Miners axe, rafting axe, construction axe

Square_peg said:
Lookie what I found!

WP-1028_1_1.jpg

WP-1028_2.jpg


https://www.baileysonline.com/forestry-woodcutting/axes-mauls/falling-logging-axes.html

Looks like Council has started making rafting axes again. They look kinda flat-cheeked and they probably don't have a hardened poll but the pattern is unmistakable.
Click to expand...

I see those on fires and fire crews now and then. I've looked pretty close, used one a couple times when it was at hand, and to me its kind of like a Dayton/Rafting hybrid. Pretty stout axe, and I think it's a good enough wedge pounder and heavy use brute but I would not equate it to a true rafting axe. JMO
 
Square_peg said:
I got a response this morning.

"Hello Tom,

I'm not really sure what you are referring to with the pattern, but the axe does look just like it does in the images on our website. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.

Best Regards,
Christopher"

I placed an order. Let's see what I get.
Click to expand...

If it's not as stated I'll just send it back.
 
Square_peg said:
I got a response this morning.

"Hello Tom,

I'm not really sure what you are referring to with the pattern, but the axe does look just like it does in the images on our website. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.

Best Regards,
Christopher"

I placed an order. Let's see what I get.
Click to expand...

Christopher at Bailey's was correct. This is a rafting axe not a Dayton. It came today. 5 lb. rafting axe for $40!!!

Baileys%201.jpg



It has convex cheeks and a bit of a forge finish under the paint.

Baileys%202.jpg



Here it is next to my 6 lb. Council Dayton to compare the shape.

Baileys%203.jpg



Plumb rafter on top, Bailey's faller in the middle and a Council Dayton on the bottom.

Baileys%204.jpg



The poll and eye are impressive. Long thick poll and massive eye walls - obviously stouter than the 6 lb. Council Dayton flathead fire axe.

Baileys%205.jpg


I'm pleased. I'm keeping it. I'll test the poll later. I expect it won't be hardened.
 
Square_peg said:
I got a response this morning.

"Hello Tom,

I'm not really sure what you are referring to with the pattern, but the axe does look just like it does in the images on our website. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.

Best Regards,
Christopher"

I placed an order. Let's see what I get.
Click to expand...

Christopher at Bailey's was correct. This is a rafting axe not a Dayton. It came today. 5 lb. rafting axe for $40!!!

Baileys%201.jpg



It has convex cheeks and a bit of a forge finish under the paint.

Baileys%202.jpg



Here it is next to my 6 lb. Council Dayton to compare the shape.

Baileys%203.jpg



Plumb rafter on top, Bailey's faller in the middle and a Council Dayton on the bottom.

Baileys%204.jpg



The poll and eye are impressive. Long thick poll and massive eye walls - obviously stouter than the 6 lb. Council Dayton flathead fire axe.

Baileys%205.jpg


I'm pleased. I'm keeping it. I'll test the poll later. I expect it won't be hardened.
 
Again, I have it straight from Council that it's their 5lb Dayton model. The model number is 50DR28S. Unhardened poll. Calling it a rafting pattern doesn't make it one, but I'm glad you're happy with it.
 
That's definitely a different head than the Dayton it's right next to.

I may not have used that one before, after all.

The long heavy Daytons are kind of weird to me and I never cared for 'em, but that looks like a rafting axe all right, I like it!
 
There's inconsistency in the shape of their Daytons because the dies were made at different points in time and tweaked to meet the specific demands of the markets they were targeting, but this isn't particularly different from the way that different companies have different interpretations of the same pattern designations. Council has just been in the business long enough that the inconsistency has developed within their own line from head size to head size. If you want to call it a rafting pattern I can't stop you, but I personally consider it a dangerous erosion of nomenclature that's going to distort a lot of folks' idea of what a rafting pattern is. It's gonna' be cedar vs. National vs. rockaway all over again.
 
81300884_10220410304956138_8897787290747666432_n.jpg


81652877_10220410341677056_798865158301548544_n.jpg


Color coded:
81184527_10220410352637330_1136104813562429440_n.jpg


Left edges aligned:
81905860_10220410360757533_6785601028310958080_o.jpg


Right edges aligned:
81169928_10220410370597779_1866626854522191872_o.jpg


Red and green scaled to identical width as blue and centered along horizontal axis:
82548212_10220410389158243_4384874593731477504_o.jpg
 
It is a good effort at objectifying the comparison but still not conclusive since the angles the different axeheads present to the camera are non consistent and stronger yet would tend to magnify the proposition of 42Blades. Intuitively though and with little skin in this game the taper of the uppermost axe does set it apart.



So strange. On the screen my text reads "non conclusive" but in the edit section I am unable to change because there it reads as intended "not conclusive"

Even stranger it gets. My God, now my edit of my edit has responded but thanks to thinkdeeply's quotation a discrepancy persists.

And now thinksdeeply has edited to eliminate the text of my unedited posting and so my edit stands unchallenged.
 
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I mean...L o o k a t t h e p i c t u r e ! :p

I'd be happy to trace images taken more squarely to the heads for greater accuracy, but it looks pretty much like while there's a slight deviation between the shape of the 5lb and 6lb Daytons to the point where you can definitely say that the one is not merely a scaled version of the other, it's also pretty clear to me that the two are closer to one another than either is to the rafter, lack of hardened poll totally aside.
 
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