Photos I've never seen or heard of this befor

Hickory n steel · Jan 8, 2019

So I was flilng on the poll of that unidentified Dayton that belonged to my grandfather, and a couple cracks appeared that definitely weren't at all visible before this.
They seem superficial so I'm not worried, this is just a new one to me.

Has anyone ever encountered this before ?

FLINT77 · Jan 8, 2019

are they maybe just voids in the steel?

Hickory n steel · Jan 8, 2019

FLINT77 said:
are they maybe just voids in the steel?

Hmm, that could be.
I know I could not see them before, and I've taken about an ounce of steel off of it which means they had to be inside the steel.

survivor45 · Jan 8, 2019

If you tap the head with a hammer does it ring like a bell ?
Not sure if it works with axe heads.
But a cracked set of shotgun barrels won’t ring. A good set will.

Hickory n steel · Jan 8, 2019

survivor45 said:
If you tap the head with a hammer does it ring like a bell ?
Not sure if it works with axe heads.
But a cracked set of shotgun barrels won’t ring. A good set will.

Like a bell, and I'd know because both my grandmother's collected them

the possum · Jan 9, 2019

Saw one just last night, in an antique mall, that was cracked like that. Except the crack looked like it went through all the way to the eye.

Moonw · Jan 9, 2019

Does it seem hardened?

A17 · Jan 9, 2019

"Has anyone ever encountered this before?"
Yes. Mine was more severe, though.... Be careful as the poll didn't look that bad but this was hiding underneath. At some point I'll use a cutting torch to blow all that out and forge weld a hardened poll on it.

Hickory n steel · Jan 9, 2019

Moonw said:
Does it seem hardened?

Nope, it was relatively easy to file.

Beachlogger · Jan 9, 2019

There's a hytest on eBay with a crack in the pole
Already sold but shows up on google search

Square_peg · Jan 9, 2019

Might havee been overheated during the forging process. You can burn steel.

Yankee Josh · Jan 10, 2019

The TT slasher i finished up about a month ago has similar cracks in the poll.

This axe had been beaten a fair amount though and had some mushrooming before i restored it. So I'm sure that is the cause of the cracks in mine. Was the poll on yours beat up?

Hickory n steel · Jan 10, 2019

Yankee Josh said:
The TT slasher i finished up about a month ago has similar cracks in the poll.

This axe had been beaten a fair amount though and had some mushrooming before i restored it. So I'm sure that is the cause of the cracks in mine. Was the poll on yours beat up?

Yes the poll was pretty beat up, it wasn't super mushroomed though.