The Collins "Hipster Edition"

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Nov 26, 2014
Messages
501
What happens when a hipster gets hold of a nice vintage Collins axe.

What anime-feature, fantasy-movie or video-game did they tap from their very recent childhood for their attempt at participating in the hipster-craft of "modding" this nice old tool? Note hole drilled through heel of handle for a leather thong, probably to hang it on the wall of their apartment so they could point it out to others in conversations about their "hawk"....

Apparently the grooves they cut into the original handle were stress-risers and let a nice split start in one of them which traveled almost to the heel of the handle. Electrical tape was their choice to make it as good as new again..... When I get time I will try to strip the "My Little-Pony" paint from it and epoxy the handle back together, then re-set it into the head.

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I get the impression this forum would mock a person for putting avocado on a sandwich. "Back in my day you had tomato and lettuce, not these millennial avocados".

This forum has a strange obsession with being annoyed about what people do with their own, in many ways, outdated possessions.
 
My guess is that a father made it for his daughter. Loaded it and her camping gear in the back of her Jeep.
Who knows, maybe she camps more prepared than most boys.
 
I get the impression this forum would mock a person for putting avocado on a sandwich. "Back in my day you had tomato and lettuce, not these millennial avocados".

This forum has a strange obsession with being annoyed about what people do with their own, in many ways, outdated possessions.

Accurate.
 
if you knife guys are having a bit of trouble wrapping your head around why we're mad, let's say that this was a benchmade or becker or some other quite nice knife. i know there's the they can do what they want defence, it may appear we're mad at them for doing that, in a sense we are but i think, we're more mad we gotta fix it.
i can't speak for all of us though
 
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I doubt a hipster did this. A can almost guarantee you it was just some average joe who felt compelled for one reason or another to paint it like that and genuinely thought the grooves were an improvement. But whatever--just put a new stick on it and it's all better.
 
if you knife guys are having a bit of trouble wrapping your head around why we're mad, let's say that this was a benchmade or becker or some other quite nice knife. i know there's the they can do what they want defence, it may appear we're mad at them for doing that, in a sense we are but i think, we're more mad we gotta fix it.
i can't speak for all of us though
Personally this stuff people do just makes me cringe. I'm not choosing to dislike what I see , I just cringe when I see it.
They can do whatever they want to with what belongs to them, but I don't have to like what I see when they put their " handywork " on display in a YouTube video... ect.

Now this axe in question, it's just some paint and a some carving on the handle so it doesn't bother me.
 
What happens when a hipster gets hold of a nice vintage Collins axe.

What anime-feature, fantasy-movie or video-game did they tap from their very recent childhood for their attempt at participating in the hipster-craft of "modding" this nice old tool? Note hole drilled through heel of handle for a leather thong, probably to hang it on the wall of their apartment so they could point it out to others in conversations about their "hawk"....

Apparently the grooves they cut into the original handle were stress-risers and let a nice split start in one of them which traveled almost to the heel of the handle. Electrical tape was their choice to make it as good as new again..... When I get time I will try to strip the "My Little-Pony" paint from it and epoxy the handle back together, then re-set it into the head.

35487912_1750625815028291_4041849170846285824_n.jpg


35486003_1750625781694961_8418697501493690368_n.jpg


35545494_1750625881694951_2636688793905659904_n.jpg


35496541_1750625808361625_7394152943026438144_n.jpg
Those carvings would, probably, be OK on short handle hatchet. It amazes me how easy it is to cross thin line and end up with busted tool. Thanks you for the pics.
 
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I was pulled into "this forum" about a year ago when my son found an axe head buried here in the yard.
I was already a minor collector of plumbing and mechanical/tradesman hand tools so when the axe bug bit...the fall was not hard, and easy to include crosscuts and most other lumber industry tools.
The draw for me to the forum was the overall appeal that the general community holds.

Appreciating traditional tools, their traditional uses, and many times their resurrection.

Some of these great vintage "out dated posessions" are resurrected and have sentimental value and resurrecting back to a near original state is part of what this community is about. I like to consider myself a using collector. If its hung, it's in service.

I read a lot of the past threads and posts prior to joining, to learn what I could, to know what to expect.

What I found was a community, wealthy with knowledge, experience, advice, and willing to share it, all while being open minded and respectful even when disagreeing and or stating opinions or advice. Yes there are always bad apples, but not the whole barrel.
We may not all agree but respect is still the common thread here...as far as I see it.

I tend to get long jawed but i appreciate this community on the whole and felt I needed to express my appreciation.

Thank you

Now lets get back to hanging axes, sharpening crosscuts and oogling all vintage beauty's!:cool:
 
That axe looks very much like what I've seen a lot of loggers use, for a falling axe.

A lot of bright paint, red, pink, orange or other flourescent.

Grooves, tape, not really that sharp and you see it in the back of the pickup in all kinds of weather.

Most fallers Ive worked with aren't necessarily very good with an axe, especially the finer points of hanging, sharpening and maintaining them for chopping.
But they aren't hipsters, and they need it more than a lot of the folks on this forum Id say. In other words, it's all good!

Besides it was just a Collins:p
 
That axe looks very much like what I've seen a lot of loggers use, for a falling axe.

A lot of bright paint, red, pink, orange or other flourescent.

Grooves, tape, not really that sharp and you see it in the back of the pickup in all kinds of weather.

Most fallers Ive worked with aren't necessarily very good with an axe, especially the finer points of hanging, sharpening and maintaining them for chopping.
But they aren't hipsters, and they need it more than a lot of the folks on this forum Id say. In other words, it's all good!

Besides it was just a Collins:p

Yeah, just your everyday dime a dozen legitimus Michigan;);)
You definitely see these everyday :D
 
This forum has a strange obsession with being annoyed about what people do with their own, in many ways, outdated possessions.

Anyone else think an axe is outdated??? Maybe to those who do not have a practical use for it, or do not know how to use one?

No real logger would put grooves in the handle of an axe like this because from experience they would know that it would exponentially create grain run-outs on the handle and exponentially increase the chance of it splintering, as this handle did. So whoever did this to this axe was ignorant.

This was a Collins Legitimus with an unusually short handle, it's original handle. That makes it a part of axe history worth preserving as-is in my book. But the person who grooved the handle and destroyed the original finish and patina of it was either ignorant of this or did not care because they were more important than history and the artifact.

So yes this does need to be criticized, just as protecting the ignorant and self-absorbed does. I have no problem with a knowledgeable person modifying their tools for a good reason, but that is not the case here where someone took a great vintage axe and destroyed it. even if I glue the large split back together, there are so many run-outs from the grooves that it will just keep splitting over and over again.
 
Anyone else think an axe is outdated??? Maybe to those who do not have a practical use for it, or do not know how to use one?

No real logger would put grooves in the handle of an axe like this because from experience they would know that it would exponentially create grain run-outs on the handle and exponentially increase the chance of it splintering, as this handle did. So whoever did this to this axe was ignorant.

This was a Collins Legitimus with an unusually short handle, it's original handle. That makes it a part of axe history worth preserving as-is in my book. But the person who grooved the handle and destroyed the original finish and patina of it was either ignorant of this or did not care because they were more important than history and the artifact.

So yes this does need to be criticized, just as protecting the ignorant and self-absorbed does. I have no problem with a knowledgeable person modifying their tools for a good reason, but that is not the case here where someone took a great vintage axe and destroyed it. even if I glue the large split back together, there are so many run-outs from the grooves that it will just keep splitting over and over again.

I have seen real loggers do often. It's not a great idea, for the reasons you stated.
That does not mean real west coast loggers, who I grew up with, was raised by, and am very familiar with, did not ever do it.
 
That axe looks very much like what I've seen a lot of loggers use, for a falling axe.

A lot of bright paint, red, pink, orange or other flourescent.

Grooves, tape, not really that sharp and you see it in the back of the pickup in all kinds of weather.

Most fallers Ive worked with aren't necessarily very good with an axe, especially the finer points of hanging, sharpening and maintaining them for chopping.
But they aren't hipsters, and they need it more than a lot of the folks on this forum Id say. In other words, it's all good!

Besides it was just a Collins:p

I occasionally find double bits with that done to the handle - coming out of places where hipsters didn't exist. Loggers did though.
WnfqTCM.jpg
 
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