Please help me idenity and pass on any historical knowledge

J

JonathanCharles

Joined
Dec 31, 2014
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77
Hey BF friends!

A few months ago my uncle lent me an axe that he said had belonged to his uncle. Apparently it is a boyscout axe and my uncle asked me to find out some history on it. After looking at it I told him I'd dig up some info on it and restore the sweet little thing. Do you recognize the axe? Is it standard issue? Is it from a specific boyscout geographical location? Was is a reward for getting specific badges? etc etc. The axe is 24 1/2 "

The hatchet I just got this past weekend from my flea market and I was wondering if you know the markings. It looks like it says, "AmericanaV". I am tempted to read "American AX" but the lower half of the theoretical "X" isn't stamped and proportionally, if the lower half had worn away, the "X" would be far too large. The hatchet is 14"

http://imgur.com/a/bfcQB

Thanks a million,

Jonny
 
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Official Boy Scout choppers (and most, if not all, of these are hatchets) are stamped as such on the head. What you've got there is either an entire Plumb-made boy's axe of a production model called "Scout", or a replacement handle that the maker chose to name Scout rather than Boy's, Handiman, Trapper, Hunter or something else.
 
It's an AmericanAx, as shown here:

Operator1975 said:
AmeicanAx Co is one of my favorite axe companies of the past. A consolidation of 16~17 axes companies bent on domination of the marketplace. Soon as it started though, in house bickering began, and members started to pull out, most notably the Mann family. Ended in 1921 when Kelly bought them out and became the largest axe maker in the world. Kelly continued to use the AmericanAx logo/imprint into the 1930s to maintain those loyal customers.

What you will find from them is good overall quality. I have never had my hands on one that was substandard in anyway.

If it is an old original placed away for you to have one day down the road, that is awesome. I am sure it will be a great user. Here are some pics of some of mine -
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AmericanAx was an attempt to consolidate the axe market, but alas it failed because it was just too big, and too many hands in the pot, so to speak. It was a good idea on paper but not in real life. What is really hard to wrap your brain around is, so there was the original 16 or so companies, all with their own imprints, logos, trademarks, etc. These all come under one roof now with the AmericanAx consolidation. Names such as Amoskeag, Robert Mann, Thomas Mann, Romer, Ten and Eyck are all now being produced by AmericanAx. The lines included Red Warrior, Underhill, Bloods, Peerless, Lippincott, Climax, and many others. Then the Manns leave and use their own names again. Then Kelly buys out AmericanAx, now technically they own the rights to all those names - such as Red Warrior which you see a lot of in Kelly, was originally a Mann name, then an AmericanAx name, then a Kelly name. Good times. Good times.
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300Six said:
Official Boy Scout choppers (and most, if not all, of these are hatchets) are stamped as such on the head. What you've got there is either an entire Plumb-made boy's axe of a production model called "Scout", or a replacement handle that the maker chose to name Scout rather than Boy's, Handiman, Trapper, Hunter or something else.
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Thanks 300Six! From Steve Tall's post it looks like the axe is a Plumb Super Scout!

Steve Tall said:
The other one looks like the Plumb Super Scout that's shown in this Boys' Life magazine from Feb 1959:

https://books.google.com/books?id=nmdgBqIdE3IC&lpg=PA50&ots=UxQF6yPddc&dq=plumb%20superscout&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false

The "Official Scout Axe" designation is shown on a label and on the packaging.
Click to expand...

Damn Steve Tall! Thanks for throwing light on both axes! I really appreciate you finding that old advertisement! Have a great day!

Thanks,
Jonny
 
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