Is this a Collins Baltimore Kentucky axe?

WindfallRestoration · Mar 31, 2015

Hello! My name is Kyle and this is my first post on the forum. I've been a fan for quite some time and have learned a lot from y'all.
I have caught the old tool restoration bug, and I'm hoping for some help IDing an old axe I recently picked up.

At first glance, I thought it was nothing special (especially at the $15 price point and spray painted, loose head!

:hopelessness

just another Rockaway type axe. But then I looked closer at the handle and noticed remnants of the original sticker. The "Wear Safety Goggles" and "America" sections are fairly easy to read, but on the far right, to my eyes, looks like a Collins logo.

Check out the photos:

I found this in Louisville, Kentucky, which leads me to believe that if this is in fact a Collins axe, then it could be a Baltimore Kentucky head, much like the one on the bottom right of this photo.

I don't have a scale to weigh it, but it measures right at 34 inches from head to handle.

If anyone has any ideas as to what this axe is, it would be greatly appreciated. I have plans to restore this soon, so will take extra care if it turns out to be something special.

Thanks y'all,
Kyle

DarthTaco123 · Mar 31, 2015

Looks liek a jersey to me, too much of a drop on the heel to be a Kentucky. If you look at the Kentucky the heel is only slightly below the lugs, on this it's quite far below the lugs.

BG_Farmer · Apr 1, 2015

Possibly a US made Collins Jersey. Looks similar to the recent Mexican jersey sold by Collins and under other brand names, but not identical.

WindfallRestoration · Apr 1, 2015

Thanks DarthTaco123 and BG_Farmer for the feedback!

I agree this does look more like a Jersey, and the remnant of the "made in America" sticker is enough for me to believe it is US made.

Did Jersey heads come stamped with the Collins logo or just with a sticker on them?

I'm getting to work on this soon and will post pictures of the progress.

DarthTaco123 · Apr 1, 2015

I believe in the late 50s into the 60s Collins was bought out by Mann Edge Tool Co. and weren't always stamped. Might have been a paper label axe.

Steve Tall · Apr 1, 2015

The "Wear Safety Goggles" warning could maybe date this axe to the 1960s(?) or 1970s(?) at the earliest (?), but I don't know when toolmakers started using that warning (perhaps there's a big lawsuit in the legal records somewhere that resulted in all these safety warnings).

DarthTaco123 · Apr 1, 2015

I THINK it was mid fifties where it was put on paper labels, and the late sixties when you started seeing them on splitting mauls etc.

300Six · Apr 2, 2015

Steve Tall said:
The "Wear Safety Goggles" warning could maybe date this axe to the 1960s(?) or 1970s(?) at the earliest (?), but I don't know when toolmakers started using that warning (perhaps there's a big lawsuit in the legal records somewhere that resulted in all these safety warnings).

None of the tools that I bought in the 1970s had warning labels on them. Pretty sure this is an early to mid-80s phenomenon. The 20 oz Estwing framing hammer I bought in 72 says 'Safe T Shape' on the handle whereas the 1985 purchase of a 22 oz says 'Wear Safety Glasses'. There was a lot of weird stuff going on beginning in 73 when automobiles were suddenly required to have consistent height bumpers that could withstand a 5 mph impact without headlights breaking. The Brits and Italians with their flimsy cars and decorative bumpers merely added bumper frames that crumpled the headlights inwards, without them breaking!

WindfallRestoration · Apr 17, 2015

Update:

I got the head off the old handle (it had a huge metal wedge instead of a wooden wedge with metal step wedges) and started getting the rust off.

I live in an apartment so a bench grinder is not an option for me. This took about an hour with WD40 and 3M steel wool pads.

I'm thinking I can reuse the handle. I'm reconditioning it with BLO and hope the checking isn't too bad once it's been treated a while.

Thanks for looking