It followed me home

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mrkus said:
The bit has a gentle curve right to heel and toe where they are both square - it's in awesome shape. I can submit a picture if interested.
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Yes, please do.


The challenge is that it's hafted for a lefty, so this is where the thinking begins as I am a right handed. There's a line of thought that wrecking something antique is a sin.
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I would re-haft it if that would get you to use it. The only bigger sin than 'wrecking' an antique is leaving a tool unused.

One thing is funny or odd. I see so many of these broad axes hung left handed - or at least hung in the manner that you and I think of as left handed. I've come to realize that either some right handers preferred this hang or that there was an unusually large number of left handed hewers.

My next broad axe hang will be reversible. I'll use a removable wedging system.
 
As requested. Also shown a pic of the weld line to show that it has plenty of steel left on bit. The toe needs a bit of TLC.



 
A friend of my dad's named 'Rooster' gave me this yesterday.
Old Boy Scout hatchet. Bridgeport Hardware Mfg Corp.
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Not sure what I have here. A hewing axe of some kind. Is this thing from across the pond?
I think it is stamped," LEAT" something underlined. But am not positive.
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Looks like a wrought iron head with a forge welded steel bit.
Anyone know anything about this axe?
 
The true test will be when it's sharpened, it would take a skilled smid to do a good job with all the welding. What would be interesting is to look closely at the construction I guess it could have up to five separate components. Looking at the poll will tell you how that was welded because there are a few different methods there. It could be some kind of strap construction with the high carbon content edge piece sandwiched between or more of a solid affair with the bit steel inserted also the back end of the eye opened up and the poll welded in between, like I say you will just have to look close and it should become apparent.
It looks German to me but in any case could reflect a pattern from there up through Northern Europe, sticking more to the west side I would say. And I don't think it is anymore specialized than beyond the general type of carpentry axe used over a pretty long period of time, maybe even something similar being sold new today through Müller or something. Most likely the lettering is the smids' mark could also be L EAT... the way I can view it.

E.DB.
 
I'm not so sure about that western side of the European continent part having looked in to the form a bit. It could have more Eastern European characteristics even Russian, in any case, the general form is very old even out of the middle ages. Could it be possible that the stamp is not letters but Cyrillic characters? It would be interesting to know if there were cyrillic characters corresponding in form with the letters L E A T, and if that meant anything, it's a possibility from this point of view.

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
The true test will be when it's sharpened, it would take a skilled smid to do a good job with all the welding. What would be interesting is to look closely at the construction I guess it could have up to five separate components. Looking at the poll will tell you how that was welded because there are a few different methods there. It could be some kind of strap construction with the high carbon content edge piece sandwiched between or more of a solid affair with the bit steel inserted also the back end of the eye opened up and the poll welded in between, like I say you will just have to look close and it should become apparent.
It looks German to me but in any case could reflect a pattern from there up through Northern Europe, sticking more to the west side I would say. And I don't think it is anymore specialized than beyond the general type of carpentry axe used over a pretty long period of time, maybe even something similar being sold new today through Müller or something. Most likely the lettering is the smids' mark could also be L EAT... the way I can view it.

E.DB.
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The bit steel is just a lap. You can see it in my first two pictures I posted. It is wrapped around the eye. Seems to have been a fair amount of forge welding.
Some stress cracks forming on the cheeks also. Not so much of a user I think. I picked it up because it was unusual for around here and the way it was constructed.
I was hoping you would have some input on this axe Earnest, thank you.
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It's not always apparent depending on the quality of the weld but looking down from the top, in line with the socket you can see where the strap was maybe bent around a mandril and the sides joined together, there will be signs of a seam. If there is no seam then the back or wide side of the socket was open and a separate piece of iron, relatively thick was welded in-between to close off the socket and create a poll and at the same time a massive bearing surface to take the bulk of the shock from the chopping blows. Looking on the inside of the socket might make it clear. On top of this, lets call it the cheek/bit assembly was then, as a possible method of construction, sandwiched between the closing leafs of the socket formation. So you have the possibility of the edge steel, cheek piece giving the basic broad and flat form of the axe, even maybe a separate piece forming that dropping appendage which serves as either a sort of finger grip or extra bearing /gripping element to secure the handle further, or both, the strap of the socket itself and possibly a welded on poll or, five separate components. Were that all true - it's a bit of a question still - then I would be guessing that the concept anyway is either German or Scandinavian because those were the good forgers out here. An idea of how old the axe is would also be good to know.

E.DB.
 
Earnest, It would be good to know how old the axe is. The construction is for sure wrapped around the eye. I am guessing that it is a bad weld that has come loose around the bend of the eye. Seems this was built in layers to have enough iron. Its also interesting that I can see that the smith went with less layers just in front of the eye to help thin the cheeks. Not sure this will show up in the picture.
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You see how the form of this socket directs and disperses the shock? Very well considered, or I should say the consequence of the process of evolution over the hundreds of years that this kind of axe has existed, making it not only simpler for the smid to forge but reducing stress in the axe head at the same time. Yes, I see the seam there at the front of the socket exiting to the left. The construction method reflects the materials used. There is no way that the wrought iron of the time could withstand the force of drifting an opening, even still it was probably defective material from the beginning and thats why the layers have separated. Any sign that the cheek section with its laminated steel bit was welded onto the socket strap? I guess that is the way it was built up.

E.DB.
 
Does the forge weld pass through the drop at the front of the eye? Or can you tell if it was originally part of one side or the other of the eye?

This photo has a hint of a forge weld in the drop.
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It could indicated that the drop itself was not an insert but rather forged into both sides of the original strap.
 
Square_peg said:
Does the forge weld pass through the drop at the front of the eye? Or can you tell if it was originally part of one side or the other of the eye?

This photo has a hint of a forge weld in the drop.
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It could indicated that the drop itself was not an insert but rather forged into both sides of the original strap.
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Correct. It passes through. Two layers make up the head wrapped around the eye. Just past the drop the two outer layers stop. The inner layers make up the cheeks. So that helped the smith to thin the cheeks. Here is a drawing of the layers(in red) that make up the axe.
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Its as plain as the nose on my face how this axe was constructed. Two layers around the eye and tapering to one on the bit with a skive joint for the steel bit.
 
Ok, ok, I get you loud and clear Garry, just bear with me because I seem to be seeing something other going on, still you're the one with the axe in hand and I may just be making things up that aren't even there but what you have shown so far leads me to imagine a more complicated axe head along the lines of this little beauty that was the subject of a nice anatomical study showing this basic build-up.


Still, it's not to say that your axe is not the apparently simpler symmetrical strap folded around a mandrel. Is the back of the eye section the same thickness as the sides of the eye? Also this layering you write of has me a bit puzzled as to how that would work exactly.

E.DB.
 
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