Unmarked Kelly Jersey

gben · Sep 3, 2015

Hi all,

I put up photos of this head a while ago with an old handle I had. Today I found a True-Temper catalog from the mid-60s and it shows photos of the Flint Edge and Kelly Woodslasher axe lines and the paragraph for both lines says "Six biting forged-steel ridges inside the eye of this head grip the handle securely.".

It also shows the Jersey and Kentucky patterns available in either line. Also shown are photos of the Perfect line of axes. It shows the Perfect line being marked with stamping, but the Flint-Edge and Kelly Woodslasher line marked with only labels.

So if you find an unmarked axe head with these six ridges inside, you may be able to tell exactly what it is if there is a trace of the original paint left....

The differences in the Flint Edge and Woodslasher look to be in the color of the paint, black for Flint Edge and red for Woodslasher. The perfect has a hardened poll which is not listed for the other two lines.

cityofthesouth · Sep 3, 2015

Nice find - pretty much definitive evidence there. Makes sense that the Woodslasher was red, since we see lots of heads stamped Flint Edge ... of course maybe that changed at some point. Was there any indication of the year for that page?

SC T100 · Sep 4, 2015

Thanks for the great info! That should certainly clear a few thing sup for some folks.

Now I'm wondering who made my thin-bit Jersey and my old double bit, because the double had two wider-spaced ridges on one side and two narrow-spaced ridges on the other (instead of the six specified above). The single bit had four ridges per side. I had assumed the double was a TT, but maybe not. I still have no idea who made my other 8-ridge, super-thin bit head.

gben · Sep 4, 2015

cityofthesouth said:
Was there any indication of the year for that page?

It is part of a page of a True Temper catalog I found that is dated 1-67. Weird thing is I had the catalog for years but forgot about it until I did some cleaning. I am an old senile man.

Steve Tall · Sep 4, 2015

gben said:
...The perfect has a hardened poll which is not listed for the other two lines. ...[/IMG]

Interesting that the Kelly Perfect had a hardened poll. Could you post a photo of the page where that is listed?

rockman0 · Sep 4, 2015

Not trying to hi-jack your thread gben but I got this in the mail yesterday. Somebody gave it a vinegar bath before I got it. I haven't had a chance to test the poll with a file but it looks hardened. Makes me wonder if some of the polls were hardened but to a lower RC than the bit.

You can't see it in the picture but in hand you can see just under "Perfect" is "Kelly Works"
I have another TT marked "Kelly Perfect" it's not a Jersey and the poll is not hardened.

markv · Sep 4, 2015

real nice bit

buzz

Square_peg · Sep 4, 2015

gben said:
The differences in the Flint Edge and Woodslasher look to be in the color of the paint, black for Flint Edge and red for Woodslasher.

I've found a black Woodslasher with the original label over black paint.

Square_peg · Sep 4, 2015

SC T100 said:
Now I'm wondering who made my thin-bit Jersey and my old double bit, because the double had two wider-spaced ridges on one side and two narrow-spaced ridges on the other (instead of the six specified above). The single bit had four ridges per side. I had assumed the double was a TT, but maybe not. I still have no idea who made my other 8-ridge, super-thin bit head.

I've seen axes with two ridges on each side, with two on one side three on the other, and with three on each side. But I've never seen four on one side. I'd like to see a picture of that.

Besides Kelly/True Temper I've seen Collins and Stiletto axes with ridges - though the Stiletto may have been made by TT. Some Stiletto ridge-eyes were certainly made by TT. And it seems like I've seen another maker with ridges but the name slips my mind right now.

Square_peg · Sep 4, 2015

rockman0 said:
Not trying to hi-jack your thread gben but I got this in the mail yesterday. Somebody gave it a vinegar bath before I got it. I haven't had a chance to test the poll with a file but it looks hardened. Makes me wonder if some of the polls were hardened but to a lower RC than the bit.

You can't see it in the picture but in hand you can see just under "Perfect" is "Kelly Works"
I have another TT marked "Kelly Perfect" it's not a Jersey and the poll is not hardened.

That was hardened and then surface tempered to prevent chipping. Major kudos to Kelly for that fine work.

Steve Tall · Sep 5, 2015

I found this post with a page from a 1930 catalog listing a hardened poll for "Kelly's Perfect" axe (this one's a Michigan pattern):

Operator1975 said:
Sorry, but forgot to also post about how Kelly made other lines, such as Keen Kutter and Belknap, and then also sold their own lines in Keen Kutter catalogs, and other hardware catalogs such as :

These two are from a 1930 Keen Kutter Catalog :

And then from a 1951 Jensen and Byrd catalog :

...

Square_peg · Sep 5, 2015

Great detective work again, Steve.

SC T100 · Sep 8, 2015

Square_peg said:
I'd like to see a picture of that.

Unfortunately I don;t have a good one, and this is the best I have. It really doesn't sow anything unfortunately. The head is a little beat up on top, so it obscures the ridges. I do remember them being somewhat low and flat through...not narrow and sharp like my double bit was.