Miners axe, rafting axe, construction axe

olybears57 · Jan 12, 2016

Rafting axes are my favorite pattern. This was also my first restoration

chuxwan · Jan 12, 2016

Wow that killing axe is something else!

vcbvcbvcb · Jan 13, 2016

This forum keeps getting interestinger and interestinger.

quinton · Jan 14, 2016

Beachlogger said:
Ha ha that's a great picture of that log raft, what is that a little doggie hanging on the peavey?

Looks like a feist, my all time favorite dog. Mine can stand on their hind legs forever it seems, they remind me of monkeys at times..

Square_peg · Jan 14, 2016

Steve Tall said:
I'd like to see an example made by Warren Axe & Tool (a "rafting" axe is shown in their 1937 catalog).

garry3 said:
Here is one Steve.
I should probably clean it up nicer but I would hate to loose the original red paint in the stamp.

[/URL][/IMG]

I love seeing this axe. Warren really catered to the logging industry and made top notch stuff. I have no doubts about the quality of that axe. You're probably wise to leave it unaltered.

Square_peg · Jan 14, 2016

Dirtbiker said:
Here is one I just picked up. A Plumb 5# construction axe.

That one is almost unused. Have you hung it yet?

Square_peg · Mar 5, 2016

Square_peg said:
Whatever you call those old hardened poll axes these photos can give us an idea why these axes were so popular for people outside of forestry. Think about this mining photo. A big part of mining is a shoring operation - a continual battle to stop the earth above from falling in on you. A fractured rock ceiling doesn't conform perfectly to square-cut timbers. Once a timber frame was built you would have to install wedges to fill the gaps between the timber and the rock above. Or the timbers themselves might need to have the corners knocked off in places to fit to the rock.

I recently added another piece to my set of Plumb rafting axes - an axe box from the mine that my Permabond rafter came from.

I need 3 more to fill the box. It's supposed to hold a half dozen.

Steve Tall · Mar 5, 2016

Square_peg said:
I recently added another piece to my set of Plumb rafting axes - an axe box from the mine that my Permabond rafter came from...

Nice! Looks like the end of the box has details about the handles:
STRT. 26IN NAT. FIN. HDLS
Straight 26 inch Natural finish Handles.
(The other handle options were 36", bent or straight.)

Interesting that the 1964 price list from Plumb showed that those heads were packed 12 per box (not 6). And the handled axes came 4 to a closed box that year. Perhaps this box was from an earlier year, with 6 handled axes packed in it (not just heads without the handles). That would explain why the handle details are stamped on the box, as well as the head details.

1 ADAM12 · Mar 5, 2016

NICE ONES, thanks for sharing this...

6850 · Mar 5, 2016

Thank you Square_Peg and everyone else who contributed to this thread!
Very interesting!
Lots of info, a look at the past & the lifestyle... Man those folks were tough!
How would you like to arm wrestle that guy swinging that axe in the mine?
And to top it all off, a cute little dog!
Great thread!!

Old Axeman · Mar 6, 2016

S P- That axe box is a great find! Your Permabond Rafter and that box really belong together. I feel even better about you being the one who got the axe.

300Six · Mar 6, 2016

Howdy Square_Peg. Relevant old packing case and I'll bet there's an similarly good story on how it came to reside at your place. Any sign or suggestion of a date on it?

Square_peg · Mar 6, 2016

Old Axeman said:
S P- That axe box is a great find! Your Permabond Rafter and that box really belong together. I feel even better about you being the one who got the axe.

Yeah. The history you supplied for my axe made me want this box all the more. It's possible that this axe came in this box. In any case I was very pleased to be able to bring them together.

300Six said:
Howdy Square_Peg. Relevant old packing case and I'll bet there's an similarly good story on how it came to reside at your place. Any sign or suggestion of a date on it?

No date on the box. And I doubt that either Plumb or Anaconda kept records or shipments. One side of the box reads:

ANACONDA COPPER
MINING CO.
WAREHOUSE
BUTTE, MONT.
ORDER NO. 86220
REQ. NO. BOZ-934

The end panels reads:

STRT.
26 IN
NAT. FIN.
HDLS.

and

PLUMB
DOUBLE LIFE
AXES

One side and the bottom are stamped:

1/2 DOZ 5
S.B. CONSTRUCTORS
AXES
DREADNAUGHT

I would guess it's from the 1960's but I don't know. The fact that they call it a Dreadnaught Constructors axe matches up with Steve's add for 1964. An earlier piece would have likely called it a rafting axe.

As for how it came to my place, 300Six, ebay. I saw it there and knowing the history of my 26" axe I put a high value on the box. As it turned out the seller lived just 30 miles down the road in Steilacoom, Washington. Arrived in 2 days. Family reunited.

Agent_H · Mar 6, 2016

Terrific pictures and great additions to the collection Square_peg.

Seeing all three together is note-worthy and that box is just plain cool.

Waffles, yum.

ARKLITE881South · Mar 11, 2016

6850 said:
Thank you Square_Peg and everyone else who contributed to this thread!
Very interesting!
Lots of info, a look at the past & the lifestyle... Man those folks were tough!
How would you like to arm wrestle that guy swinging that axe in the mine?
And to top it all off, a cute little dog!
Great thread!!

My wifes grand dad was a log drive foreman for Diamond Match in Northern Idaho for 40 yrs. He said in those 40 yrs he never lost a man on the log drives. He was one tough old cookie, i have some pictures of him shaving in his back yard with a small double bit axe. I believe its the only small double bit axe i have it was Made in Sweden. We used to have some dandy black and white 8x10 glossy pictures taken of him and his crew as they drove logs to the mill. One of the other relatives''confiscated'' all of them. They were taken by a Life Magazine reporter. They had a small tent set up on the rafts for eating in, and even a sleeping tent i believe, complete with stove. Pretty exciting life.

Square_peg · Mar 12, 2016

ARKLITE881South said:
We used to have some dandy black and white 8x10 glossy pictures taken of him and his crew as they drove logs to the mill. One of the other relatives''confiscated'' all of them. They were taken by a Life Magazine reporter. They had a small tent set up on the rafts for eating in, and even a sleeping tent i believe, complete with stove. Pretty exciting life.

It's too bad you cant' borrow those photos and scan them. We'd love to see them.

Those tents on the log rafts were called wigwams. Sometimes they were more substantial than tents.

Square_peg · Mar 12, 2016

Sometime watch the movie "Sometimes A Great Notion" with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda.

Square_peg · May 1, 2016

I ran into this 5 pound Collins rafting axe over the weekend but was unable to buy it. This came down from Mountain Village, Alaska back in 1976. The other corner or the poll shows some chipping, a testament to its hardened poll. Wish I coulda got this one. May still one day.

Square_peg · May 1, 2016

I received this one this weekend. It's 4.83 pound Plumb Dreadnaught rafting axe that looks like it's never been hung. It's the type of un-hung axe that would have come in the box I posted above. It came form Clancy, MT., just up the road from the Anaconda mine in Butte.

It came with a very flat poll that looks almost milled and isnt painted like the body of the axe.

Here it is with the box I posted before. It's conceivable that this axe came in this box - though unlikely. I'm sure they shipped many of them.

It fits!

Given my affinity for Plumb rafting axes I'm pretty giddy about this one!

Steve Tall · May 2, 2016

Square_peg said:
...One side of the box reads:

ANACONDA COPPER
MINING CO.
WAREHOUSE
BUTTE, MONT.
ORDER NO. 86220
REQ. NO. BOZ-934

The end panels reads:

STRT.
26 IN
NAT. FIN.
HDLS.

and

PLUMB
DOUBLE LIFE
AXES

One side and the bottom are stamped:

1/2 DOZ 5
S.B. CONSTRUCTORS
AXES
DREADNAUGHT
...

I question why the handle information (Straight 26" Natural Finish Handles) was stamped on the box if the heads weren't shipped with handles installed? Makes more sense to me if they were shipped with handles installed, with the heads in the box and the handles sticking up, similar to how Shapleigh shipped their handled axes (pictured below in a post by rjdankert):

rjdankert said:
...

...

As I mentioned before in this thread, the 1964 price list from Plumb showed that those heads were packed 12 per box (not 6). And the handled axes came 4 to a box that year. Perhaps this box was from an earlier year, with 6 handled axes packed in it (not just heads without the handles). That would explain why the handle details are stamped on the box, as well as the head details.