Info on Iron City 6 Maul?

[carnifex knifeworks]

I got this old maul with a plumb axe head in an auction for cheap. The maul has "Iron City" and a 9 stamped on the underside. It also has an "E" stamped on the top side.

From what I can tell this means it's an Iron City 9 pound maul and the E is a foundry mark indicating it was made using steel melted by an electric furnace. Is there anything else to be known? Anything else I should be looking for on this?

My understanding is Iron City tools are made from good steel. Any other info or opinions on Iron City, the steel, etc.?

 

[sharp image]

 

[carnifex knifeworks]

View attachment 3123665View attachment 3123666

That's about all I could find online as well. Was hoping others here might have some additional insight, etc.

 

[sharp image]

I'm sure someone will chime in. A lot of knowledge here for sure..

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I got this old maul with a plumb axe head in an auction for cheap. The maul has "Iron City" and a 9 stamped on the underside. It also has an "E" stamped on the top side.

From what I can tell this means it's an Iron City 9 pound maul and the E is a foundry mark indicating it was made using steel melted by an electric furnace. Is there anything else to be known? Anything else I should be looking for on this?

My understanding is Iron City tools are made from good steel. Any other info or opinions on Iron City, the steel, etc.?

View attachment 3123650View attachment 3123651View attachment 3123652

Do you have an image of the tool in profile? The E is not a foundry mark. Foundries do casting and this is a forged tool. It's likely some other form of identifying mark regarding either something to do with the time of the production, who was running the equipment at the time, what contract the run was for, or so on. Iron City made a lot of rail and quarry tools and a 9lb weight is odd for a maul. It could possibly be something like a spalling hammer for quarry work. That being said, they supposedly made woodchoppers' mauls up to 20lb. Note that "cast steel" refers to the grade of steel from which it was forged, not that the tool was cast.

 

[rjdankert]

a 9 stamped on the underside

Have you weighed it?



Bob

 

[carnifex knifeworks]

Do you have an image of the tool in profile? The E is not a foundry mark. Foundries do casting and this is a forged tool. It's likely some other form of identifying mark regarding either something to do with the time of the production, who was running the equipment at the time, what contract the run was for, or so on. Iron City made a lot of rail and quarry tools and a 9lb weight is odd for a maul. It could possibly be something like a spalling hammer for quarry work. That being said, they supposedly made woodchoppers' mauls up to 20lb. Note that "cast steel" refers to the grade of steel from which it was forged, not that the tool was cast.

When I Googled info about the "E" on the Iron City head it just came back saying it indicated the steel was melted in an electric furnace, which was a common indication at the time. Supposed it was specified because steel processed that way was supposed to have fewer impurities.

Beats me though.

Here are the profile pics:

Have you weighed it?



Bob

Just weighed it. It's 6 lbs. I just saw the number on the head and assumed it was a 9.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

When I Googled info about the "E" on the Iron City head it just came back saying it indicated the steel was melted in an electric furnace, which was a common indication at the time. Supposed it was specified because steel processed that way was supposed to have fewer impurities.

Beats me though.

Here are the profile pics:
View attachment 3124264View attachment 3124265




Just weighed it. It's 6 lbs. I just saw the number on the head and assumed it was a 9.

I'm guessing you used the AI summary, which OFTEN hallucinates. All of Iron City's swung tools were forged. They were made of a grade called "cast steel" which was made using the crucible process, melting blister steel (cementation process steel) to fully remove slag. You can read a nice little overview here on the development of America's cast steel industry, though much was also imported from the UK.

 

[carnifex knifeworks]

I'm guessing you used the AI summary, which OFTEN hallucinates. All of Iron City's swung tools were forged. They were made of a grade called "cast steel" which was made using the crucible process, melting blister steel (cementation process steel) to fully remove slag. You can read a nice little overview here on the development of America's cast steel industry, though much was also imported from the UK.

You are correct LOL

That'll teach me for trusting a damn robot

 

[rjdankert]

1955:

Iron City:

Here is what I dug up this morning on Iron City Tool Works
1. Iron City shows up as listed as makers of blacksmiths vises.

Seeger and Guernsey's Cyclopaedia of the Manufactures and Products of the United States, 1890
https://books.google.com/books?id=HL00AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA536&dq=iron+city+tool+works+vise&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAGoVChMIlpeAqKGmxwIVipaICh1xNQEh#v=onepage&q=iron city tool works vise&f=false

I did find blacksmith forums where members believe the Iron City Tool Works was founded in 1854 by German immigrants and then bought by Warren Tool Company in 1958. Seems Warren continued to use the Iron City name for a while. There was also an Iron City Forge that was German immigrant owned that was taken in by Carnegie Steel, so maybe there is a wire crossed there but

The earliest remark of founding I can find in an actual resource says 1865:
Opinions of Collectors of Customs Concerning Ad Valorem and Specific Rates of Duty on Imports, Issues 9-20, 1894

https://books.google.com/books?id=CaY6AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA72&lpg=RA1-PA72&dq=iron+city+tool+works+ad&source=bl&ots=u9XrCXmv04&sig=7aX9ieWyyw7uTrnVG6vV2IICfm0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCGoVChMI4rbA2bKmxwIVWDOICh2Mzg0U#v=onepage&q=iron city tool works ad&f=false

Bob

 

[Hickory n steel]

AI misses the mark again, because it's terrible and too new to know anything about stuff that's old.