Scored this gem...

[strategy9]

Yesterday while walking around an antique mall with my gf, a came across this little "wheeler?"
No makers mark, gonna need a new handle, but for around $20 I love the condition of the kent styled head, and it came with a usable edge... deep in Amish country PA (and the other antiques it was buried with) I'm confident it's a good one that has seen plenty of use over the years.

 

[Hickory n steel]

A true double bevel Kent ?
You don't see those in this size very often at all.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

A true double bevel Kent ?
You don't see those in this size very often at all.

I wouldn't call that a Kent pattern. Just an American full hatchet or double bevel "broad hatchet". The Kent pattern is a specific UK pattern that is similar but a little different in its particulars. The lugs are more characteristically rear-biased and a little shallower, and the jawline and topline of the bit are closer to squared in their sweep, with a more pronounced shoulder.

 

[Square_peg]

It's a broad hatchet but it's unusual to find one double beveled. And that double bevel appears to be factory. I think that's H&S' point.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I wouldn't call that a Kent pattern. Just an American full hatchet or double bevel "broad hatchet". The Kent pattern is a specific UK pattern that is similar but a little different in its particulars. The lugs are more characteristically rear-biased and a little shallower, and the jawline and topline of the bit are closer to squared in their sweep, with a more pronounced shoulder.

You're completely right.

Thanks for posting this.
I've never heard of a wheelers axe, but the examples in this catalog are pretty cool looking.
Those lines are quite striking.

 

[Square_peg]

I think the pattern is at least derived from the Kent pattern. It's been Americanized.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Yes, it's one of the transitional American patterns, along with shipwright's/mast axes. I wouldn't personally call double-beveled broad hatchets rare, though--at least not here in New England. Broad hatchets in general aren't the most common thing in the world, but out of that total population (which I'd call "uncommon" rather than "rare") I'd say about a half of them here are double-bevel with the bit centered with the eye.

 

[Square_peg]

I almost never find double beveled broad hatchets on the west coast.

 

[strategy9]

I think the pattern is at least derived from the Kent pattern. It's been Americanized.

This was my thinking, hence the "?" with wheeler, and saying kent "styled". I agree with 42 that while it does resemble a Kent broad axe, it's certainly not a true kent, just a kent-styled... And again, being in the heart of amish country PA, (a lot of farm lands still to this day), the collection of other antiques from the same sellers initials that this was found in (mostly mid 1800's to early 1900's type of finds: tools, americana, etc), tons of German/Dutch heritage, and this entire area being built on former steel towns of yesteryear, (Cornwall iron furnace, Bethlehem steel), it would not surprise me at all, with no maker's mark, if this wasn't something actually made in house, or at least locally made 100+ years ago based on another known pattern, (ie. The kent)...

Idk for sure, no marks, no history to go with it, but again, the area's history and the lot it was found in, I wouldn't be surprised, but I do know that when I saw it, I just had to have it...