My Vintage Axe Search (yours too)

C

cckw

Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
561
I had a recent business trip with a lot of driving. When I could I stopped at antique shops and picked up a few things.

From the left: Not sure what the PC name is, but the old folks call this a slave hoe. it is pretty nice and marked Made in Austria. I need to clean up a bit more to see if there is a maker name. I plan to use it in my garden, but need to shim the head a bit first. Second is a sledge hammer, I don't know what you call this style. anyone know? #3 A good usable spade. Ames brand, with other markings. This is a great spade and since it is not tapered you can dig a square hole. My dad taught me how to properly use a spade. And I was very happy to find this one. Side note:this is the origin of the term "call a spade a spade" ... ie: don't call it a shovel. And my dad would get mad as hell if you called a spade a shovel or used a spade for any purpose other then digging a hole. Next to the spade is a pretty good condition 2lb axe head then 3 small hammers.

The axes: first is a Plumb 3.5. I'll put the head on the right way and seat it all the way down and this handle will do fine. It will become my brother firewood axe. next, I haven't cleaned it up to see the maker, 3rd splitting maul, has markings but don't see the brand, needs a new handle, 4th: this one is a True temper and a very nice one. the last one I already had, it is a 2lb HB made in Sweden and a very nice head. I paid under $100 for everything in the photo.

By the way I passed on true temper double bit Jersey pattern for $20. It had two deep nicks in one side. if the handle had been good I would have gotten it, but didn't want to do the work on one with deep nicks.

Lets see what the rest of you have or can pull out of the weeds.

axe1.jpg
 
Last edited:
All for under $100.00....I would say you did real good. Thanks for the pic's
 
Great deal and at least a winters fun cleaning them up. A spade of that quality would be close to the 100 you spent.

Best regards

Robin
 
Great idea for a thread, I'm going to get searching! Of those you show above I gotta say I like that sledge.

I live in the pacific northwest so we see lots of old logging tools. All sorts of odd axes and etc.
 
Here is another photo of the hoe and hammer. A kind of funny side note. you never know what you will encounter. I found one axe that was run of the mill, but have a very heavy coat of green paint applied to it, head and all. Price was $100. On another, the handle was shot, the bit ground to death back mushroomed over. I would have passed at $2 and the price was $30. I saw several in the $20-30 range that had been abused on a grinder. So it is not like shooting fish in a barrel.

I did better in the small town shops then large malls along the interstate. But did buy some things at the big ones. In addition to this stuff, I bought a few things for my woman and my other hobbies.

I encourage you to give this a try. It is like and adult version of an Easter egg hunt

EDIT To ADD: I am going to cut down one of these old axe handles and fit it to a scrap of 4x4 deck wood to make a mallet to use rehandling my axes.

axe2.jpg
 
Last edited:
cckw said:
nice! what is your recommended technique for cleaning heads?
Click to expand...

For this group, I used a combination of a flap sander on a hand drill followed up with lots of hand sanding. More recently I soaked a couple of heads in CLR for about a week. It took them from fuzzy rusty to very clean. I'll probably go this route from now on.

Jeff
 
That sledge hammer is whats normally called a Post maul and is used for driving sharpened fence posts.
I had a bit of experience with one of those in the late 50s on my dads place in the Ozarks!


Larry
 
It seems like an axe or hatchet in any kind of shape is as rare as hen's teeth in these parts. Every one I have found, so far, has been used, but mostly abused! Most I have found are worn and ground to a nub, or they look like they where used as a sledge!
 
ThundarStick said:
It seems like an axe or hatchet in any kind of shape is as rare as hen's teeth in these parts. Every one I have found, so far, has been used, but mostly abused! Most I have found are worn and ground to a nub, or they look like they where used as a sledge!
Click to expand...

I completely changed this post. I was out today and hit a couple antique malls. What you describe is the norm everywhere, you have to keep looking and a nice one will turn up.
 
Last edited:
Yesterday I visited 4 shops and found 3 over priced axes, but nothing to buy. Arrive at my brothers house when helping do farm work I spot an axe on a high shelf in the barn. I'm checking it out, it's maker marked, not all ground up, nice piece. He says, "that was dads, you can have it if you want it"
 
cckw said:
Yesterday I visited 4 shops and found 3 over priced axes, but nothing to buy. Arrive at my brothers house when helping do farm work I spot an axe on a high shelf in the barn. I'm checking it out, it's maker marked, not all ground up, nice piece. He says, "that was dads, you can have it if you want it"
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll Take It.
 
omniviking said:
Sure, I'll Take It.
Click to expand...

I didn't bother with words, I ran with it before he changed his mind :) I had it sitting with my stuff in the house. A farmer friend of his dropped in, with some casual conversation on the axe he tells me he has an old one I should come and see if I like it. Last couple outings were dead end searches and now a couple drop in my lap.

ETA: I went to the farmers place and it is a 3.5 true temper, nice head, bad handle $5 !!!! I also got a large heavy cast iron pot from him. Everybody keeps asking what I could possible want with the pot. Well clearly... ummm... isn't it obvious that I need one?
 
Last edited:
cckw said:
I didn't bother with words, I ran with it before he changed his mind :) I had it sitting with my stuff in the house. A farmer friend of his dropped in, with some casual conversation on the axe he tells me he has an old one I should come and see if I like it. Last couple outings were dead end searches and now a couple drop in my lap.
Click to expand...

You gotta love fate :D congrats on all your recent finds. I can't wait till Spring when all the yard sales start here in the boonies.

Best regards

Robin
 
scotchleaf said:
What is CLR?
Click to expand...

It's a brand name for a product that removes lime, calcium deposits and rust from a variety of surfaces. Any grocery store will carrry it. It really worked nicely on a very rusted head. I don't have a before picture, but it was fuzzy with rust. Here's the after shot. I didn't even have to remove the haft, I just soaked it in a paint tray and flipped it around every so often.

picture.php



Jeff
 
That is a great idea on the CLR.
I'm actually kicking myself for all the time I spent with sand paper the last time I had to clean up one of my axes that my brother 'borrowed' then lost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top