Olld SpillerAxe

Mossyhorn

Mossyhorn

Enlightened Rogue
BANNED
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Messages
34,252
I picked up this old Spiller axe at a thrift shop a few weeks ago. The head was covered in rust and the marking was impossible to read. I soaked it in vinegar for about a week. A good deal of the rust came off, but a lot remains. I didn't try to clean it up any further. It has some small cracks on the top and bottom of the blade near the edge. Someone apparently thinned the edge during it's history. You can feel the step on the cheeks. The vinegar soak made that area turn dark gray. The handle is cracked and missing the wedge. The total weight is about 4 1/4 lbs. The width of the head is 6 1/2" and the blade measures 4 1/2".

It looks like it's more of a wall hanger for an axe collection to me. I don't know if it's suitable for use. The pictures should sum up the condition. I hope you find them interesting.
pillar8.jpg

pillar1.jpg

pillar4.jpg

pillar5.jpg

pillar7.jpg
 
Last edited:
Age has not been kind to this old axe. "That's for sure".
 
You're right. I didn't look close enough at the stamp. I'll edit the thread. Thanks.
 
mossyhorn said:
......It has some small cracks on the top and bottom of the blade near the edge.
Click to expand...

Those aren't cracks. That's the forge weld. This axe is an old axe made with a mild or low carbon steel body with a high carbon bit forge welded into it.

mossyhorn said:
The vinegar soak made that area turn dark gray.
Click to expand...

That's the hardened part of the axe. It turns grey or black in a vinegar soak. I think you've got a nice axe there. Sharpen it up and re-hang it. It'll last for years. Just take it easy with the poll - it's not a sledge hammer. It's unquestionably a better axe than any thing you'll find down at the hardware store. Nice score! :thumbup:
 
That old girl has been to hell and back. If she were mine I'd definitely show her some respect by a light face-lift. rub in some oil and sink her into some easy wood now and again.

Looks like she's been lying low for a long time. She's a bloody beauty mate.

regards...Frank
 
mossyhorn said:
You're right. I didn't look close enough at the stamp. I'll edit the thread. Thanks.
Click to expand...
your welcome;)

its hard to tell how old that thing is, but i would guess that its from the 1800's, but i could be wrong...
what do you think pegs? due to the bit weld it very well could be...

the spiller started making axes under his own name in 1820... that could be a real treasure IMO...

they were apparently of very high quality and highly regarded...
 
Last edited:
Wow.... clean 'er up and hang it! Everyone else is right, you'll never see an axe as good quality as that.
 
bearhunter said:
.... i would guess that its from the 1800's, but i could be wrong...
what do you think pegs? due to the bit weld it very well could be...

the spiller started making axes under his own name in 1820... that could be a real treasure IMO...

they were apparently of very high quaility and highly regarded...
Click to expand...

By the turn of the century high carbon steel was cheap enough to produce that most manufacturers would just make the whole tool out of it and forego having to forge weld a bit in. So I think you're right that this is an old axe. But I don't know exactly when industry made the switch. Maybe someone with a copy of 'Axe Makers of North America' can shed some more light on that.

The other thing is that blacksmiths continued to make repairs on axes and picks by adding new steel to worn out tools. That practice went on well into the 20th century. I've spoken to one blacksmith who used to make such repairs himself. So there's always the chance that the forge welded bit is a repair and not original equipment.
 
ive got 'axe makers of north america' and 'american' axes. i know ive read when the industry made the switch, but i cant excatly remember. i'll look it up later and post what i find out tomarrow...
 
Thanks for all the info. Even in the condition it's in, it's still feels sharp on the cutting edge.
 
bearhunter said:
ive got 'axe makers of north america' and 'american' axes. i know ive read when the industry made the switch, but i cant excatly remember. i'll look it up later and post what i find out tomarrow...
Click to expand...

I'm a little fuzzy on Kauffman in American Axes. He seems to tie the demise of the two-part axe head to the advent of drop-forging, and to identify trip-hammers with two-part head manufacture. Apparently small operators stuck with the trip-hammers at least until the 1950s.
Carl Russell, in Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men, p 259, says "Since the 1930s improved methods of fabrication have done away with the 'two-piece ax'; the modern axe is made from one solid chunk of high-carbon steel".
 
Last edited:
There do appear to be some small cracks in the top and bottom of the steel area near the edge. I've never seen that.
The big line between the iron and steel overcoat is wavier than on my Peavey, maybe a blacksmith's repair?
I'm wondering if the difference in welding heat and/or cooling rate between iron and steel might have caused those little vertical cracks? Pure speculation.
Maybe I'll try an oil-quench on mine instead of brine.
 
I think the waviness is pretty typical. It's just accented by uneven corrosion. When this axe was new that would have appeared seamless.
 
Is it advisable to carefully clean it up a bit and re-hang or is it best to avoid even attempting to use it?
 
Its an axe, my opinion is that it needs to be used. This one should be relegated to light duty though and using to tell tall tales of the ol' days, but some derusting, a snug but not over tight handle, and some filing of the poll (?) definitely appears to be in order.
 
scrteened porch said:
I'm a little fuzzy on Kauffman in American Axes. He seems to tie the demise of the two-part axe head to the advent of drop-forging, and to identify trip-hammers with two-part head manufacture. Apparently small operators stuck with the trip-hammers at least until the 1950s.
Carl Russell, in Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men, p 259, says "Since the 1930s improved methods of fabrication have done away with the 'two-piece ax'; the modern axe is made from one solid chunk of high-carbon steel".
Click to expand...

There is so much variation in timelines for axe manufacture, and an incredible lack of source material. Kelly appears to have been casting axes of uniform steel by the 1890s. Their die patent makes mention of dies by other competitors that work in the same fashion. Although, a similar patent from the same year appears to be a die for casting only the poll end of the head, with the steel bit ostensibly being added later. But Kelly was a sizable operation and well disposed to manufacturing innovations. Smaller manufacturers may have well been creating axes using older methods in the same timeframe.

Collins was using axe 'machines' by 1847. These were powered by water wheels, but were neither drop hammers nor trip hammers technically. A single machine trimmed a bar of wrought iron, molded the iron into the axe pattern using a series of dies, and punched out the eye. The axe was then sent to blacksmiths to weld in steel bits.

For a cool look at manufacturing innovations at the Collins & Co. factory, pick up "Ingenious Yankees, The Rise of the American System of Manufacturers in the Private Sector." Collins is only one chapter, but it's pretty cool.
 
Nickzdon, thanks for the "Ingenious Yankees" cite- I'll have to find that.

As you say, a pretty murky past. The Connecticut Quarterly 1896 says that there's no question but that the insert method is better than the overcoat method of steeling (Collins would agree, Mann would protest), but they don't mention the all-steel option, and I'm pretty sure that cast steel was around earlier than that.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top