Older Unmarked Cast steel axe head questions…

U

UpandAdam

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Jan 21, 2021
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I’ve got a friend who I deal with through my business and he enjoys coming by and looking at axes. I’ve given him a few restored axes in the past and he showed up last week with a five gallon bucket that had 6 old rusty axe heads. He found a few buried in the ground at a clients home, one in an old barn near his property and two in a bucket at the scrap yard. They’re all single bit. Two are 4lb 5oz+(Jersey and Rockaway) the one I’m going to post pictures of is a 3lb 13oz Michigan. It has a piece of steel that is the backbone of the poll that is semi-exposed. It’s has 4 offset ridges in the eye but I’ve never seen ridges like these. They start at the bottom of the eye and run out about halfway through the eye. I know people sometimes grind these things down but that’s not the case here because I can see the way the steel is running with lines in it and it’s to uniform to have had a ridge removed. Anyone have any info on this axe head?

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What you're looking at there is a later period piece that was drop-forged and the flash from the impression dies wasn't removed in finish grinding. It is solid steel, and is neither possible meaning intended by the term "cast steel". That is to say the head was not made by casting, nor was the material used in forging the head "cast steel" as puddling-process cutlery-grade steels were known historically. The way the grooves peter out halfway through is likely just a forging artifact of the eye drifting process that were never cleaned up.
 
UpandAdam said:
I’ve got a friend who I deal with through my business and he enjoys coming by and looking at axes. I’ve given him a few restored axes in the past and he showed up last week with a five gallon bucket that had 6 old rusty axe heads. He found a few buried in the ground at a clients home, one in an old barn near his property and two in a bucket at the scrap yard. They’re all single bit. Two are 4lb 5oz+(Jersey and Rockaway) the one I’m going to post pictures of is a 3lb 13oz Michigan. It has a piece of steel that is the backbone of the poll that is semi-exposed. It’s has 4 offset ridges in the eye but I’ve never seen ridges like these. They start at the bottom of the eye and run out about halfway through the eye. I know people sometimes grind these things down but that’s not the case here because I can see the way the steel is running with lines in it and it’s to uniform to have had a ridge removed. Anyone have any info on this axe head?

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Peculiar example. High center line and characteristic late model drifted eye with grooves usually do not go together. I do not think it was made by METco. Thinking, bad quality Barco or very small chance of Council Tool (I believe Council bought some tools, forging dies when METco was liquidated)
Is there maker's mark on the poll? I think I can see some kind of stamp on the last picture.
 
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I think it might be an M but that picture somehow made it appear much more clear than it is. It was just the perfect angle+light. I did find a small L7 on the lower/middle part of the cheek.
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