J.B Stohler

Cajun Kamikaze

Cajun Kamikaze

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Dec 30, 2013
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Does anyone out there have any information on J.B Stohler. I can find very little on the net. From what I gathered, he hand forged his axes and hatchets in the late 1800's, and was from Lancaster P.A...

That's all I know...

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
 
From a newspaper article that has a photo of J.B. Stohler at his workshop:

"In a rickety frame shack near Schaefferstown, John Beamesdorfer Stohler (1841-1920), made axes and other cutting tools. His father, John N. Stohler, was a blacksmith. J. B. Stohler must have taken pride in his work for today his axes are collector's items. Two things account for this: First of all Stohler's tools were superior to others from the start. By molding a piece of tempered steel over the cutting edge of an ax, Stohler imparted durability to the edge. His axes would stay sharper longer. Naturally his wares were the most expensive. Secondly, Stohler marked his tools with a distinctive cross either above or below his name, and collectors of anything always prefer signed pieces. Stohler's workshop is gone. His house, however, still stands off St. 501, south of Schaefferstown, near the Penn Dale warehouse....In the picture of the workshop the bearded man at right is Stohler."


Quoted from article Lebanon County Antiques, A history of the county as seen through its artifacts, Number 35 87 by Mike Schropp.
Lebanon Daily News, 10 December 1969, Page 22

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Photo and text of article found at google cache of this page:
http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/5238481/
 
Considering the info, how many of you guys would use an axe forged by Stohler today? Or would the consensus be to just referb for a nice piece to put on display?

I want to use the one I just picked up but maybe it's not a great idea.
 
Below is a detailed biography of J.B. Stohler, published in 1904 (during his lifetime). It says that he started working in his father's blacksmith shop at age ten. As an adult, he was especially skilled in the art of making edge tools, and his specialty was the "Home-made Stohler axe". Demand for his axes was higher than the supply, even though his prices were over twice the price of factory-made axes.

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from Biographical Annals of Lebanon County Pennsylvania, J.H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1904
https://archive.org/details/biographicalanna00jhbe
https://archive.org/stream/biographicalanna00jhbe#page/n362/mode/1up
 
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Wow, that's good stuff Steve. Very interesting also.

I've never owned anything even close to being this old and to now understand some history behind its maker it pretty damn cool.
 
Using an antique tool or just displaying as is is always a tearing question. For me, using an old tool or "putting it back to working condition" respects the maker and those who used the tool before me. Abusing or severly altering the tool would feel disrespectful. But I see nothing wrong with just diplaying as is- as it perserves the history.

My choices so far have been to restore only to good working order and put them back into use but I do not really have anything terribly rare.

Really nice find you have there by the by :)

Bill
 
lmalterna said:
Using an antique tool or just displaying as is is always a tearing question. For me, using an old tool or "putting it back to working condition" respects the maker and those who used the tool before me. Abusing or severly altering the tool would feel disrespectful. But I see nothing wrong with just diplaying as is- as it perserves the history.

My choices so far have been to restore only to good working order and put them back into use but I do not really have anything terribly rare.

Really nice find you have there by the by :)

Bill
Click to expand...

A good tid bit for me to chew on. I like your way of thinking.

I will sand it down and use it! Now I just need to decide what type of handle to hang it on.
 
I would clean that one up (rust removal only) and hang it for display. Too uncommon to make it a user IMO.
 
Square_peg said:
I would clean that one up (rust removal only) and hang it for display. Too uncommon to make it a user IMO.
Click to expand...

The look, feel, and shape really makes me want to sing this thing into a nice water oak just to see how it performs. I won't be able to resist that urge but I'm certain I won't be using it that often...
 
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