What company made axes for the J.F. Richards hardware company?

B

Bar-knife

Joined
Aug 16, 2014
Messages
7
I am seeking information on what company(ies) may have manufactured axes for the for the J. F. Richards
Hardware company. I recently acquired a double bit axe with a fairly clear rectangular stamp.

Stamp reads top to bottom,
Hand Made
J.F. Richards
1857
Pioneer
Kansas City
Any information will be appreciated.
 
Last edited:
would like to see a picture or two to get a better idea of what you have... age, pattern, etc...

there really is no telling who made it for the hardware store. there were probably a few thousand hardware stores across the country that rebranded axes from major manufacturers.

it appears JF Richards founded his business in 1857, so the date on the ax is almost certainly a "since" date, as in "founded in 1857" or "JF Richards Pioneer Hardware, since 1857"

the "Hand Made" stamp could mean something, if its stylized in some recognizable way. need pics for even a slight chance of info.

here is some JF Richards hardware info, pretty neat stuff. he helped with the victims of the massacre at lawrence kansas...
http://www.ksgenweb.com/archives/1918ks/bior/richarjf.html
 
Twoinch
Thank you for the reply and link. I have lurked on the outside of this site long enough that I realize that posting a photo is almost a must if you want any type of response. I still haven't figured out how to post photos.
 
upload your photos from your phone or computer to a photo hosting site such as photobucket, and paste the IMG code into your post here in the forum. it will appear when you post it. very simple process that takes less than two minutes from start to finish unless you are on dial up.
 
First attempt at uploading an image.

15clk3p.jpg
 
Quoted from OldTools Archive:

DAT lists J.F. Richards & Co at Kansas City, MO from 1857-1924 with
axes listed as the tool type reported. Text - "Richards was a hardware
dealer who marked axes. His marking apparently was something like
"1857 RICHARDS" and/or "1857 J.F.RICHARDS"".
http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=166041&submit_thread=1


Some more information about John Francisco Richards and his company:

RICHARDS & CONOVER HARDWARE COMPANY
Kansas City and Oklahoma City

In 1924 there was an article about the company's 67th anniversary, so it must have been founded around 1857.

A copy of the 8-page article (published in the Implement & Tractor Trade Journal) appears at that auction site with the listing titled:
"1924 RICHARDS & CONOVER HARDWARE 67 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE LEAVENWORTH KANSAS"

Photos of the first two pages:

$_57.JPG


$_57.JPG
 
A mention of their Pioneer axe from 1912, unfortunately only a "snippet view":

The Hardware Reporter - Volume 57, Issues 2-13 - Page 65
books.google.com/books?id=NZo7AQAAMAAJ
1912 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions
The “Rich-Con” Line The Richards & Conover Hardware Co., Kansas City and Oklahoma City, are sending out facsimile copies of a letter received from a Missouri pioneer ordering one of their hand-made Pioneer axes, in which the writer ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=NZo7AQAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=pioneer+
 
To all who have replied thank you very much.
You can't believe how happy I was when I rubbed the rust off with a little spit when I found this.
First thought was Black Raven. Still I couldn't get the $2.00 out of my pocket quick enough.
Any opinion on if the edge should be restored or better to clean and rehang only?
 
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