Just another Plumb scout hatchet....

[gben]

My 78 year-old father has a good eye for hand-tools since he used them his entire life. He picked this hatchet up at a yard sale several years ago and I borrowed it to take some photos of for you guys.

I am sure this subject has been beat well so apologies if this is a redundant thread.

This hatchet has the plastic stuff poured in the top of the eye covering the top of the handle, and it looks like someone actually put red paint on the handle in the past, I don't know if the scouts specified it or maybe a past owner did it.

 

[markv]

good steel on these little choppers

 

[olybears57]

The red stuff, is an epoxy. Plumb called it permabond. Permabond axes came with the red handles.

 

[300Six]

Interesting that the stamp is on the unconventional side. Tell tale bevels along the poll are absent but the right hand markings likely signify that the poll has been hardened, which is a real bonus if you're ever faced with pounding steel tent pegs or spikes with it. Plumb handles have been stained wine red (patented in 1922 even) starting in the early 1920s although an owner-applied coat of red paint would have made it easier to spot it in the grass or bush. About a month back within this forum it was pretty well established that the Permabond adhesion technique was fully in place by 1956 and that that Plumb process continued right until the end of production.

 

[gben]

Thanks for the good info 300. What was the last year that the BSA sold Plumb hatchets?

 

[300Six]

Thanks for the good info 300. What was the last year that the BSA sold Plumb hatchets?

Can't help you with that. Certainly the heyday of Scouting was during the 50s and 60s with the post war influx of baby boomers There are folks on here that are much more knowledgeable about BSA stamped tools and hopefully they will pipe up.