Identifying rusty axe head

D

Dokkalfarssnow

Joined
Sep 30, 2017
Messages
2
I found this axe head underground in my backyard. It has red paint and a A29 stamp
https://imgur.com/9pGSh3d
9pGSh3d

https://imgur.com/sIhfWnG


sIhfWnG
 
Most likely a True Temper/Kelly Woodslasher. 'A 29' is a production stamp used to track when the dies were getting worn.
 
Red paint ridge eye = Kelly woodslasher made for some hardware store , and sold with a sticker on it of whatever their brand was.
FYI this is a Michigan pattern and is likely before the 1970's because the cheeks are convexed ( the sides of the head before the eye )
Btw this'll the was underground, like you dug it up ?
Or in some sort if underground cellar ? Because the condition is great.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Btw this'll the was underground, like you dug it up ?
Or in some sort if underground cellar ? Because the condition is great.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's in good condition. And the convex cheeks tell us it's an older axe that has good steel.

Hardly any poll damage. Definitely worth re-hanging.
 
I used to wonder how folks could lose items such as this. It's easy to see how and why a cracked, badly worn or misshapen head would get tossed but not so a perfectly good head. That is, until I spent the better part of a year in a First Nations community in northern Ontario. Their boats, ATVs and snow machine toboggans all featured nearly new axes. Whenever a handle broke or a blade became dreadfully dull they'd toss the remains and simply buy another one. The Band store didn't even bother to stock replacement handles and the local climate-stunted Black Spruces and White Birches didn't lend themselves to whittling one either.
 
Square_peg said:
So they're like the rest of us.
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Strangely enough many of these isolated communities are awash with disposable income but there are no service providers for anything such as appliance, vehicle or engine repair, plumbing, electrical, tool maintenance etc. Consequently the amount of perfectly-decent-looking abandoned and derelict stuff littering the shores, house yards and roadsides is appalling. The community I was in, during 2001-2002, formed in 1964 and sometime during the late 70s early 80s became connected to the 'outside world' via a seasonal ice road. Natives (certainly in northern Ontario) tend to bitterly squabble when a Reserve population gets up to around 500 and a faction of them will then branch out to start another community. There were 3 abandoned Champion road graders (these ain't cheap!) at the municipal 'yard'. When something such as a industrial tire refuses to hold air, or a mechanical mishap occurs machinery such as this immediately becomes useless.
 
David Martin said:
So, a Native American community didn't sharpen their axe head or replace hafts. DM
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Most likely a minority of enterprising souls from any of those communities do maintain their implements but likely as not those very same folks don't leave their stuff lying around for someone like me to notice, or for less scrupulous others to conveniently 'liberate' whenever theirs broke, either. Native culture does not recognize 'ownership' of property but there are enough careless/lazy folks in there taking advantage of others that western concepts (pocketing the key of 'your' fully functional, carefully maintained ATV that's topped up with fuel, for instance) is gradually taking hold.
 
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rjdankert said:
Is there documentation for these production stamps? tia


Bob
Click to expand...
Not exactly, but there are many examples of true temper stamped or paper labeled that have this stamp, plus this particular form / pattern of eye ridges are known from TT KELLY axes.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Not exactly, but there are many examples of true temper stamped or paper labeled that have this stamp
Click to expand...
Could you please show an example?

Hickory n steel said:
plus this particular form / pattern of eye ridges are known from TT KELLY axes.
Click to expand...
That is information not known to me. Could you please also cite information that the form / pattern of the OP's axe is exclusive to True Temper Kelly axes?

tia


Bob
 
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