Welland Vale "Our Best" 2 1/4 (Pics)

R

Remzy

Joined
Feb 7, 2015
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373
Hello folks, just wanted to show one of my latest find and rehang an NOS welland vale "our best" 2 1/4 head made in Montreal with original paint and label (good luck finding one!).

I was the first to sharpen it and it took me about 2 minute to get it done, which was quite unusualy short as the geometry was perfect and unadultrated.

Made a custom handle using only handtools out of hickory (explains why its not perfect) but the feel in hand is pretty neat. Yes, I like big swells on handles ;)

Hope you enjoy.

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Next project will be a True Temper (Welland Vale) Black Prince, 2 1/2 (he he he)
 
Very nice, I hope to see some more Canadian/Quebec axes. Can you tell me how you know it was a Montreal one? And any idea how old it might be?

Is it a user? Either way it is very nice to find one with a label. Enjoy it.
 
The swell is good looking. The whole package is nice actually. Looks like it would handle well.
 
Thanks guys, i like handling curves.. he he he also, the labels says "Montreal" Chignecto! :)

At least 1954 according to most account, the welland vale stamp stopped being used in 1954 two years after they got bought by true temper.

Im still amazed it retained its paint and label, thats why i made the leather sheath super big to protect the sides.
 
Remzy said:
. . .
Made a custom handle using only handtools out of hickory (explains why its not perfect) but the feel in hand is pretty neat. Yes, I like big swells on handles ;)
. . .
2btc1i.jpg


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Well done. If someone has a "perfect" handle, I'd like to see it.:D It looks damn good and it feels good to you - what more is there? I also like the swell.

Did you rive out the blank? Whats the length?
 
Remzy said:
Thanks guys, the labels says "Montreal" Chignecto! :)
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Label says Montreal St Catharines Canada

Might be wishful thinking on your part; Companies often had branch offices or distribution centers. Walters (Hull PQ) for instance opened a plant in Ogdensburg at one time but the majority (or perhaps all) of steel drop forging took place in Hull. Might have been a tax dodge, marketing ploy or some such to fully assemble and finish some of their products on the other side of the border.
Province of Quebec currently has inane laws requiring all gov't purchases to have been 'made in Quebec'. Perhaps 60-70 years ago there was a similar requirement in place.
 
Just a guess on my part, but I think most of these subsidiary shops were simply taken over by larger operations. I remember hearing or reading that Canada had more axe producers than any country in the world. This is likely due to the relative distance between communities in Canada compared to the United States, and perhaps due to the speculative nature of lumbering here. There were a lot of small communities and companies producing different axes, and American lumbering companies would come in to rent land for a number of years so finding a centralised supplier of goods would really distort the competition between axe manufacturers if they selected one to supply all their axes.

The Welland Vale page on Yesteryear Tools suggests a lot of takeovers and business failures in axe manufacturing. Perhaps the Montreal forge produced more than St. Catharines but the Canadian Toolmakers pdf doesn't say, only that they both produced a variety of tools and even expanded into Vermont and Ohio.
 
Thanks guys, really appreciate the kind words.

ive been thinking about making a video "tutorial" on how i made my handle but i never tought it would interest anyone as its a really slow and teadeous process (not to mention im not really photogenic or good at speaking english), could also make a vid about the sheath making, i dont use stitches but iron rivets as stitching bore me and i prefere the look of rivets ;)

Hum, as for the place of origin i stated montreal only because its one of the few labels that has it written on it, all the other ones only say st-catherine on. but either way, it doesnt really matter to me as the steel rings like a bell!
 
300Six said:
Province of Quebec currently has inane laws requiring all gov't purchases to have been 'made in Quebec'. Perhaps 60-70 years ago there was a similar requirement in place.
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I wish we had a law like that. What a boon to the local economy.
 
Square_peg said:
I wish we had a law like that. What a boon to the local economy.
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You would seriously regret that; cost of many niggly things would go up exponentially. My dad engineered a sewage treatment facility over in Quebec years ago. Specs called for specific machinery valves that are used world-wide and made by only one company out of Texas. Thanks to the Quebec-only law the Texas company had to send their castings, machinery, expertise etc etc to a small foundry in PQ and also make up a new one that said 'made in Quebec'. End result was a small run series of 1/4 million dollar valves (instead of $500 ea over-the-counter ones).
 
Remzy; Very nice woodwork! Some folks would cry to see an old and labelled NOS go into service rather than hang on a collection wall, but then again you are the finder and keeper. Your English, by the way, is considerably better than my French!
 
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