Old Head I.D. for Show

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I ran across these guys recently. I didn't by them, but they had an *old* vibe to them. I thought I would post them up and see if anyone knew anything before I research them. Some pics for your viewing pleasure...

Left hand bevel hewing axe...curved and offset handle.



And a larger, double bevel hewing axe mounted on a scrap of wood.

 

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The Larger axe may be a Brady's Edged Tool Works axe, and the company was started in 1805 according to my google-fu, but I have no idea when they went away. I saw a reference to them in 1853, but that's all I can find.

Edit: It looks like they stopped making axes sometime in the late 1880s or so...or am I missing something?

https://books.google.com/books?id=0...#v=onepage&q=Brady's edged tool works&f=false

 

[garry3]

No I think you got it on the Brady axe. Not all of them have the forge welded poll, so both of those I think are pretty nice.
The little fatigue crack at the front of the ear seems to be common and I think not a problem. I would look at how much steel is left for the bit. That Brady might be already short of steel at the heal?

 

[SC T100]

Yeah it's possible. I didn't purchase them, but I thought they were cool either way. I don't run across many broad and hewing axes around here. I'm certain they got used quite a bit with age of the region, but maybe our climate turns them to rust balls more quickly than other areas, so they seem to be less common.