Old Snow & Nealley Co. LL Bean 3 1/2Lb Single Bit Axe

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Dvh5000

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May 20, 2015
Messages
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I have used these forums in Google searches for a while but just registered today. I am hoping to get some information about when it may have been made.

It is a Snow and Nealley 3 1/2 lb single bit axe 28" handle and it came with an LL Bean leather sheath. Here are some pictures

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Tough to take pictures of it but there is a faint Bangor Maine etching, the Bangor is much more visible than the Maine to the naked eye.

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3 1/2 on the underside of the axe head.

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Hopefully all those photos loaded correctly.

Any information that you all could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Figured it out!

IMG_43891_zpsledtkvvb.jpg
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IMG_43901_zpstjznnfln.jpg
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Tough to take pictures of it but there is a faint Bangor Maine etching, the Bangor is much more visible than the Maine to the naked eye.



3 1/2 on the underside of the axe head.

IMG_43971_zps0dblha0y.jpg
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IMG_43991_zpsqcmrlt0y.jpg
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IMG_44051_zpsxo77vzq1.jpg
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This one is not very old and also may not have been made in USA. The handle looks to be flat at the back which is a cost saving measure that was adopted sometime in the mid 1990s.
 
I have to respectfully disagree on both of those assessments. Its a "Mid Maine" pattern thats either late 80s or early 90s from my experience, and definitely not a chinese axe. I have more than a few to compare it too.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll check the handle to see if its flat on the back when I get home from work. I wish I had some more information to share about the axe but I don't, however I was definitely working on the assumption that this was old enough to be entirely made in the USA.

Edit: I reached out to LL Bean hoping they might be able to help me track down an estimated year but haven't had any luck yet.
 
Yeah that is definitely a early 90's at the latest axe, probably earlier. And it is definitely usa made. Joe
 
Nice clean head. I am surprised by the handle. LLB is not cheap, and this axe probably sold when new for a nice premium. Nice sheath too, baffling to see such a crappy handle on that.
 
I would bet that is not an LL Bean axe, since those tend to be stamped with "LL Bean" and "Freeport".

Obviously not an old enough S&N to be a Maine pattern. I wonder when S&N stopped making the Maine pattern.
 
I saw this one for sale and it raised a couple questions. I have only seen sheaths like that with the Hudson bay 1 3/4 axes that are marked LL Bean. The earlier style has a leather strap and the newer (say 80's or so) have the red or green stretchy fabric like that....but the font of the LL Bean logo on the sheath is an older one so this makes me think it is from the earlier part of whenever LL bean started using that crappy stretchy strap, not the later part. It gets stretched out and makes the sheath pretty much unusable. I was not aware that LL bean was selling larger S&N marked axes but I suppose they certainly could have. I do not like that the sheath is marked LL bean but the axe is not. That seems a little strange to me and does not go along with what I am used to seeing with vintage LL bean stuff.The fact that the head is stamped and the Bangor ME is visible tells me that this is an older head as the newer ones were not stamped other than the weight. The head shape, the sheath and the handle shape say 80's to me but the fact that the head is stamped makes me think that it is likely one of the last ones stamped before they stopped doing that. It is without question a US made axe and made well before the China era. I am not convinced that the sheath is original to the axe or that it was sold by LL bean. Hopefully they will get back to you with some info.

The handle has a pretty good crack running down under the head which I am sure you are aware of.
 
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Steve Tall said:
I would bet that is not an LL Bean axe, since those tend to be stamped with "LL Bean" and "Freeport".

Obviously not an old enough S&N to be a Maine pattern. I wonder when S&N stopped making the Maine pattern.
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Wouldn't it be cool if someone started making them again? I'm surprised that nobody even offers it as part of their lineup. If I were to start small scale boutique production that is the first design that I would release.
 
jblyttle said:
Wouldn't it be cool if someone started making them again? I'm surprised that nobody even offers it as part of their lineup. If I were to start small scale boutique production that is the first design that I would release.
Click to expand...

Problem is how many of these could you possibly expect to sell (without taking a financial beating) when 99.9% of consumers/shoppers immediately buy the 1/4 price 'Mexican/Indian/Chinese' equivalent instead. Gransfors and Hulks caught on to this 25 years ago when they painfully realized they couldn't compete in the real world and decided to specialize in 'boutique-exotic' stuff that very few ordinary people could or would ever actually buy. But those 0.1% that do buy-in never baulk at any price! And that's also what seems to sell Lamborghini, Rolex, Holland&Holland, Swarovski, Learjet, Dom Perignon etc.
 
I appreciate all the replies and discussion on this. I definitely thought there was a possibility that the sheath was not original to the axe. The LL Bean part of the axe is more of a novelty than anything to me. The lack of the bean stamp on the head of the axe was definitely something I noticed as well.

The handle is in pretty bad shape but I bought it with intentions of removing and rehanging it. The lack of rust and mushrooming on the head was my main attraction, obviously working on the assumption this was a pre china S&N. So really I am just glad that there seems to be a pretty strong consensus that it is a USA made axe.
 
300Six said:
Problem is how many of these could you possibly expect to sell (without taking a financial beating) when 99.9% of consumers/shoppers immediately buy the 1/4 price 'Mexican/Indian/Chinese' equivalent instead. Gransfors and Hulks caught on to this 25 years ago when they painfully realized they couldn't compete in the real world and decided to specialize in 'boutique-exotic' stuff that very few ordinary people could or would ever actually buy. But those 0.1% that do buy-in never baulk at any price! And that's also what seems to sell Lamborghini, Rolex, Holland&Holland, Swarovski, Learjet, Dom Perignon etc.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I would think that it would be small scale, very niche and at least mid range priced. Any of the small production forges could turn these out one by one and sell the heads for $50-$80 apiece. I suppose they could even be made to order as long as the smith is going to be banging on the anvil anyway. Maybe I'm crazy, just daydreaming. There are still a ton of the old ones out there waiting to be found anyway.
 
Perhaps you had pre-conceived S&N stars in your eyes when you bought it and now you've come back down to earth! Get out a good file and sharpen'er up and then find a pile of wood to try it out on. This one won't appreciably depreciate if you do decide to do that! And if the steel turns out to be inferior.....
 
I told you all that I had reached out to LL Bean about this axe. Well, I received a reply yesterday morning.

Good Morning Mr.,

I have just received a reply from our Archive department. I am told it is one of "Our Best" Axes from around 1968. I have enclosed a photo from the catalog's page.

Enjoy the use of this axe.
Sincerely,

Jim
L.L.Bean Product Specialist
llbean.com

Here is the attachment.
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First off I felt I owed it to LL Bean to let people know how cool of a company they are to spend the time to dig that up for me. Secondly, I thought some of you might have something to say whether or not you believe that this is the axe in the catalog. All I know is that it has all the right specs/dimensions.

Thanks
 
That is great that they replied. I did not know they were selling S&N marked axes along with the L.L. Bean marked ones so that is good to know. I feel like the stretchy elastic would have been later than the 60's but I don't know. Sheaths that survive tend to stay with their axes I think so it could very well be original to the axe. I have picked up bits and pieces of L.L. Bean axe and hatchet info/history by going through the old catalogs. The catalogs are expensive to buy but you can often view pages like the one you posted when they are posted for sale. You can often pinpoint a year where changes were made to handle lengths, new items were added etc..

It would be wonderful if L.L. Bean would put together a book of all of the catalogs from the early years up to about 1970 or so. They really had some great stuff back in the day and the word "imported" probably could not be found.
 
If this is a bona fide S&N then good for you, But those cheezy flat slab handles came out in the mid 90s (some lo-bid USA handle maker made and supplied these) and many of the end product sellers used them. Bugged me no end that these were all there was to be had from about 1995 until recently (2013?).
 
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