Two Broad Axes and a Froe

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

Joined
Jan 27, 2008
Messages
2,010
I recently rescued these three pieces from my father-in-law's, barn on his ancestral farm in Pictou, Nova Scotia. George will tell you that these tools were used to build that barn in the 1860's(whether that is true....??). One axe head is a "lefty" the other is a "righty". Only the one axe head has a mark that I can find.

Ultimately, I'd like to give George a bit of info about these tools - manufacturer, date, etc.
If anyone can shed some light on these three tools it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter



This head has the mark:


The mark. Helps a lot, eh?




The froe:


Forge welded eye:


The barn, or what's left of it:


A look at some of the hand hewn beams with hatch marks for joinery assembly:
 
I've come across all kinds of intriguing stuff such as this in eastern Ontario over the past 30 years while poking around at old farmsteads and in abandoned pole barns, but without a stamp the collector and user desirability is low and these items go to auction (or for commercial salvage) for pennies on the dollar or for metal scrap value. Get out your wire wheel and try to find a stamp.
Everything hinges on this.
Axe on the left (based on profile) looks to be of British-origin (for ship building), though, and seeing as you're in (at one time remote) Cape Breton Island, is unlikely to have been 'made in USA' unless there was a Maine connection.
 
Those look pretty standard for New England/Maritime Canadian pattern broad axes. Very possibly could be the axes that hewn those beams. Many of my broad axes are not tapered in the eye and can be hung lefty or righty.
 
Thanks for the help folks.

The blades on both of the axes are skewed, one to the left, the other to the right. As well, the one intact handle is "bent" to the side at the shoulder.

-Peter
 
They are early - derived out of ship axes or masting axes. 1860 isn't a bad guess - plausible. I would try to keep them together, wit the froe, too.

I'd love to see more pics of the work in that barn.
 
P. McKinley said:
Thanks for the help folks.

The blades on both of the axes are skewed, one to the left, the other to the right. As well, the one intact handle is "bent" to the side at the shoulder.

-Peter
Click to expand...

A complete picture of the haft would be nice.
 
Square Peg - Here's a few shots of the haft taken with my phone(forgive the quality please). The haft is skewed to one side at the shoulder, and the blade is also skewed to the side. The haft not steam bent, or following the grain of a naturally bent piece of wood, but was carved to that shape. I suppose that could cause some issues with breakage, but this axe seems to have lasted well enough.

The farm sits along the shores of the Northumberland Straight just east of Pictou, N.S. and looking out towards PEI way off in the distance(we can see it on a clear day). The barn can be seen from miles out on the water and is still used by some local fisherman as a navigation aid. We have 67 acres of field and forest left from the original 230 acres that was deeded to my FIL's great uncle when he returned home after the War of 1812.

I don't have many shots of the barn timbers, but here are a few of the exterior and interior:

Taken from atop the field. You can make out the rusted steel roof of the barn to the right of the farmhouse, just below the horizon:








Lots of Barn Swallow nests:


The axe haft:




 
Last edited:
That's great! Thank you. how fortunate you are to have access to stuff like that. The wood in that barn is in much better shape than one would expect for it's age. I do hope you'll keep a roof on it.

Thanks for the photos of the haft. It's about what I expected.

Is that area drier than one would expect? Things are so well preserved.
 
Try putting a brass wire cup brush on an angle grinder and taking it to those axes. There might be some makers mark. It's also possible that they are one-off models made by a local smith back in the day. In any case they are amazing finds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top