The end of an era, Walters Axe Co. Canada

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Pipeman

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Dec 2, 2004
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A friend dropped in the other day, an old axe man from way back. He was telling me about how he had met Morley Walters just before he died at 98 years old I think. He was running the company till the late 60s and was 96 when it closed after 115 years continuous axe production. Anyway, old Morley gave my friend this double bit axe from the final run at Walters. I'm cleaning up the edges a bit, pretty much unused but has been hanging in a garage since the late 60s. It seems like a softwood feller to me and is a light head, I think maybe 2.5 pounder. Cuts like a champion, hard edges, has a monster helve on it for the weight, 37 inches from the top of the head to the butt. Enjoy. Oh ya, it had a paper label that fell off years ago, a Black Diamond.

Best regards

Robin

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Nice piece. Heck of a company, no doubt. Good story too. Those old timers, now they were some workin SOBs.

I do not own any Walters, yet.
 
Nice story, I love hearing things about Walters. Seems that there is barely any info on them out on the web, and where I live I see more Walter axes than anything else.
 
Below is a cut and paste from the url below it. The second url is from yesteryeartool site about Walters. The third url is from the British Columbia forestry dept. The axe stuff starts around page 5ish, interesting read.


The Walters Axe Company in Hull, founded in the 1850s, was in continuous operation, passed from father to son for over one hundred and fifteen years. Morley, son of Henry Walters, inherited the business and was still running it at the age of 96 when it shut down in the early 1970s. The closing of the Walters plant signalled the end of the one-time flourishing axe industry in the Ottawa-Hull area.
http://outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article/when-axe-was-king
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Walters Axe Co..html


Here is a very interesting document that mentions many axe companies including Walters.
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/Library/Forest_History_Newsletter/49.pdf

Best regards

Robin
 
Interesting stuff, Pipeman. Thanks for posting. Don't you wish you could go back in time and see it all for yourself!?

Thanks again, Robin.
 
Never heard of Walters axes before. Great looking axe and a very interesting story. Thanks for the education.

Howard
 
Very nice! The Black Diamond was supposedly Walter's best.

From The Montreal Gazette, Aug 17, 1973:
"Axe Falls on Old Firm"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RxQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3qEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6140%2C302748

From The Montreal Gazette, Aug 7, 1965
"Axe-Maker to the World"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XYY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=n58FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4749%2C1186543
(you'll need to use the Zoom-Out key above the article to shrink it before reading it.)

From St. Joseph News-Press, Oct 10, 1965
"Still Grinding Axes"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nAhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FTkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3618%2C1955211

From Ottawa Citizen, April 22, 1969
"President of Hull Firm Dies at 96"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mKIyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ce0FAAAAIBAJ&dq=walters&pg=6073%2C1377520
 
Steve, I have an image of you sitting in a library, peering over an old microfiche researching "axe lore." ;)
 
Wow great reads. Thanks for sharing.

I did find it interesting in the one article it stated that they commonly supplied handles with yellow painted non slip ends on them for easy finding in the brush and snow.

And then there was the part about the axe heads being put in molten lead.....I bet that was a good time.

Thanks!
 
M3mphis said:
Steve, I have an image of you sitting in a library, peering over an old microfiche researching "axe lore." ;)
Click to expand...

Sometimes if I'm interested I'll see what I can find in 5 minutes of online searching. Usually with Google: Books, Images, and News Archives

The "Axe-Maker to the World" article, linked above, has a bunch of photos including a coffee pot percolating by sitting on top of a hot axe head (how they made coffee at the Walters factory).
 
I picked up a Walter's boy's axe head off e-bay a couple of years ago and put a handle on it. Pretty steep grind on the edge but it makes a good kindling splitter.
 
One of my favorite manufacturers.. I have 3. Good steel that files nice and holds a good edge.

OP, I think it said he was swinging a 14 pound sledge. 14 pound axe would be quite something!
 
Operator, is this the part you are thinking of?:

"The broad axe resembled a medieval headsman’s weapon. It weighed twelve pounds and its twelve-inch blade was bevelled like a chisel and always maintained razor-sharp. It was used only for applying the fine and even finish to the logs." Quoted from: http://outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article/when-axe-was-king

A twelve pound broad axe is a beast for sure, but it seems like it would be more of a lift and drop motion when hewing with a beast like that.
 
G-pig said:
One of my favorite manufacturers.. I have 3. Good steel that files nice and holds a good edge.

OP, I think it said he was swinging a 14 pound sledge. 14 pound axe would be quite something!
Click to expand...

M3mphis said:
Operator, is this the part you are thinking of?:

"The broad axe resembled a medieval headsman’s weapon. It weighed twelve pounds and its twelve-inch blade was bevelled like a chisel and always maintained razor-sharp. It was used only for applying the fine and even finish to the logs." Quoted from: http://outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article/when-axe-was-king

A twelve pound broad axe is a beast for sure, but it seems like it would be more of a lift and drop motion when hewing with a beast like that.
Click to expand...

No the article clearly says 14 lb axes used by lumberjacks.
 
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