True Temper E3 mark

[Leviathan Arms]

New to axe collecting acquired a cheap True Temper Axe at a second hand store and noticed an E3 stamp on one side. Anyone know what the mark means? Thanks!

 

[Square_peg]

Just a production mark. Nice axe. It’s in pretty good shape and will make a fine user.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Yup. Just a mark to indicate it was part of a particular run. To the best of my knowledge we have no records of what the individual marks mean, and they likely weren't even written down so much as used as temporary identifiers to sort out who what was for out of their clients list.

 

[Leviathan Arms]

Sandpaper, a whet stone, a whole lotta elbow grease, and a touch of gun oil later it’s looking a little less shabby. Honestly making something beat up look good again is a wholesome feeling lol! Just to satisfy my curiosity what’s a good way to figure out approximate year of manufacture? Probably not that old but it’s an itch I want to scratch.

 

[KentuckyBlackBird]

Did it have ridges in the eye?

 

[Leviathan Arms]

Did it have ridges in the eye?

It doesn’t appear to but I can’t be sure.

 

[KentuckyBlackBird]

View attachment 3154921
It doesn’t appear to but I can’t be sure.

Pretty sure it doesn’t. There is a good chance that it is pre-1959. Ridges were patented around 57/58.

 

[rjdankert]

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3090653A/en

Bob