Help identifying...

W

Whopkins

Joined
Mar 1, 2015
Messages
19


Im trying to get the mechanics down and have many more pics if i can get them to post.
 
Last edited:
So far we know that it is from Europe. Based on the shape and no other data I'm guessing Germany. It's almost certainly good steel and the basis of an excellent hatchet.
 
Thanks man, im just starting out and axes have become a disease. I thought if it were a flea market junk hawk I might polish it on down. I was really intrigued when I found the obscured stamp.
 
Whopkins said:
Thanks man, im just starting out and axes have become a disease. I thought if it were a flea market junk hawk I might polish it on down. I was really intrigued when I found the obscured stamp.
Click to expand...

Not a problem, and I have the disease, believe me. I highly doubt that that head is junk, probably quite the contrary. I see the 600 which stands for grams, or about 1 1/3 pounds, is that the only mark?

If you polish that up a little bit and give it a new 12-15" handle, it should be quite a nice tool.
 
Certainly looks similar to other German-origin heads I've seen. The 600 indicates the metric weight of this head in grams, which is slightly shy of 1 1/2 pounds. 'Zee squareheads' have never been known to manufacture junk, even during the decade right after the war when materials, machinery and skilled workers were in desperate short supply. Some vintage German axes have a square profile at the top of the eye, not a conventional oval such as found on n. American axes.
 
More pics. Poll, eye, and close up on the stamp. I am confused by the grind, or lack thereof. I appreciate the help you guys have already given.
 
Typically after you do the vinegar bath and wire brush routine to a head the delineation of blade temper and softer cheeks/poll/eye becomes quite visible. I don't see anything obvious like this on yours. A file will tell you how hard or soft the blade is. If the file doesn't want to 'bite' (ie 'skates' instead) then your edge is plenty hard. But rust hardening can and does create a thin hard surface too so don't be timid with your testing.
 
It almost looks like it was never sharpened? But the poll has the hammer marks. I don't know why someone would blunt an edge like that, unless they were doing something silly like using it in a church theatrical etc.
 
Oxbow said:
It almost looks like it was never sharpened? But the poll has the hammer marks. I don't know why someone would blunt an edge like that, unless they were doing something silly like using it in a church theatrical etc.
Click to expand...

In 50 years I've rarely come across sharp axes or hatchets. Most of them have been used exactly the way they were bought. Much easier and cheaper to package, ship and display a dull axe then it is a razor sharp one. The advent of affordable electric angle grinders has also not been a boon for axe blades; folks can now whittle away a blade to nothing in trying to keep up with nicked edges.
 
german mass prouction i'd say.
600gr, and general shape is ok,but rounded neck is weird,is this an axe from the sixties?
sharpening reminds me a scraper,but for what?
 
"The advent of affordable electric angle grinders has also not been a boon for axe blades; folks can now whittle away a blade to nothing in trying to keep up with nicked edges. "- Worst thing I have seen for tools- people buying grinders that do not understand steel temper.

When Grandpas arthritis in his hands got bad, my uncles bought him a grinder- really decimated some nice old tools.
Bill
 


I picked this up on Craigslist and got a Lansky puck. Just a novice but read enough after getting my great-grandfathers old Plumb hatchet not to use my grinders.
 
lmalterna said:
"The advent of affordable electric angle grinders has also not been a boon for axe blades; folks can now whittle away a blade to nothing in trying to keep up with nicked edges. "- Worst thing I have seen for tools- people buying grinders that do not understand steel temper.

When Grandpas arthritis in his hands got bad, my uncles bought him a grinder- really decimated some nice old tools.
Bill
Click to expand...

Exactly was I was alluding to. Takes forever (and lots of elbow grease) to hand file out a stone chipped edge so folks 1) rarely did this (hand file for 2-3 hours) and 2) took better care to keep their cutters and choppers away from roots and dirt. Some of the flea market Walters that I retrieved 20-30 years ago obviously saw their last use as convenient grubbing tools by whatever next generation that inherited them. Luckily very few of these were 'visited upon' by angle grinders though. But still I cringe every time I look at one of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top