Very cool old axe making vid

NSBchef

NSBchef

Joined
Apr 5, 2003
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Found this old short film from the mid 60’s, which profiles an long gone axe making outfit up in Maine, on All Outdoor. I apologize if it has already been posted, I did a search and didn’t see anything appearing to be it. I think it is so cool to see the old rustic tools of the trade in use, and see true craftsmanship void of any precision measuring tools, CAD, lasers, robotic arms and the like that are used in post 80’s manufacturing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 
Hasn't been posted here for at least 48 hours! ;)

It's been a very popular video here and with good reason.
 
I'm pleasantly surprised that this film vignette is increasingly getting more air time. The unsung gentleman that composed and created it in 1964/65 deserves international recognition for having had the foresight to 1) choose the topic 2) film the events in a journalistic manner and 3) competently edit the footage and add professional narration.
By the mid 60s long time reputable and respected Emerson & Stevens had become symptomatic of many other dying businesses within a proud, talented and diverse American industry and it is our good fortune that someone elected to capture this (albeit a 'small slice' of that whole era) on film and record it for posterity.
 
So, glad this recording was preserved. I watched it several times. I don't have an axe with the insert welded edge. Thanks, DM
 
David Martin said:
So, glad this recording was preserved. I watched it several times. I don't have an axe with the insert welded edge. Thanks, DM
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It very much surprised me that E & S was still doing things 'the old-fashioned way' in the 1960s. They must have been one of the very last. Current 'boutique' Swede jobbies don't even feature this sort of procedure. Manufacturers such as Lafayette Plumb had converted over to using homogeneous steel already at the tail end of the 19th century. Any time you introduce a labour and time saving procedure you stand to profit from it. Affordable (and readily available) steel spawned an industrial revolution in the late 1800s and yet E & S continued about their business oblivious to what was going on around them.
 
It looked like they could make a axe head in 5-6 mins.. Add a little for the handle and you have a very quality tool. Sad these craftsman are gone. DM
 
David Martin said:
It looked like they could make a axe head in 5-6 mins.. Add a little for the handle and you have a very quality tool. Sad these craftsman are gone. DM
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I agree. Seems like the writing was already on the wall, at the time of the film, since there were no apprentices and one of the forgers was leaving for a job pushing a broom at double the wages.

5 minutes per head is 12 heads per hour, or about 100 per 8-hour shift. Compare this to Walters Axe, which at the time of the film was drop-forging 1,000 axes per day, with only 3 guys on the heating/forging crew, and they would routinely finish their 1,000 axe head quota by 1:30 or 2:00 pm (according to an earlier thread). Even at this higher productivity, Walters closed down about 8 years after this Emerson & Stevens video was filmed, because they "couldn't compete with imports..." (said the former Vice President of Walters).
 
I don't understand why people want cheap.?
Those who watched the film,-- the salt bath Barrett did was like a cryo treatment? Thanks, DM
 
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David Martin said:
It looked like they could make a axe head in 5-6 mins.. Add a little for the handle and you have a very quality tool. Sad these craftsman are gone. DM
Click to expand...
That film was edited for length and didn't follow every moment in the making of one head. "As a young boy (born in 1868) Morley Walters learned to forge axes, and once told a reporter, that in those days 15 axes per day was considered a good day's work". (from Chronicle of early American Industries Assoc Vol 40 #4 Dec 1987).
 
David Martin said:
Numbers should have improved by 1965. Their finished product sure looked handsome. DM
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I doubt it. The E & S operation featured nothing progressive to differentiate it from a 75-100 year earlier axe-making facility, unless drop hammers were a rare commodity in the older shops.
 
Every time I see that film have to laugh at its cheezy dubbed sound effects.
Sounds like the guy made sounds from banging on pots & pans & his kitchen table
 
David Martin said:
I don't understand why people want cheap.?
Those who watched the film,-- the salt bath Barrett did was like a cryo treatment? Thanks, DM
Click to expand...
It's a brine quench. Brine is a more even and uniform quench than plain water. The salt breaks up the vapor jacket that forms around hot steel when it's submerged in liquid. Its also a very fast quench.
 
I noticed he just swished it a little in the salt bath. And not all of the axe, just the cutting edge and some face. DM
 
DM,good for you to pay attention to such details.
Unfortunately,in the nature of filmmaking often not all of the processes are seen.
But,chances are,that the man quenches the edge-steel only(the rest of the axe is not hardenable alloy anyway).
He does it quickly because it's all it takes,And it leaves him enough residual heat in the rest of the forging to accomplish a so-called "auto-tempering",aka "blacksmith's tempering".
That guy is Good at what he does,and uses a method that Works for him,the alloy,and his entire set-up and process.
So it sets up one of them "don't try it at home" situations!:)
 
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