Kelly, which is best?

vcbvcbvcb said:
Back to the 1st subject, what about "Union Kelly Works"? I don't see it in Steve Tall's list.
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Looks like Union Tool was the low-end brand from Kelly Axe.

"Union Tool Co." was a registered trademark of the Kelly Axe & Tool Co. as of the 1920s. A page from a 1925 catalog shows the axes labelled "Union Tool Co... Charleston, W.Va." were priced less than the Flint Edge, Red Rover, and Falls City brands from Kelly, and the Union axes had "No Guarantee".
 
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An ad from 1930 states that "Union Tool Co." axes were "Low-priced, made for service, with practical, inexpensive finish."

[I'm having trouble posting the links, keep getting time-outs.]
 
Operator1975 said:
The Flint Edge line came about long before True Temper. It is probably the "workhorse" line of Kelly. Good overall quality, good price, etc. There were countless millions made. Kelly Registered, while being expensive, was more marketing/promotion than anything else. A good axe no doubt, but is it that uncommon or technically really command the price they do today? No, not really.

A Kelly Flint Edge Connecticut will do almost anything you want to do with an axe.
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well said. Kelly Flint Edge Connecticut are some of my favorite choppers.
 
IIRC Kelly Acquired the Union Tool Co. when they moved to Charleston, at least that's how I've heard it.
 
DarthTaco123 said:
IIRC Kelly Acquired the Union Tool Co. when they moved to Charleston, at least that's how I've heard it.
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There are records of Union Tool companies in various places around the USA, but I haven't found any references (at all) to a Union Tool company in Charleston WV before the 1920s, which is when Kelly Axe registered "Union Tool Co." as one of their trademarks for axes.

So it seems likely that Kelly created the Union Tool Co. brand (the trademark registration records are available) instead of acquiring an existing company with that name. Plumb similarly created a company name to use as a separate brand, Quaker City Mfg. Co., "to supply wholesalers with a somewhat less expensive line", according to YesteryearsTools.
 
Anyone have an old price list that shows Kelly Champion axes? I noticed they were absent from the old list that Steve Tall posted up. The Champion Kelly Works Jersey pattern axe I have I was guessing was from the mid-late 30s. "Chanpion" is a name to aspire to, was it a good axe or just marketing hype?
 
DarthTaco123 said:
Flint Edge is a brand that was under True Temper. Kelly never really lost it's quality until the late '60s, then it started to go downhill. True Temper axes are just as good as the older kelly's from earlier in the century. I thought Marshall Wells was the only maker of Zenith axes?
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Zenith was just a brand/model of Marshall Wells. And Marshall Wells never made their own axes. They were made by Kelly Axe MFG/Kelly Axe & Tool Co. That’s why the “M.W.H.CO. Hand Made” axes are exactly like the “Kelly Hand Made” embossed axes.
 
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