Name that pattern

VintageAxe

VintageAxe

Joined
Mar 12, 2011
Messages
214
Here's a couple new arrivals. The little guy is unmarked but hand forged, found it in a junk store in Maine. The handle is pretty beat up but feels great in balance with the head. It's really thin and has kind of a back sweep that I like. I'm going to try to duplicate it with a drawknife, a spindle sander, and a piece of a bigger handle. The Kelly Works is the one I'm curious about. It also looks hand forged and is an older line. The other side has just a True Temper stamp. Looking at the one old Kelly axe pattern sheet I could find I thought it might be a New England pattern (and that's where it came from), but it's obviously a little difficult to distinguish between a lot of those patterns. Thoughts?

IMG_1606.jpg

IMG_1607.jpg
 
Well if it has True Temper on it, that means it is post 1930 when AFH bought them out. The name went to True Temper in 1949. I would have to think it wasn't hand made due to the size of Kelly and the operation that had going on.
 
Last edited:
I'm in no position to dispute your historical knowledge, Operator. It seemed kind of out of place to me too, but I don't know what was going on back in the day when they were cranking these things out. Somewhere along the line I was told that you could identify hand forged axes by the presence of a seam at the front of the eye where the two sides were welded together after being forged around the eye space. You can see what made me think that about this one in the first couple photos. The second pair is more what I tend to think of when I think of drop forged heads looking like, with the clean, round tip to the eye and the score marks inside where presumably some piece of metal rammed out the eye under intense pressure. If you can shed any light on this business for me I'd be pleased.

IMG_1611.jpg

IMG_1612.jpg

IMG_1613.jpg

IMG_1614.jpg
 
Sorry I had to re-read my first post, and I put in bad info. 1930 for AFH buy out, and 1949 for True Temper.

Due to the size and production that the Kelly Co was able to produce axes at, it would seem very illogical that the axes would be hand made. Were there steps in the process that could be considered hand made? Sure. Were these axes technically hand made? No. There is no way a company that size, being the largest in the world at that time could make hand made axes, at least on that scale. Were some maybe hand made start to finish? Maybe, but I think it would be limited.

Could yours be hand made? Sure. I would have to have it in my hands to really find out though. I hope it is.
 
Ah nice, I let a 4 pound Kelly Demon with a race handle get away for something stupid like 25 bucks this week. I'm still kicking myself I didn't put a max bid on it instead of trying to snipe it and then forgetting about it... grr. Ah well, I have a Norlund Hudson Bay and a Wetterlings hatchet inbound-this will be Wetterlings no. 3. I sure would like a Black Raven and one of those Demons though...
 
I have the same True Temper Finest that you also have, same logo, etc.

SAM_0282.jpg


SAM_0283.jpg


Mine is not hand made. No way.
 
Last edited:
Right on. So enlighten me as to what you look for to tell how an axe was made? I'm sure mine isn't either, based on the timeline and your photos. Just wondering how to figure it out.
 
Interesting that the Warren Axe and Tool Company, in their 1937 catalog, specified that all of the axes made in their factory (3,000 per day), and not just their Sager axes, were "hand forged" and not done by the "cheaper drop-forging process". I imagine they had equipment similar to what Gransfors and Wetterlings uses today, with additional attention given to the Sager axes. "Each Sager Axe receives several hundred blows under the hammer..." and is "ground before tempering, avoiding all danger of drawing the temper..."

If they are grinding away the marks from forging, then what other clues are there on Warren axes that show that they are "hand forged"? I have a Warren double bit that I got for $5, I'll have to check it out.

[quotes from Warren Axe and Tool Company 1937 catalog, courtesy of Rose Antique Tools]
http://www.roseantiquetools.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/1937warrenaxepdfopt6.54.pdf
 
SAM_0294.jpg


Hand forged I guess.

Emerson and Stevens Co was one of the few that used the Hand Hammer technique on their axes all the way up to the end - They at one time reported that they had 48 men and they cranked out 3000 dozen axes a year. So, if I calculate correctly, thats 2 axes per man per day. No way Warren or Kelly or anyone else was making them hand made, just based off of numbers.
 
Here is a new wrinkle - I have 2 single bits now that say Kelly Hand Made on them.

On the back one says True Temper........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top