlemay18

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Oct 16, 2016
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http://imgur.com/mo8bUu6
http://imgur.com/BUCa3HH
I saw this hatchet for sale on eBay, probably not going to buy it anyway as its more than I want to spend but I've never seen a keen kutter or any axe in this shape before. I've heard of other keen kutter items being fakes but never an axe head, but that doesn't make it impossible. Basically just curious if anyone has ever seen a keen kutter or any kind of axe in this shape before.
 
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The pics you linked to are of a Collins Legitimus Hudson Bay pattern.
 
Fuck lol I'm an idiot and copied the wrong link, the legitimus is mine that I made the handle for, I've updated the original post and it should be correct now
 
Never seen one like that, but legitimacy aside it's quite the looker.
 
Darth, it's possible but not sure I've seen any in the shape it'd have to start with to cut down to that with such a small logo. My thought was that the logo could have been added on afterwards. Also this seller has a lot of rare axes plumb champions etc. and they all have the exact same dark gray patina to it. I'm sure it could just be theyve found all these axes in really good shape and however they treated it gave it that patina but you don't see an even patina in that color that often. I don't want to throw any accusations around, it could very much just be a rare axe and this one plus the others they have are just in really good condition. But I rarely find a design of an axe I've yet to see before and I thought this one was really cool looking, this ones too expensive but if it was real I'd def look for another.
 
Fortytwoblades, def a nice looking axe just a few things that stuck out to me as odd with this axe and others from the seller. I'm not throwing any accusations around though, it could just be super rare and the way they restored the axes gave them all a similar even patina and were in good condition to start, just since they're all different styles and makers it's odd that they all have the exact same finish that I haven't seen in many others. But figured this was the best place to ask, this particular axe is too expensive but if it were a real model from keen kutter I'd def look for another
 
It looks modded.

I think the seller is taking real axes and carefully resurfacing them around the stamp and then giving them patina, possibly by the rust bluing method. He's doing a good job of making the handles look old.
 
Take a look at the Dorpian. You can see that there has been substantial wear and pitting on the stamp. The rest of the axe shows sign of being resurfaced. Plus it's too short and fat - obviously well worn and gracefully restored.

The guy is doing great restoration work. I'm guessing he's adding a little pine tar to his BLO to color the handles. I hope he recoups enough to cover the labor he's put into those.

I like these better than the pimped out axes another ebayer sells.
 
On my superphone it looks like an etched logo.
Would need seeing it in person, its appearence & style of head makes me suspicious.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Agreed. Those make me cry.
Click to expand...

I don't mind them too much. Not my cup of tea but at least one of us found a way to make a living doing what we love. And he's taken good care in recent years not to chop up any really fine or rare axes. I've been glad to see that.
 
@lieblad that's what I was thinking, the logo seems too small. I have a keen kutter hatchet head that the logo is much bigger and the same goes for basically all the ones I've seen. Although the keen kutter sickle I have the logo is very small but that's a whole different tool and the metal is much thinner. Again I don't want to throw around accusations, this could just be a very rare design but I've seen a lot of axe designs and never this one by keen kutter or another company. It very well could be that the guy only buys axes in great condition and whatever he does to restore them gives them an odd patina I've never really seen and this axe in particular is just very uncommon but I figured I'd ask you guys as I really like the pattern on this hatchet if it is legit. I wouldn't buy this one as its $175 but I would keep a look out for another, but the size of the logo and the fact that no one on here yet has ever seen this design is suspicious.
 
Looks like he modified a square poll half axe / carpenters hatchet. It looks awesome though, and the general shape reminds me of one of those colclesser hatchets.
 
I'm thinking it started out as something like this

If he cut it very close to the nail notch and took the milling off of the hammer poll it would look close.
 
@rickoff @hickory those are both pretty close and I could definitely see how you would get that shape out of those but this one seems to be a bit bigger than what those started off as. It could have been a full size axe to begin but then the size of the logo throws me off, I picked up a keen kutter axe at the flea market today and the logo takes up almost half the head, same with a keen kutter hatchet head I have. My whole intention from the start was to try and see if anyone recognized this design as I thought it was really cool and would love to find another as the guy wants $175 for this one which is way more than I'll pay for an axe just cause it looks cool lol. But since no one seems to recognize this pattern plus the few things that are suspect about it I'm starting to think it was either modified from another axe or just fake altogether. At this point I just want someone to come along and ID it cause I would love to have one of these myself but it's starting to seem like it's not a legit design made by keen kutter
 
Whoever this guy is he did an awesome job. I really think it had to have been a half axe ...ect as they're the only ones I see with that stamp placement and I'm pretty sure the lugs are original as well.
The size seems about right to me.
At first you'd think that it would end up to narrow,but not if you consider those bevels. You can just about match the width of you cut off just the nail notch itself, those bevels could easily have been ground in to eliminate that dip which surrounds the nail notch . ( I have seen versions with round lugs instead of the ears on the picture I found )
 
Jlemay18 said:
http://imgur.com/Lh7SvNk
I think I've found the original axe that this one was made from, logo is similar in size as well as the "ears" as one person called them.
Click to expand...

The lugs on that one are a little too short, but a variation of that axe could've been used. After all they were made by various companies and E.C. Simmonds wouldn't care if one company used slightly longer lugs if their bid to produce them was lower.

That hatchet is just so awesome looking that i want to make one now, and I think I can just about do so with my harbor freight hatchet ( it's already been modified into a Hudson bay pattern ) and all it really needs now is the bevels.
 
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