Military hatchet...?

[gben]

From a local estate-sale of a deceased veteran:

 

[jblyttle]

I say this without a very high degree of confidence, but to my eye it looks like a normal hatchet, not anything that was military issue.

 

[Square_peg]

Nice hatchet. Could be military. It seems like they usually jusy used "U.S." It's a late model judging by the flat cheeks. My first guess would be Woodings Verona. 2nd guess Mann.

 

[Steve Tall]

My guess is Mann, based on the markings from the examples below.
I haven't seen a Woodings Verona that says USA instead of US (though they could exist).
Some examples of military axes from John Barton's site, with various makers using a USA stamp:

from http://jeepdraw.com/John_Barton2-AXES.html


Plus, a Vaughan axe, potentially military, marked USA:
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=215472

 

[Kevin Houtzager]

X

 

[Agent_H]

I don't know where/if this falls in with US marked hatchets:

 

[gben]

From a local estate-sale of a deceased veteran:

 

[gben]

what I thought was unusual was the way the cutting edge width was extended wider with those little tits, those alone are a feature which could narrow down the manufacturer considerably.

A year or so ago military markings were gone through over an axe that was stamped USA.

Before a certain year in the 1930s all military contract axes had to be stamped USA, but after that certain year in the 1930s the USA marking was not mandatory unless it was specified in a specific contract. Some tools were stamped USN and we have all seen knives, bayonets and machetes stamped USMC.

I have dozens of old hatchets and axes laying around from the early 20th century and only two are stamped with a big USA in this manner and both of them came from the estates of veterans.