Looking for Hand Axe or Hatchet or possibly both

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1215

Joined
Sep 25, 2015
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I'm looking for a hatchet, hand axe or possibly both. Something very good quality that I can use to clear branches or chop firewood, etc. I have some old Plumb Boy Scout stuff that was my father's and grandfather's so they are packed away but that's what I'm looking for. I want something that if taken care of, it will outlast me.

What are good brands to look for? Should I keep an eye on Craigslist or just look to buy non-Boy Scout Plumb tools?

I don't know much about this stuff so I'm not sure about things like head weights, wedge and blade profiles, etc. If I went to the hardware store and bought whatever is on the shelf for $20 it would probably be fine --except I don't want to buy junk. Ace Hardware says they have Collins camp axes. Are those decent or just cheap reproductions?

Thanks.
 
1215 said:
I'm looking for a hatchet, hand axe or possibly both. Something very good quality that I can use to clear branches or chop firewood, etc. I have some old Plumb Boy Scout stuff that was my father's and grandfather's so they are packed away but that's what I'm looking for. I want something that if taken care of, it will outlast me.

What are good brands to look for? Should I keep an eye on Craigslist or just look to buy non-Boy Scout Plumb tools?

I don't know much about this stuff so I'm not sure about things like head weights, wedge and blade profiles, etc. If I went to the hardware store and bought whatever is on the shelf for $20 it would probably be fine --except I don't want to buy junk. Ace Hardware says they have Collins camp axes. Are those decent or just cheap reproductions?

Thanks.
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The Plumb brand that you mentioned would be hard to beat. I wouldn't fool with the cheap hardware store made in China or South America stuff.
 
When GB is on Craigslist and eBay for $150++ and Plumb/Collins is <$20 shipped (head only) I think that makes up my mind. Should I do Collins or Plumb?

Also, a little off-topic, do decent work gloves exist? I've been burning through $15 Ace Hardware work gloves about one pair every 10-15 days. They give me a new/replacement pair for free but I'd like something decent that will last a few years hopefully??

Is GB night & day above brands like Plumb & Collins or for little things like firewood and small limbs/trees would I ever know the difference? Does the steel hold an edge longer?

Thanks.
 
Try a pair of wells Lamont gloves, those have lasted me a little while. But the best pair of leather gloves I have are a pair of old army gloves. Their black and get a little hot to the touch if you leave them sitting in the sun but man are those things thick.
 
Guitarist7.62 said:
Try a pair of wells Lamont gloves, those have lasted me a little while. But the best pair of leather gloves I have are a pair of old army gloves. Their black and get a little hot to the touch if you leave them sitting in the sun but man are those things thick.
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Thanks. Picked up a pair of Wells Lamont 1132 Grain Cowhide gloves earlier this AM. We'll see how they hold up.

Hit a few yard sales and an estate sale this AM as well. I picked up two milk crates full of old rusty tools. Mostly unknown (not cleaned up yet) but I could see a bunch of Craftsman and Plumb stamps on the hammers and axe/hatchet heads. Pretty much everything is really rusty and has missing or broken handles so she was asking $20 for each crate. I offered and tried to pay $50 each but she wouldn't take it. Haven't gone through it all yet but I can clearly see two True Temper Boy Scout hatchets and a Collins double bit axe head at the bottom of the pile.

Now I wish I hadn't submitted eBay Best Offers on about 8 heads. I may end up with way more than I need --or being a very good HH customer. What should I do to clean these things up? If I end up with a bunch of extra stuff I'll probably dump it on eBay or maybe here in the classifieds. Should I clean everything up and put handles on everything or just leave them as-is and sell the extras that way?

Thanks.
 
1215 said:
When GB is on Craigslist and eBay for $150++ and Plumb/Collins is <$20 shipped (head only) I think that makes up my mind. Should I do Collins or Plumb?

Also, a little off-topic, do decent work gloves exist? I've been burning through $15 Ace Hardware work gloves about one pair every 10-15 days. They give me a new/replacement pair for free but I'd like something decent that will last a few years hopefully??

Is GB night & day above brands like Plumb & Collins or for little things like firewood and small limbs/trees would I ever know the difference? Does the steel hold an edge longer?

Thanks.
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GB is not any better or worse necessarily. For everything but carving the vintage axes will be a better choice and some of them are pretty good carvers also.

I would choose a Plumb over a Collins unless it is a Legitimus marked Collins.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

The little red handled one is a Plumb. Very good steel and as a plus it has a hardened poll so that you can hammer with it and not have to worry about mushrooming. It may be the same as your grandfathers?

The other one with a nail notch is an oval stamped "Kelly Quality". Its not quite as good of a chopper or splitter as the Plumb but is better for finer work like carving. It is better at all those tasks than the current GB wildlife hatchet.

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1215 said:
Thanks. Picked up a pair of Wells Lamont 1132 Grain Cowhide gloves earlier this AM. We'll see how they hold up.

Hit a few yard sales and an estate sale this AM as well. I picked up two milk crates full of old rusty tools. Mostly unknown (not cleaned up yet) but I could see a bunch of Craftsman and Plumb stamps on the hammers and axe/hatchet heads. Pretty much everything is really rusty and has missing or broken handles so she was asking $20 for each crate. I offered and tried to pay $50 each but she wouldn't take it. Haven't gone through it all yet but I can clearly see two True Temper Boy Scout hatchets and a Collins double bit axe head at the bottom of the pile.

Now I wish I hadn't submitted eBay Best Offers on about 8 heads. I may end up with way more than I need --or being a very good HH customer. What should I do to clean these things up? If I end up with a bunch of extra stuff I'll probably dump it on eBay or maybe here in the classifieds. Should I clean everything up and put handles on everything or just leave them as-is and sell the extras that way?

Thanks.
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Wire wheel on an angle grinder is what most folks use to clean up rust. You can also soak in vinegar but they come out looking a little funny(still works well). Don't bother to rehandle they will sell better as loose heads on the auction site.
 
Thanks for the replies gary3. The Boy Scout Plumb's I have I consider to be sentimental heirlooms more than tools. I've never used them. I have a couple army foot lockers with my dad & grandfather's old stuff including their hatchet/knife sets and boys axes (we used to call them 3/4 axes). Just after college (15+ years ago) I pulled my grandfather's stuff out to look at it and make sure it wasn't rusting but I've never used any of it. When my parents downsized to a smaller house my dad gave me his old Boy Scout stuff which felt more like he was pawning junk off on me than handing down a gift :). That said, as kids we had a bunch of splitting mauls & sledges, axes, 3/4 axes (not sure what the difference is between a 3/4 axe and a boy's axe), hatchets and saws in various sizes. Most of our house was heated with wood and year-round one of my dad's favorite punishments was to make us split wood. There was always a large pile of unsplit wood that you could see from the window over the kitchen sink which he would always point to or reference as a threat haha...

Its been a long time but I do remember that dad's tools which were "off limits" when we were younger were MUCH better (better weighting & balance, held an edge better, easier to use, etc.) than the smaller el-cheapo stuff he bought for us to learn how to swing, miss and hit rocks with. He always had Plumb or Craftsman.

I don't know what I was thinking this weekend buying and bidding on all of that. I ended up with:

8 various hammers
2 splitting mauls/axes (Craftsman)
1 weird chopper/splitter thing with levers or something on it
4 splitting wedges
3 6-8# sledge heads
2 small sledge heads
3 single bit axe heads (1-Plumb and 2-generic or not cleaned up enough yet)
2 Collins double bit axe heads (one stamped ligitimus)
4 light/medium weight single bit axe heads, not sure if they are light axe or boys axe
5 hatchet heads, various, Plumb, Collins, Craftsman
2 Plumb hatchet heads with hammer bits
2 True Temper hatchets (pretty good condition)

From eBay I ended up winning six large and small axe heads that honestly I can't recall all the names/brands/weights right now. I think my next order from HH is going to be more expensive than the cost of buying all this metal and I KNOW that the files, rasps and tools I just bought are going to be more expensive than the heads and handles combined :) ..... and I'll probably be asking LOTS of handle hanging questions in the coming weeks.

What about paint for these things? I like the idea of painting some of the heads blue/red as they came from the factory but that means a lot of prep work on the metal and I don't want to go through the effort of painting them if it'll wear off in a few swings. Also, I'd like to paint the 5# Collins questionable LEGITIMUS head after I weld and fill in the poll because the metal will be discolored. Can I use POR-15 or is there a good brand of paint to use?

Thanks.
 
There is no difference between a 3/4 axe and a boys axe.

I also have a few tools that where passed down that mean a great deal to me. Like you I feel lucky to have them.

It sounds like you made quite a haul on those tools. A lot of interesting stuff. It should keep you busy for awhile. Congratulations.
 
Square_peg said:
Plumb. Unless the Collins is a Legitimus.
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What is so much better about Legitimus? Is there any documentation about different steel compositions/hardness? I just picked up a bunch of heads at an estate sale and some are marked Legitimus and some are not --but the ones that are marked legitimus are stamped all differently and they all file/sharpen differently (generally the legitimus is harder but not always). How can I tell the difference?
 
Lieblad said:
Folklore. Plain & simple.
As you must know reading BladeForums et.al. There is no shortsge of OCD when it comes to sharp tools, firearms, Fords,Chevys, etc. folks get all fixated on some trivial thing as if it their world depends upon it.

Legitimus was just a marketing / brand recognition advertising scheme of its time. They are still good tools mind you but nothing magically "better"than other recognised axes of that time.

Hope you have fun fixing up old axes. I do and it rakes in good money reselling them. I am happy for whatever fad has brought fixed up old axes into popularity.
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I appreciate such an honest reply. If you ever find yourself on the East Coast between NYC and Boston beers are on me. We just bought a new home on just shy of nine acres (that is very big for our area) and a few months ago. If you had asked me one year ago, I probably would have bet my first-born child that I'd never be out searching estate sales and flea markets for axes and hatchets!

All of these "axe shenanigans" came about because of a non-compete with my last employer. I have to wait a bot between the old job and the new one --and it just so happenes that at the same time we bought a new home that had an ant-infested tree close to the house and many other downed branches from past storms. I was bored so I borrowed an axe and chainsaw from her dad and so it began...
 
Most axe makers had several lines of tools, cheap, mid-price and premium. Legitimus was Collins premium line. Most Collins axes you find today were made after the company folded and the name was sold to the Mann Edge Tool Co. Mann still had their own lines of tools and sold Collins as their non-premium line. Later the folks at Norlund approached them to make their axes. Many later Collins and Norlund axes were made in the same Mann Edge Tool factories.

I'm not saying that Mann/Collins axes aren't good. I'm just saying that their old Legitimus line has better steel. And Plumbs have better steel. So in a choice between a Plumb and a Collins I'll take the Plumb. Plus Plumb was pretty meticulous about making their axes perfectly symmetrical (eye wall thickness and alignment). I think they have better balance than some other makers.
 
I have two plumb hatchets and only need one. Email me if u want to work something out. If not, also take a look at council tool. American made and moderate pricing. Good luck.
 
I've got a Plumb cedar pattern boy-scout hatchet that's been in the family since the '50s and I think it'll outlast me. Fantastic steel!
 
tueller said:
I have two plumb hatchets and only need one. Email me if u want to work something out. If not, also take a look at council tool. American made and moderate pricing. Good luck.
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Thanks. If you scroll up you can see the list of tools I recently purchased at an estate sale. Between that and purchasing a few various Plumb (Boy Scout and other) hatchet and axe heads on eBay, I have my hands full at the moment and certainly have enough cutting/chopping tools :)

DarthTaco123 said:
I've got a Plumb cedar pattern boy-scout hatchet that's been in the family since the '50s and I think it'll outlast me. Fantastic steel!
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Do you use yours? I have my dad's and grandfather's old Boy Scout stuff but I'm nervous to use them as they are in pretty good condition. I can tell that the woods and Boy Scouts wasn't exactly my dad's thing when he was young because his stuff looks almost brand new! :) Looking forward to using/handling the Plumb tools I recently purchased!
 
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