Hello. New here, couple questions about a Winchester hatchet...

letsflyman

letsflyman

Joined
Feb 21, 2024
Messages
6
Hi everyone. Just joined up. I recently picked up this old carpenters hatchet, but wanted to run some pics by you guys. Do you know which era these were from? I've read the 1920's, but certainly pre war. Just looking for a little more info on these, and also which brands of old prewar axes were made with a harder steel. I'm kind of curious due to stories of pre war steel being generally of higher quality having been produced before nuclear testing and radioactive isotopes came into the picture.

Appreciate any help.


20240220-225748.jpg

20240220-170237.jpg

20240220-170249.jpg
 
the-accumulator said:
I've always referred to that as "waffle-face". Nice hatchet! T-A
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah and it had a pretty sharp edge on it when I got it. It's something else to actually hold and own what I consider to be a piece of history made 100 years ago from steel that has not been weakened by radioactive isotopes. It's just neat!
 
When I hold my 100+yo hatchets, I don’t notice any weakness from radioactive isotopes. Course, I don’t notice it in my postwar hatchets either.

How much weakness we talkin’ about here?

Parker
 
catspa said:
When I hold my 100+yo hatchets, I don’t notice any weakness from radioactive isotopes. Course, I don’t notice it in my postwar hatchets either.

How much weakness we talkin’ about here?

Parker
Click to expand...

I honestly have no idea, but it was something I read about and seemed interesting. I've read that this older steel is usually salvaged from old shipwrecks and used for the purpose of shielding sensitive equipment. But I've also heard that modern instrumentation and electronics can be programmed or setup to take into account the radioactivity of newer metals and isn't as big of a deal anymore.

But for me...just a cool thing.

Here's more info on low background steel. It's a safe website to click on.

Low-background steel aka pre war steel
 
Last edited:
It is cool, but IMHO a prewar hatchet is pretty cool just for being that old. I didn’t know it was stronger.

Seems like if it was a big deal, they’d figure out a way to scrub the isotopes out of the oxygen.

Parker
 
catspa said:
It is cool, but IMHO a prewar hatchet is pretty cool just for being that old. I didn’t know it was stronger.

Parker
Click to expand...

Can't deny that. It's just great handling something that has been around for that long...before the world wars, before the great depression, before modernization. Now I'm off to find me a pre war axe or axe head.
 
Heh.

Your Winchester is a sweetheart, good find.

I have a cast steel E. Rogers Ideal hatchet head with an April 7, 95 patent date. I’m pretty sure it ain’t 1995. Had a crappy pine stick when I got it, rehung it the first week on a 14” hickory half-octagon. Now it’s proud.

Parker
 
catspa said:
Heh.

Your Winchester is a sweetheart, good find.

I have a cast steel E. Rogers Ideal hatchet head with an April 7, 95 patent date. I’m pretty sure it ain’t 1995. Had a crappy pine stick when I got it, rehung it the first week on a 14” hickory half-octagon. Now it’s proud.

Parker
Click to expand...

I'd love to see a couple of pics of it. Sounds like a cool piece.
 
I live way out in the sticks with crappy signal, can’t post pics from here. But I sure enjoy looking at other peoples’ (including yours).

I’ve read that Winchester was like Sears back in the day, had all their stuff made on contract, stamped with their name (except guns, of course). Don’t know if that’s true, but if I had one I’d sure like to imagine the gunshop foreman walking in one morning and shouting, “Clear off the barrels and bolts boys, we’re gonna forge us some hatchets today!”

Probably bullshiite revisionist history, but it’s a fun mental picture.

Parker
 
catspa said:
I live way out in the sticks with crappy signal, can’t post pics from here. But I sure enjoy looking at other peoples’ (including yours).

I’ve read that Winchester was like Sears back in the day, had all their stuff made on contract, stamped with their name (except guns, of course). Don’t know if that’s true, but if I had one I’d sure like to imagine the gunshop foreman walking in one morning and shouting, “Clear off the barrels and bolts boys, we’re gonna forge us some hatchets today!”

Probably bullshiite revisionist history, but it’s a fun mental picture.

Parker
Click to expand...
Not BS revisionist history at all. There was a time when EC Simmons merged with Winchester, bought Mack Axe Co and moved all forging equipment to Connecticut. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/brand-name-hatchets.1898078/post-21553114

Failure and recovery​


During the war, Winchester had borrowed heavily to finance its massive expansion. With the return of peace, the company attempted to use its surplus production capacity and pay down its debt by trying to become a general manufacturer of consumer goods – everything from kitchen knives to roller skates to refrigerators, to be marketed through 'Winchester Stores'. They also merged with the Simmons Hardware Company. The Winchester and Keen Kutter brands did business together during the 1920s, but in 1929, they agreed to separate and returned to their core businesses.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Repeating_Arms_Company
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top