"newish" Plumb Victory double-bit

gben · Jul 19, 2015

Little used Plumb axe from a house-sale today. It was the estate of an elderly and wealthy man. Did the victory theme come up during WWII just like Disston's victory saws?

rockman0 · Jul 19, 2015

No idea on the timing of the victory theme but that is a nice score, appears to be the original haft?

Double Ott · Jul 19, 2015

I'm thinking 1942-3 through 1950.

Tom

Thomas Linton · Jul 19, 2015

My "axe expert" (age 89) says "right after WWII."

cityofthesouth · Jul 20, 2015

VERY nice!

Agent_H · Jul 20, 2015

That Plumb is score. The color of those handles makes me think of a glass of good red wine :thumbup:

cityofthesouth · Jul 20, 2015

Have any of you found just the right stain to duplicate the Plumb handles? It happens that I have a Plumb headed my direction and it really needs a red handle.

garry3 · Jul 20, 2015

Its amazing to find them in that condition after so many years.

300Six · Jul 20, 2015

Quinton and myself have been trying to establish the year of manufacture of a couple of OEM Plumb axes (his is a double and mine is a hard poll cedar pattern) with original wine-coloured handles and so far have determined that Permabond eyes came into being in 1955/56 (thank you Steve Tall for your input on all this]). Your Victory, if it's devoid of a screw-adjustable wedge should help determine that pre-Permabond and post adjustable wedge wine-handled axes, at very least, fall between 1945 and 1955. Recognizable Plumb red handles and black painted heads was a patent from 1922 and apparently was already in practice for a few years before that. All we need now is for Steve to pipe up regarding the timeframe of Victory models.

gben · Jul 20, 2015

My older neighbor across the street showed me how to hold this axe in one hand upside-down, and then hit the bottom of the handle with a dead-blow mallet. After about ten hits the handle moved back into the head about a quarter-inch where it belonged. Here are a couple more shots of the head to maybe help you experts date it:

Did you notice how there is some sort of coating on the head? It looks like someone put some sort of brown stuff on it, the side with the logo has some drips on it, and the other side is much more covered with it, a brownish preservative maybe? I tried getting some of it off with acetone but it did not touch it.

Square_peg · Jul 20, 2015

cityofthesouth said:
Have any of you found just the right stain to duplicate the Plumb handles? It happens that I have a Plumb headed my direction and it really needs a red handle.

Take one in to the paint store. They can computer match any stain color.

Square_peg · Jul 20, 2015

Here's a fresh pre-permabond Plumb hatchet for color matching.

BG_Farmer · Jul 20, 2015

gben said:
My older neighbor across the street showed me how to hold this axe in one hand upside-down, and then hit the bottom of the handle with a dead-blow mallet. After about ten hits the handle moved back into the head about a quarter-inch where it belonged. Here are a couple more shots of the head to maybe help you experts date it:

Did you notice how there is some sort of coating on the head? It looks like someone put some sort of brown stuff on it, the side with the logo has some drips on it, and the other side is much more covered with it, a brownish preservative maybe? I tried getting some of it off with acetone but it did not touch it.

Maybe black paint. Didn't Steve Tall recently find a reference to Plumb trademarking black head and reddish handle in 1922? I like painted heads maybe just because they are not as hip as polished or as forged, but it makes a tool look tool like to me.

quinton · Jul 21, 2015

This Plumb looks to have had a reddish stain at one time, it had a black grip on the knob end of the handle for sure. This one also has a bronze coloration in non worn spots on the head.