It followed me home (Part 2)

I brought these two home this weekend from the flea market - no axes since the only ones I found were too overpriced for what they were.

Top is kinda like a mattox, but small, and instead of a pick on one end, it's just a smaller mattox, and rounded. Markings say "True Temper", if anyone can provide more info on this one, I appreciate it. Cost was $1 for this one, duct taped to a broomstick for a handle (yeah, that'll last a while).

Bottom is a hand mattox made in 1944 by Plumb for the military. No handle, but the head is undamaged and still pretty sharp. $5 this was well worth the money, just for the historical value alone. Anyone know where I can find a new handle for this one?

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The no name dbl bit I picked up last weekend does have a stamp it's very faint and this is the best pic also on the back is a 4.

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Some of the letters are visible but I can't make a name out of them perhaps one of you have seen it before.
Thanks
Rick
 
As with anything, the companie's stamp has evolved over time. The GAB stamps are probably post WW2-whenever they went to "boutique" axes from the lesser expensive option export axes.
 
maddawg308 said:
...a hand mattox made in 1944 by Plumb for the military... Anyone know where I can find a new handle for this one?...
Click to expand...

House Handle has "GI Pick" handles in two lengths (18" and 36"), but I suggest checking the eye size before buying any.

ITEM 818GI
Description: GI Pick (AA)
Length: 18"
Eye Size: 1 1/2" x 2 1/2"

ITEM 836GI
Description: GI Pick (AA)
Length: 36"
Eye Size: 1 1/2" x 2 1/2"
 
Grimalkin said:
There is no patent applied for on the flipside. I do believe it has a hardened pole though. After I sand it down and do a vinegar soak I'll find out. All the plumb victory's I've seen like this have been hardened poles. Perhaps Plumb just decided to start promoting the pattern more in 1948? I can't see the Victory's going past the 1940s.

this one is 1.75lbs, 6.25 inches long with a 4.25" cutting edge. I am really happy with this find (except for the pitting). My plan is to just sand it down enough to get rid of most the pits, I don't want a mirror finish.
Click to expand...

Don't tinker with this one too much until the smoke clears.
Plumb 'National' pattern on it's own (that myself and others on this forum are aware of) is a 1948 to 1970s manufacture phenomenon but to suggest that some are 'hardened poll', meaning that others aren't, is a whole new ballgame. My personal belief that bevelled poll heads are indicative of 'rafting/miner/construction' styles was dispelled very early on when someone posted pictures of a badly mushroomed National pattern Boy Scout version. Plumb ads of the time specifically said Nationals were 'suitable for driving wedges' and that's about it. A file run over the top of yours will tell you right away; if it skates it's hard, if it bites it's not.
 
I understand the file check, but how much pressure is used? I would think very light as a good file should " bite" even very hard steel.
At least axe hard.
 
LG&M said:
I understand the file check, but how much pressure is used? I would think very light as a good file should " bite" even very hard steel.
At least axe hard.
Click to expand...

For the most part it's true that a good file will bite almost anything, but every now and then you'll run across an axe so hard that it'll skate a brand new file at full pressure. My McKinnon Rockaway did that to me, needless to say I was impressed. I'd say more towards medium pressure for a test pass, but even so I've found the file method is hit and miss. Temper lines are another way to check, but they don't always show. Hard to know for dead sure without dissecting the axe or soaking it in vinegar.
 
maddawg308 said:
I brought these two home this weekend from the flea market - no axes since the only ones I found were too overpriced for what they were.

Top is kinda like a mattox, but small, and instead of a pick on one end, it's just a smaller mattox, and rounded. Markings say "True Temper", if anyone can provide more info on this one, I appreciate it. Cost was $1 for this one, duct taped to a broomstick for a handle (yeah, that'll last a while).

Bottom is a hand mattox made in 1944 by Plumb for the military. No handle, but the head is undamaged and still pretty sharp. $5 this was well worth the money, just for the historical value alone. Anyone know where I can find a new handle for this one?

IMG_20160424_170152901_HDR_zpsoie71jda.jpg


IMG_20160424_170209842_HDR_zps9nxbkrus.jpg
Click to expand...

I love those little one-hand pick mattocks. I have several. They see a lot of use.
 
LG&M said:
I understand the file check, but how much pressure is used? I would think very light as a good file should " bite" even very hard steel.
At least axe hard.
Click to expand...

See what pressure is needed to file the steel at the eye. See what pressure is needed to file at the bit. Then compare that with what you find at the poll. I have seen many axes that someone told me were too hard to file - that a file just skated across them. And I have filed every one. The only time I've found one I couldn't file was when I was re-heat treating an axe myself and hadn't found the right temperature yet.
 
The anvil is 24lb and I'm told that a jeweler used it. It was tagged for $85 in an antique store but I got it for $50. Everything else I got from an estate sale earlier today for $30. Woodcraft chisels, Dunlap and German hatchets, an 11lb block of figured Myrtle that still has it's wax coating, and a Griswold #2 Scotch bowl, I have never seen one before. Cool stuff.

 
And today, yard sales this morning. The best axe is the closest one, a TT Kelly Flint edge but with a hardened poll and slightly long shape. Also a short handle, I think that I have not seen one of these before. Great shape too.

 
Gamble's Artisan double bit axe from an estate sale. Just need to touch up the edges.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Um... awesome JB. That isn't something you run across every trip out, huh?

It's pretty for sure!
 
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