It followed me home (Part 2)

Lieblad said:
At that size, its sort of unique Rounding Hammer. Very popular design with Smiths, Farriers and Linesmen. But I never seen one that big.
At the anvil, I use a rounding hammer or a Swedish crosspeen 90% easily.
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Thank you for the info, I'll post pics once I haft it.
 
I wasn't a fan of either one but I couldn't pass them up for the price. I already sold both of them and made enough profit to pay for those draw knives and have enough leftover to buy a new Kershaw Blur pocket knife.
 
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Stopped by an army surplus place nearby and they had a batch of ditch blade, 32” bent and straight handles, 28” straight handles, two different sizes of adze handles, a couple of double bit handles, and a lot of 36” sledge handles.

Ended up with two of the straight 32’s, two of the curved 32's, and four of the 28’s. I have 2 rafting patterns without handles and one I would like to put on a straight handle as opposed to the 36” curved that it is on. I figure $7.99 was fair for getting to pick them out and no shipping. They feel quite a bit "denser" than some I've handled.

The 28” ones I bought because I don’t find them but for order online. My plan is to try whittling one down for use with a boy’s axe.

DarthTaco has a nice looking Montreal pattern on a straight handle that got me thinking a while back.
*Just hunting back about 28-30 pages and it looks like his photos aren’t showing any more.
 
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16 heads, all good, 7-8 confirmed/suspected Maine heads. It will be fun to wire wheel these clean.

 
I go axe blind everytime you post finds like this JB.

That is a one-man processing kit.

Fellling
Limbing
Bucking
Hewing
Draw shaving
Carving


If I found a handful (or less even) of those items in a season I would feel "axe rich".
 
Scored a cute li'l Plumb National hatchet on the 'bay. Will post up photos when it gets here.
 
Stopped in the local junk shop this morning and picked up a few double bits, 1 Kelly cruiser, 1 True temper cruiser and a puget sound pattern ( Unnamed ).
The true temper says " True Temper with the words Black ???NCE under true temper. Can any one fill in the question marks for me?
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Wake31 said:
Stopped in the local junk shop this morning and picked up a few double bits, 1 Kelly cruiser, 1 True temper cruiser and a puget sound pattern ( Unnamed ).
The true temper says " True Temper with the words Black ???NCE under true temper. Can any one fill in the question marks for me?
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Does Black Prince ring a bell?
 
Wake31 said:
Nice!!!!!! Thanks so much! Do you have any idea of possible age? Its my first True Temper.
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Someone else (hello axe guru Steve Tall)!, is going to have to chime in on this. The True Temper name and whole-scale amalgamation of independent American axe companies, ever since the 1930s Depression, that fall under this huge manufacturer's umbrella, has confounded me entirely. LaFayette Plumb somehow managed to avoid this overwhelming consolidation until about 1971 but then also got sucked right in. Black Prince is some one of any number of small potatoes USA brand names that made axes.
But do know that none of these ever were are 'bargain basement' quality such as is much of the 'junk' that is marketed today.
 
Wake31 said:
...Do you have any idea of possible age? Its my first True Temper.
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Some related history is at YesteryearsTools:

Steve Tall said:
"The Black Prince brand was made and marketed in Canada after the A. F & H. Co. acquired the Welland Vale Co."

"...the True Temper name had become much more widely known than the American Fork & Hoe Co. name, especially because they adopted the name True Temper Canada for their Canadian division, the Welland Vale Mfg. Co. The Canadian manufacturing facilities were closed in 1965."

above quotes from Yesteryearstools.com
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears%20Tools/American%20Fork%20%26%20Hoe%20Co..html

"...the American Axe & Tool Company was acquired by the Kelly Axe Mfg. Co. In 1930 Welland Vale purchased the Bedford Mfg. Co. of Bedford, Quebec. Later that same year the whole Welland Vale Co. was purchased by the American Fork & Hoe Co. American Fork & Hoe had also purchased the Kelly Axe Mfg. Co. of Charleston, West Virginia the same year."

"...The American Fork & Hoe Co. kept some of the Welland Vale manufacturing facilities open for a few years until they got more organized in Canada and while they prepared to relocate some of the manufacturing equipment to a more centralized location. The company name formally became the Welland Vale Mfg. Co., Ltd. During that time the company was often referred to as Welland Vale-True Temper but many of the axes they manufactured were marked as having been made by the Kelly Axe & Tool Co. of Canada, Ltd. They were permitted to use the word “Company” in Canada whereas they had to change itto “Works” in the U.S.A. In reality the parent company was comprised of a number of other plants that operated under their own name but produced produces under multiple names. The companies included Welland Vale itself; The Bedford Mfg. Co., Inc.; The Canadian Axe & Harvest Tool Co., Ltd.; the Canadian Shovel & Tool Co., Ltd. and the Maple Leaf Harvest Tool Co., Ltd. There was also a handle manufacturing division located in Strathroy, Ontario named the Canadian Turner-Day Handle Co. There again, a similarly named company existed in the US which was owned by True Temper at the time.

"Like True Temper in the US, Welland Vale produced a range of products, mostly in the forging category.

"Welland Vale was known to have used numerous labels and brands and their reputation was well known across Canada. In 1965 the company officially became True Temper Canada, Ltd. and the works at St. Catharines were closed down."

from http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears%20Tools/Wellan%20Vale%20Co..html
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True Temper Black Prince axes were advertised during the 1950s, at least, in Canada:

Canada Lumberman - Volume 75 - Page 121
1955 -
‎Snippet view... True Temper BLACK PRINCE AXES TOUGHER-last longer KEENER -stay sharper longer Finest axe steel and heat treating, with True Temper developments in precision manufacture, make these Canada's toughest, ...

Canadian Forest Industries - Volume 73 - Page 187
1953 - ‎
Snippet view... True Temper BLACK PRINCE AXES TOUGHER-last longer KEENER-stay sharp longer Finest axe steel and heat treating, with True Temper developments in precision manufacturing, make these Canada's toughest, keenest-cutting axes ...

British Columbia Lumberman - Volume 39, Issues 2-12 - Page 93
1955 - ‎
Snippet view... BLACK PRINCE AXES ... True Temper developments in precision manufacture, make these Canada's toughest, keenest-cutting axes.
 
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Thanks for all the info, I had done some reading about it all a while back. So this axe just has true temper black prince on it and nothing else. I am going to clean it tonight to see if there are any other markings. If it was a Welland Vale would that be also on the head somewhere? Were True Temper black princes made in the states aswell?
 
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