Mystery hatchet. ID help needed!

k_estela

k_estela

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One of my martial arts student's grandfathers gifted me a hatchet tonight. The grandfather told me he recalls his father having it in New Brunswick back in the 1940's and 1950's. They moved to Massachusetts then down to CT. This has been sitting in the family's basement for years. The poll is not peened over and the edge looks good. It has a lot of surface rust but there is no discernible markings on it anywhere. The handle looks like a nice piece of hickory and appears to have a yellowish paint leftover on it as well as some black paint near the end knob/grip.

What do you guys think? Look familiar? I can't place it.

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Clean it up with a wire cup brush and you'll probably find a maker's stamp. Looks like it's in pretty good shape under the rust.
 
With regard to the handle of your item, the unique shape of the swell at the butt plus the yellowish whitewash colour certainly look to be the product of Walter's Axe, Hull, PQ. Does your particular handle appear to be original to the head? Far as I know Walter's stamped their heads but could be they also sold 'no-name' versions to stores wishing to flaunt their own labels. Attached picture is of a few Walter's hatchets; Top one and bottom one are factory handles and 3rd one down is a shortened one but nevertheless still a Walters.
 
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It sure looks like a Walters handle.

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300six,

Thank you very much for the advice. The handle looks original. Sadly, there is a lot of rot inside the eye and it will need to be replaced. Halfaxe, it looks identical! Thank you gentlemen. I think the mystery is solved.

Kevin
 
Halfaxe: Second from the right in your picture -- is that head perchance stamped "Forester"?

Closest to the rather uncommon pattern of my mystery head, though it's 4 pounds.
 
Skiv said:
Halfaxe: Second from the right in your picture -- is that head perchance stamped "Forester"?

Closest to the rather uncommon pattern of my mystery head, though it's 4 pounds.
Click to expand...

No they all are just stamped Walters.
 
k_estela said:
300six,
Thank you very much for the advice. The handle looks original. Sadly, there is a lot of rot inside the eye and it will need to be replaced. Halfaxe, it looks identical! Thank you gentlemen. I think the mystery is solved.
Kevin
Click to expand...

I cannot claim to be a "purist" but do have to admit to having grown increasingly fond of 'local lad does good'. Morley Walters (owner and President of Walters Axe from1912-1969, and engineering graduate of McGill University 1890s)) must have loved the business and did his best at 'keeping up with the times' for almost 60 years, The technology behind mass-producing axe heads (ie reduce the price, increase the uniformity and improve/maintain the quality) he did address successfully during the late 40s early 1950s but the making of handles must have been a constant headache that never did stabilize. The handles got thicker, simpler in shape and less grain oriented as time went by from 1950 to 1973, at which time the entire operation was folded.
Judging by the whitewash and handle form what you've got (my personal guess) is a hatchet from the mid to late 1950s. Walters Axe was mainstay for generations of rural Canadians (e. Ontario, for sure) because 90 out of 100 axes I've ever looked at in private garages, sheds, boathouses and woodpiles over the past 35 years ago have invariably turned out to be one of his.
k-estela if you're even remotely into a nostalgia thing perhaps you will do your darndest to try to reproduce that handle before tossing the original. Those old handles are tidy-looking and downright comfy compared to what all is out there these days.
 
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Yeah I like those round knob handles and have a few old Plumbs as well as Walters. Somewhat phallic sub-conscious maybe.:D
 
halfaxe said:
Yeah I like those round knob handles and have a few old Plumbs as well as Walters. Somewhat phallic sub-conscious maybe.:D
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I sort of thought that too until I noticed the shape of butt ends of deer antler sheds. There doesn't seem to be a name for this profile and I guess 'fawn's foot' as about as close as it gets. Certainly by the mid to late 1960's Walters products were no longer as intricate or pronounced, handle-wise.
 
300Six said:
Certainly by the mid to late 1960's Walters products were no longer as intricate or pronounced, handle-wise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's an older style of handle. That Plumb is pre-Permabond which I think started in 1956 or 1957. There must have been a handle maker back in the day who did 'em like that.
 
An update...

I wasn't able to salvage the handle as it was pretty rotten. I still have it and may try to cut it down to a shorter length where the rot didn't settle in. The head was just cleaned up by my friends at BRKT along with a Tru-Temper yard sale special I plan on making a user. They took off the surface rust, pitting and put my logo on it. Once it is sent back to me, I'll post more photos. Thank you again guys for your assistance in the ID. I appreciate your knowledge.
 

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Stamp a fleur de lys and a Trillium on it (patriotic for la Belle Province (Lower Canada-French from 200 years ago), and the Ontario symbol (for British-derived Upper Canada)) to commemorate where it was made and then Morley Walter's name for having been been the 'Old Cat' that made it possible. If so inclined send me the old handle and I'll see what I can do for you with regard to re-creating the profile in something suitable. And after all that promise me 'the old girl' will be put back in service and not have to languish in someone's desk or on their wall for another millenium.
 
300six,

I appreciate the offer, it is very very generous, but I'm going to reprofile it by hand myself. Thank you regardless! Trust me, running a business like I do, I'm in the woods on average 30-50 nights a year all year long. My tools always go to work and this one won't be idle.

Kev
 
Those axes look good, like they will take wicked edges. Watch your back when using that double bit.
 
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