It followed me home

[Sparky415]

This is how the one above looks now,
It was made by Spearwell (UK) between 1967 and 1972

 

[hepclass]

I like this one Sparky,chop chop !!

 

[Shmellor@gmail.com]

Old Kelly boys axe, true temper 3 lb wedge, Collins cruiser on a crappy handle, hults bruks hatchet, a eye hoe of some sort, and a craftsman 4 1/2 inch vise not bad for the last few days!!!

 

[Square_peg]

Old Kelly boys axe......

Sweet! Good score all around.

 

[WarnerB]

Got this for free. Vintage Estwing "Fireside Friend" 4lb splitting hatchet/ hand maul. After I cleaned it up a bit.

EDIT: Updated photos of repaired handle and new edge

 

[300Six]

Got this for free. Vintage Estwing 4lb splitting hatchet/ hand maul. After I cleaned it up a bit.

That's quite the critter, and it doesn't appear to have been abused. Would have been great for pointing and pounding survey stakes.

 

[M3mphis]

Estwing has a current model like that called the "Fireside Friend." Yours has a lot more character, nice clean up job!

 

[WarnerB]

300Six- Yeah, it's in good shape considering its age.

M3mphis- Thanks!

 

[Sparky415]

Warner,
Nice job, did you use the para cord to 'tighten' the leather handle?

 

[Square_peg]

I haven't posted to this thread for a while but I got a few new toys for show & tell.

8", 3/4 horse pedestal grinder with buffer. $25!

Firefighter's grub hoe. The base is stamped 'Western Fire Equipment, San Fransisco, USA' and 'Forester'.

Warren Axe & Tool Co. undercutter axe. 13-5/8" head. Perfect vintage handle. The stamp is pitted and hardly readable. Sad because it's otherwise in very good condition.

A large pair of blacksmith tongs. I think I will reshape these to be brick tongs.

And last up, a pair of ice tongs. They have the initials 'JB' and a Woodings Verona Tools stamp on them.

 

[300Six]

Neat stuff. The fireman's grub hoe looks to be a predecessor (that would be my guess) of the Pulaski tool, and this would then date it as being pre WWI-made. Unless of course every fire fighting outfit was busy trying to invent specific tools and create a market within their own precinct.
The Undercutter is something I've never seen nor heard of before but, being a huge fan of Pulaskis, can readily imagine that design being useful to someone like me. Does it too have the same irritatingly small and narrow eye of conventional Pulaskis?

 

[Square_peg]

I would guess the hoe is newer than that. I bet 1950's or later but I really don't know.

An undercutter axe is a tool that was only made for about a decade in the 40's and early 50's. It's sometimes called a 'chainsaw axe' because it was made to work with the earliest chainsaws in the woods. Those early saws had primitive carburetors that only allowed the saw to make horizontal cuts, not angle cuts. So the feller made two or more horizontal cuts to define the mouth and then chipped out the wood between the kerfs with the chisel side of this axe. Then the felling cut was made on the back of the tree.

Because of their short production run and industrial use these undercutters are hard to come by. It uses a standard double bit axe eye (3/4") not the narrower 5/8" eye of a pulaski.


Early chainsaw:
http://www.columbiavalleypioneer.com/?p=7206

 

[WarnerB]

Warner,
Nice job, did you use the para cord to 'tighten' the leather handle?

That I did. The paracord is wound tight from the core, to replace the spacers that fell out over time.

 

[DarthTaco123]

My brother and I picked up two axes today that we know nothing about. This one here is mine, marked "Hubbard Lake mfg.co. With some iffy letters. It's marked 3 1/2 under the poll.:

And my brothers hatchet, with no marking but the one shown.

 

[Square_peg]

That's a Hubbard & Blake. They were one of the numerous axe makers in Oakland/Waterville, Maine area, and also one of the original 14 axe makers merged into the American Axe & Tool Co. in 1889.

 

[DarthTaco123]

So ten dollars wasn't a bad price then. My brothers hatchet still has me guessing. Any age on the hubbard blake?

 

[Square_peg]

Hard to date it. While Hubbard merged into AA&T in 1889, AA&T continued to use most of the original companies labels. In 1921 Kelly bought out AA&T and with it the rights to all those original maker's trade names. Then they passed on to True Temper when TT bought out Kelly.

The rather square shape of that axe leads me to believe that it's an older one. I'd guess it might even pre-date the AA&T merger since they tended to produce more elaborate patterns by that time.

In any case $10 was a very good investment. Can we have a look at the haft?

 

[Square_peg]

Love the wooden sheath on the DSI. More pics? My gut says that axe is from continental Europe.

 

[DarthTaco123]

The haft may have to go. It loosely fits, and has a...quality wedge.

And the DSI.

 

[wdmn]

DSI stands for "Danish Stal Industri". Can't tell you much more about them than that. I've come across one before, but it was very 'normal' compared to the one you've got there.