The end of an era, Walters Axe Co. Canada

"Although Walters can wax nostalgic - "They were lumberjacks in those days with their 14-pound axes. They could fell a tree so you wouldn't see an axe mark. ... "

From The Montreal Gazette, Aug 7, 1965
"Axe-Maker to the World"
 
Steve Tall said:
"Although Walters can wax nostalgic - "They were lumberjacks in those days with their 14-pound axes. They could fell a tree so you wouldn't see an axe mark. ... "

From The Montreal Gazette, Aug 7, 1965
"Axe-Maker to the World"
Click to expand...

Could you imagine swinging a 14 axe all day? Especially side ways for felling? That had to be one big tough SOB, and I mean that affectionately.
 
I have a book written in the 1830s here in Ontario that talks about clearing White Pine that were so big and so close together that there wasn't swing room for a man with an axe..

R
 
IMG_7330sagebabygroup.jpg


This big baby is 8# with a 10 inch head- thats an axe twice this size- huge!
 
What I want to know is where the heck did they go? Never seen anything that big in my (short) time collecting. Any chance they were confusing fallers with hewers? A broad axe could approach that size but I have trouble believing fallers ever used anything that big. I can barely heft a 5 pounder myself :p
 
I was in the antiques business for many years as a picker and dealer, saw many axes but never a 16 pound felling axe, not even a 16 pound broad axe. Could be an old timey tale;-)

Regards

Robin
 
Steve Tall said:
"Although Walters can wax nostalgic - "They were lumberjacks in those days with their 14-pound axes. They could fell a tree so you wouldn't see an axe mark. ... "

From The Montreal Gazette, Aug 7, 1965
"Axe-Maker to the World"
Click to expand...

My guess is that Mr. Walters was talking about big broad axes, maybe having a "senior moment", perhaps exaggerating a bit, and probably mis-quoted by the reporter. When he talks about how "you wouldn't see an axe mark", this could be about hewing a log instead of felling a tree.
 
I have a 6 lb SB Douglas, which to me is a true beast. A double bit 12 or 14 pounder would be immense.

I have listed a 9 lb broad axe in my Collins catalog, and a 11 lb broad axe in my AG Peck catalog. However in the Peck catalog it states they would make any axe to any weight as desired. Collins also lists many SB up to 7 lbs.

My old man has all my other reading material. I will check it out this weekend, if I can get it back from him. Probably have to trade an axe for it.
 
When Canadian Museum of Science and Technology first opened it's doors in Ottawa in the early 1970s there was a display board over the entrance that had brand new examples of all of Walter's line of axes. I've always wondered what happened to those. Of course Leonard Lee (of Lee Valley Tools) also has in his collection a complete set of new Walters axes and briefly put them on display at the Ottawa store in around the late 1980s.
Perhaps he got them?
 
The largest broadaxes were found in that area to hew the white pine (source: Axe Making in Ontario in the Settlement Period by Gary E. French). Found this broadaxe west of Ottawa. Right now I'm making an offset handle for this beast - will post pics when finished. Bathroom scale puts this one at 10.5 pounds and would take that measurement with a grain of salt...

 
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