HELLO. plumb axe

B

Big philly 1

Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
327
He yall, Just got a new axe, found it in the garbage. of all places. I was lookin for sum kinda wood t cave that pipe that the guy did in the youtube vid. well i found this big headed axe. cleaned it up and all it says is PLUMB.

Ive been searchin fer a while now,. cant tell wheres it from. did sharpen up quite well. . thanks phil
 
Plumb axes have been around for quite a while (50+ years) and have a pretty good history. Not sure if they're still in production or not... Hard to know what you have w/o pic's but if you do a search on eBay for "plumb axe" you'll get a good cross section of the different types that are out there. The older ones are nice from what I've seen.
 
Big Filly 1,

When I first glanced at the title of this thread: 'HELLO, plumb axe'...

My first thought was: What did you just call me?!!!
 
Hey guys,
I recently found a Plumb axe too. Mine has a 19-inch handle and 2 1/2 pound head. I thought it was a miner's axe (short handle and heavy head for shaping timbers in close quarters, but I saw a photo of it in a Forest Service manual called "An Ax to Grind," the link to which I found on this site recently. The author says it is a Plumb boy's axe, his favorite for restoring log buildings. Ya'll really should check out this manual, many pages of history and how-to. I have sort of (well, really) started collecting axes and hatchets since my grandad's axes were stolen this summer, along with my chainsaw. Living in Kentucky, I am mostly interested in Bluegrass from the now-defunct Belknap Hardware in Louisville as well as Keen Kutter from E.C. Simmons Hardware in St. Louis as these are the brands my family seemed to have. Anybody know anything about these brand or Kelley's by True Temper? I also just bought a very nice old hatchet by Van Camph and can't seem to Google up a thing about them. Anybody else know anything?
 
I have a Plumb scouting axe that I believe my late mother got before WWII. Unfortunately, it was over-sharpened with power grinders for many years and its present geometry renders it fit for splitting only. Doesn't chop too well.

DancesWithKnives
 
I took it out the other day it it exploded threw frozen wood like no problem. I like it a lot. Its skinny handle feels flimsy but doesnt give in. I havent found the model and i only have a camera phone. but its a big head and its really good. its full size to.
 
Plumb axes (and hammers) are still being made and sold. Often see them in hardware shops in Oz but IMO their shape is not as useful as our traditional axe heads. Steel is supposedly quite good but I was disappointed with the steel on a plumb hammer I had
 
The brand is still around, but the company that made it famous (Fayette R. Plumb Co., Philadelphia, PA) is long gone -- along with the quality of the tools made by the original company.

Plumb had a monopoly for production of Boy Scouts of America "official" axes until about 1927. Many thousands of the early models have been available on eBay over the last several years.

Here is a brief history of American axes, with pictures of Plumb models.
http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf99232823/pdf99232823Pdpi72pt03.pdf
 
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