Maine Axes -post 'em up

Emerson & Stevens 2 1/2 lb double. 1955. Handle is a substantially trimmed down op link cruiser double bit handle.

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joshiecole said:
That is really special. You must have been delighted when you stumbled across that.
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indeed. it was a local flea market find. Bought it based on its look (diamond eye) and the price ($15). Didn't find out the maker until I got it home.
 
I know...pics...pics! Until I get time to get pics up.
I have a Maine wedge axe I am trying to get information on.
Stamped KING AXE near poll with HOLBROOK MASS below that. It is a hard bit overlayed on the softer core.

Until I cleaned it and saw the HOLBROOK MASS, I was going with an early John King, prior to KATCO but he stamped his JOHN KING- I thought i had a rare one.

I have accumulated a few axes to get pics and post.

Thanks,
Bill
 
That's 10 miles from me, and I've never heard of them. If not for that stamp I would have sworn that was a Maine axe.
 
Pegs,
Thank you Sir- that rings true and I guess the "King" was just a line. When I first saw the pics of this one, I was hoping it was a "John King" before he started putting his first name on the axes but this is an interesting axe all in its own.

JB,
Thanks to Pegs identifying the company, I foudn the below thread to share here. Very good information in there. No one had an axe stamped as mine but the location, timeline and detail there are too good to be a coincidence.
http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/the-c-a-c-axe.175306/

Thank you both,
Bill
 
grafton said:
That is a lovely display of axes. The three handles without heads have me drooling too.
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Thanks. They are from the Bethel Handle co., Ruggs Handle Co., and bethel again. All Maine based handles. I find them on and off around here (NH and Maine).
 
cooperhill said:
...mostly maines in here. a few oddballs.

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First of all, Cooperhill it’s good to see you around here again – been a while. :thumbup:
Second, that is a terrific spread of Maine axes.

Now, I am curious. The pattern I circled in your picture there:



Is that what we see in older catalogs listed as a “Booming” or “Zeke” pattern? There was one other term for them I can’t recall off the top of my head but it is interesting that it is symmetrical.
 
Right on all around. I missed that previously, gracias Steve.

It's awesome for a lack of better words. :thumbup:
 
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From top to bottom/right to left- first two are Emerson and Stevens on vintage handles, next two are both 3lb Spillers, the first is on the original handle and the second, the jersey is on a handle I made myself. The last one with a handle is an LL Bean Hudson Bay with original handle and sheath. The rusty head without a handle is a KATCO 3 1/4 jersey and the other without a handle is a 3lb Snow and Nealley jersey.
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Bonus, not Maine but Vermont(l-r)- first is a rixford either Baltimore Kentucky or North Carolina pattern I think, by far one of my favorite axes, it's definitely a handmade handle although I didn't make it. Second is a double bit Rixford, it's on a cruiser sized handle but the head is a little big for a cruiser. Third is a Rixford jersey on the original handle, and lastly is an I hung rixford double bit I have a handle blank to carve for it.
 
I stand a snowballs chance in h-e-double ell of ever finding anything as nice as the axes shown in this thread in my part of the country. It would be a cause for celebration to run across a Maine axe out here. Thanks to all for the photos and history.
 
Thanks for sharing those. Wonderful axes!

Those first to E&S axes and that last Rixford all demonstrate a good dropped handle which makes the axis of control (grip) coincide with the axis of rotation (C.O.G.). This is what gives an axe that little edge in accuracy. These makers understood that even with a poll they still needed to move the axis of control toward the bit. It is very difficult to achieve this kind of balance on a poll-less axe. The haft would have to have such an extreme curve that grain runout is almost a certainty. You might find a rare piece of hickory that can make the necessary curves. But mass produced poll-less axes will either have poor balance or terrible grain runout. It's a fact of life.
 
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