Korean War officer's 1951 military issue Flint-Edge

G

gben

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Nov 26, 2014
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A local Korean War veteran in his 80s moved into assisted living and had a house sale. He was a surgeon and I grabbed his photo and his old hat along with his axe. The axe has no eye-ridges and looks to have it's original handle and paint. He liked leathercraft and made the sheath himself. Axe is stamped "USA". He had burned his initials into the haft at some point.... When I talked to him on the phone he said he got the axe new in 1951 for use while camping in the Poconos while he was a senior in officer's school. He did not become a surgeon until sometime after the war.


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Nice axe, and those us army patrol caps are basically the only type of hat I'll ever wear.
( I wore my dad's every single day for 9 yrs before it started falling apart, and I replaced it on Sunday )
Mine was woodland camo though, and is is a class 1 winter cap.

It's awesome that it has his initials in the handle, and has the custom sheath.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Nice axe, and those us army patrol caps are basically the only type of hat I'll ever wear.

It's awesome that it has his initials in the handle, and has the custom sheath.
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His name is stamped inside the cap in black block letters, and it has something stamped on the front of it too, like an eagle insignia. He was in the Marines.
 
looks like he knew how to take good care of his Tools, i hope he gets the same care back in his golden years. :)
 
gben said:
His name is stamped inside the cap in black block letters, and it has something stamped on the front of it too, like an eagle insignia. He was in the Marines.
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Oh, well I couldn't tell that it was a marine hat.
No offense to any marines but they're hats are kinda dumb, but only because they have the weird pointed corners.
Anyway that is an awesome axe.
 
There's a Flint Edge double bit stamped "U.S.A." in this thread by Double Ott. He said that "The U.S.A. stamp indicates that this Kelly was made four military issue. It makes this one very rare."


Double Ott said:
Four pound Kelly double bits are somewhat rare. I never seen a 4 lb. Kelly double bit before. Kelly 3.5 Lb double bits are quite common. These are from ebay. After they didn't sell for the asking price, I contacted the seller and negotiated a buy it now price for both of them. They were very reasonable. I don't think he knew what he had.

Both are on 36" handles and are tight to the head.

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The U.S.A. stamp indicates that this Kelly was made four military issue. It makes this one very rare.

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A comparison to a Kelly Perfect 3.5 Lb. double bit.

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Thanks for looking, Tom
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Steve, I never even thought to look at the weight of the head as I was so excited looking at everything else, but yes it is a four-pounder. Maybe all the ones that went to the military were 4-pounds?, just speculation of course.

I looked on Ebay for military Kelly axes in current and sold listings and did not see any. DBs over 3.5 pounds are certainly the most common, and the combination of 4-pounds and a military stamp is a double-whammy for rarity for sure.

Thanks for your memory and research as usual....
 
Kelly Axes for military use are nothing new - the military had contracts with Kelly, Plumb, Mann, and Collins over the years.

USA could mean many things for different service units - from military, forest service, etc.
 
Operator1975 said:
Kelly Axes for military use are nothing new - the military had contracts with Kelly, Plumb, Mann, and Collins over the years.

USA could mean many things for different service units - from military, forest service, etc.
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Generally I would agree with this but we've seen many of the Forest Service and Fire Crew related goods having been stamped FSS. Makes me think if gov't orders something and knows it might see service on foreign soil they stamp it with USA rather than Federal Supply Service which has no real meaning outside of America.
 
Some information from John Barton about axes stamped USA. In summary, the 1931 federal specs for axes required the USA, but the later version of the specs in 1943 (onward) did not require the USA stamp.

"I was able to find the federal specifications for axes that were in effect before and during WWII. It is called GGG-A-926. The first version appeared in 1931… GGG-A-926. There were 4 amendments to that, the last in 1937. Then version GGG-A-926a was issued in Sept 1943, becoming effective Nov 15, 1943. The 1943 spec required that axes purchased for the government also meet Federal Specification NN-H-93… Handles, Hickory: striking tools. That spec is actually more detailed than either of the first two concerning axes."

"Axes purchased for the Army only needed USA according to the 1931 spec. After the 1943 spec took effect it was not required. It could be on there if the invitation to bid specified it. Since there are axes with USN… I believe some invitations probably did specify particular markings. But, USA was not required for government axe purchases after 1943."

from John Barton, http://jeepdraw.com/John_Barton2-AXES.html
 
To confirm what Steve said I have a USGI Warren single bit axe. The only marking on it is Warren and the only reason I know it is GI is it came out of an engineer kit for a 113. The handle broke and my unit threw it away, some how it ended up with me. My dad aquired a 2 1/2 lbs double bit also from a 113 the same way. Broken handle equaled garbage pit. There was no maker roll mark on it. Just a letter and a couple numbers I think. No US stamp.
 
xrayoneone said:
To confirm what Steve said I have a USGI Warren single bit axe. The only marking on it is Warren and the only reason I know it is GI is it came out of an engineer kit for a 113. The handle broke and my unit threw it away, some how it ended up with me. My dad aquired a 2 1/2 lbs double bit also from a 113 the same way. Broken handle equaled garbage pit. There was no maker roll mark on it. Just a letter and a couple numbers I think. No US stamp.
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Were the heads painted in the olive drab?
 
John A. Larsen said:
gben, if that is him in the photo, he was in the U.S. Army, not the USMC. John
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John, maybe I grabbed the wrong photo then. I only talked to him on the phone after I bought the axe and he could not see the photos I was looking at. He did say the green hat was his when he was in the Marines. I have another photo from his Valley Forge Military Academy graduating year (1948) which I have attached. He said he got the axe during his senior year of officer's school in 1951.
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Steve Tall said:
Some information from John Barton about axes stamped USA. In summary, the 1931 federal specs for axes required the USA, but the later version of the specs in 1943 (onward) did not require the USA stamp.
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Nice article, thanks. I wonder if some of the axes available during the Korean War were left over from WWII. Even though Mr. Mainzer said he got the axe in 1951, it might have been older than that. Maybe the style of the Flint Edge or True Temper script would give another clue as to the age of the axe with a bit more research.
 
Also got the leather, leathercraft instruction book and brand he used to make and mark the axe and sheath along with his 1948 military school yearbook etc... Hopefully I will be able to make up a few more axe/hatchet sheaths with this stuff.

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gben, looks to be the same man in both photos, but hard to tell for sure. The one with the White Uniform and hat is definitely an U.S. Army Officer, and medical personnel in the USMC are actually Navy personnel, attached to the USMC. John
 
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