HB Hatchet? Please identify

[UncleJesse]

This little guy was my grandfather's chicken heading axe for many years. It currently hangs on the wall at my parent's place. I have looked for Hults Bruks broad axe/hatchet, etc and can't seem to find the pattern. Thanks for any help you can provide. The handle is currently 14 to 16 inches or so. Sorry, don't have it to take pictures of that right now.

 

[UncleJesse]

44 views and no one? Hoping this means it's super rare and worth a mint (ha!)... on the other hand, it looks like it could have been a carpenter's claw hatchett that my grandfather altered for his own use after he left carpentry to go into the chicken business...

 

[Steve Tall]

Here's another example (found online) that resembles it:

My guess is that it's an uncommon (if not rare) pattern that didn't catch on.

 

[UncleJesse]

Sweet, yes, that's the pattern for sure. It would be great to know what it was called...

 

[SC T100]

I believe it's a hewing hatchet...for essentially planing logs.

 

[Steve Tall]

It's close in shape (but not identical) to the currently made-in-Asia "Plumb" broad hatchets sold at big-box hardware stores:

 

[halfaxe]

I have one of those. A Hults Bruk hewing axe or hatchet. I bought mine brand new in the USA about 1984. I think it has about a 4" bit. It's at my cabin so I can't get a picture of mine. I bought a few Hults Bruk axes at the time, they had a gold foil label with Agdor on it as well.

 

[Fonetikal]

I can't believe I found another one! I've been searching around online since I picked mine up at an estate sale. It was hiding behind some firewood beside the woodstove, with a pair of bevels crudely ground into it and a broken handle. I did what I could to restore it, and put a new handle on it, tried to replicate the GB small broad axe handle (my favourite tool I've ever had the privilege to use) And I'm very happy with it.

I'll be putting mine to use building some timber frame cabins in the near future, but would love to know the history behind this shape, and the original handle design if possible. I also wondered while working on it, if the shape was designed such that the user could dictate which way it was swung. The head is pretty symmetrical, but being flat-ground on one side, it struck me as beneficial to be able to re-handle it to the preference of the carpenter. Or even, to make a handle like a tomahawk? So the tool could be converted back and forth depending on the work? Anyone ever heard of anything like that?

 

[Square_peg]

The head is pretty symmetrical, but being flat-ground on one side, it struck me as beneficial to be able to re-handle it to the preference of the carpenter. Or even, to make a handle like a tomahawk? So the tool could be converted back and forth depending on the work? Anyone ever heard of anything like that?

I described a removable wedging system to do just this in a previous thread on Bladeforums.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1249527-Removable-wedging-system-for-axes

 

[markv]

http://youtu.be/_3J5wkJFJzE
this video shows the hewing axe being used right and then left handed by removing the wedge and reinserting the handle starting at 12:24

buzz

 

[rjdankert]

. . . right and then left handed by removing the wedge and reinserting the handle starting at 12:24

buzz

Even more simple, there is no wedge.

Here are four seconds from that video.

1 Bang on top of head to loosen the handle

2 Withdraw handle

3 Rotate handle and reinsert in head

4 Bang bottom of handle to reseat the head

Bob

 

[Fonetikal]

I described a removable wedging system to do just this in a previous thread on Bladeforums.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1249527-Removable-wedging-system-for-axes

Wow very interesting! If I came across an old axe hung like that I'd just assume the handle split and it was fixed in a pinch. I supposed that if I was ok with a thinner handle, a tomahawk-style hang could work too..

edit: This might be exactly what bob has described, but his attachments don't work for me..

 

[rjdankert]

. . .
edit: This might be exactly what bob has described, but his attachments don't work for me..

You can see the four seconds where the handle is flipped at 12:59, 13:00, 13:01, and 13:02 in the video.

Don't understand why you weren't able to see the images in my post. They are .jpeg images linked to Google Photos. Sometimes when I open a thread and the images don't show up, I refresh the page and then they come up. BTW I use an old fashion desktop computer.

Bob

 

[Fonetikal]

You can see the four seconds where the handle is flipped at 12:59, 13:00, 13:01, and 13:02 in the video.

Don't understand why you weren't able to see the images in my post. They are .jpeg images linked to Google Photos. Sometimes when I open a thread and the images don't show up, I refresh the page and then they come up. BTW I use an old fashion desktop computer.

Bob

I just get grey "do not enter" kinda signs.

 

[rjdankert]

I just get grey "do not enter" kinda signs.

Did you get this from YouTube? If yes, I can't help you - sorry.

If not click on the link from markv's post below to go to the video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/_3J5wkJFJzE
. . .

Stop the video and you can display the frames at 12:59, 13:00, 13:01, and 13:02 one at a time. I posted screen shots of these four frames in my post.

Bob