I added greatly to my axe, hatchet and adze collection today. I found the perfect type of online auction to buy at, poorly advertised and in the middle of nowhere.



















Anyone else have any luck at the auctions this weekend?

Any other axe collectors?

Keith

There is some good craftsmanship on some of those axes and good custom made handles. A few look hand forged.

I paid $12.43 average per piece for 87 pieces. Some of those Collins and Kellys are worth pretty good money.

Keith

Not a collector but have a bunch of old heads that lost their handles and a legitimate old broad ax.

There was an old German blacksmith near here that used to make the tools for the shipyard when they were making wood minesweepers. He showed me an adze that he made that was as perfect as you could make it, absolutely beautiful workmanship. I should have offered to buy it.....

9th picture down 3rd from left with the black handle.. I have one and never knew what it was called Thanks

They are called aircraft rescue axes or aircraft crash axes. The rubber handle protects you from being electrocuted, while using the tool to peel through the skin of the plane to rescue crash survivors. I think they started making them in WWII. I have 2 now, slightly different from each other.

Keith

That adze is probably worth a few hundred dollars.

A lot of German blacksmiths, many from around Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from the 1700s on, made some very fine tools that are in high demand today.

Keith

I see you picked up some Railroad tools too-Adzes,Plug punch,cold set,tamping pick.

I was hoping you would chime in. I thought those heavy adzes might be used for railroad work. How were the plug punch, cold set and tamping pick used?

I get a lot of railroad tools and hammers in auctions lots I want axes and hatches from. I have a sort of incidental collection of probably 40 distinctly different hammers and sledges.

Keith

The plug punch is used when guaging rail-spikes are pulled,holes are plugged,and the punch is held over the plug and a man drives the plug down below the tie plate by hitting the top of the punch with a sledge or spike hammer.Then the rail and plates are pushed in to guage by men with lining bars and one man spikes the rail to guage.Ties are adzed where the plates have cut into the tie.
The cold set was used to cut steel,frozen bolts,etc,could even cut a rail-just knick the rail all the way around the head web and base and drop the rail on another rail and it would snap clean where knicked.Same as the plug punch,one man hold the cold set and another man hit the cold set on the head with a sledge or spike maul.Cold sets were also used to bump jointed rail in winter when you had to repair a pull apart.Place cold set in the closed up joints on each side of the pull apart and bump the rails ahead by driving open the closed up joints with the cold set and a spike hammer or sledge.

Tamping picks were used in rock ballast,track was lifted with jacks,either by eye or level board,and the ballast was driven under the hollow spots under the ties under the rail with tamping picks,tamping bars or jackhammers.

Adzes were used when shimming track in winter due to frost heaving.Since ties were frozen in the ground,Snow was shovelled out of the shim spot,spikes were pulled,rail raised with claw bars the tie plates removed,the holes plugged,ties adzed where the tie plates had cut in to the ties,shims installed to level track,track lined and spiked with shim spikes.

We used to shim track all winter on the moosonee line-hundreds of spots a winter.Usually a 6 man gang,shimming all day.Main job in winter.Shim spots would pop up all winter long.In spring when the frost was coming out of the ground they would all need to be removed in a couple weeks.

Good times working on the railgang.

On the Pulaski's (4th picture down) look and see if either are a True Temper. They were the ones that always held the best edge. Like many others on here, I have 1,000's of hours of experience on the business end of those things.

Thank you very much for explaining the tools use.

Keith

Went to an auction today, didn't have anything I really needed or wanted. Just a normal purchase of a can of diet Coke and a candy bar.

KeithC. Interesting stuff right there. Thanks for posting. Boco thanks for the explanation on how the railroad tools are used. Good stuff

The 2nd pic has a couple Hudson Bay type axe heads. What do you think those weigh?

A couple of nice ice axes, few norlunds, pulaskis and looks like ya even got a WWII aircraft axe which is pretty cool! Nice score.

The top axe, like a modified Hudson Bay pattern, with the upswell, is a Cornetta from El Salvador aand weighs just under 2 pounds, 7 ounces.

The next one, is a Collins in Hudson Bay pattern, and weighs just under 2 pounds, 12 ounces.

The third is a Collins Legitimus, in Hudson Bay pattern and weighs just under 2 pounds, 14 ounces.

Keith

The Pulaski on top is a True Temper Kelly Works, with the "Kelly World's Finest Stamp" on the other side.

The other Pulaski is a Mann True American made in Lewistown, PA.

The loose Pulaski head is unmarked.

Keith

Thanks.

Keith

You're right. Some are definitely hand forged.

Keith

They may have had some on board to chop there way out in case they were trapped inside also.

Wow!

Holy Cow! What a haul

I got a disston 2 man crosscut. I've been looking for one for a while and I snagged it for 50$. Excited to get it singing again.

I have a few of them and just had them sharpened.Old timer near me knows what hes doing with sharpening them.I don't.

On the bottom picture the ax head with the notches in it, what was it used for?

outstanding!!!! That is one fine collection to get all in one big grab,

It appears to be a splitting maul. The head is very thick and heavy.

Keith

Would make a good root chopper if sharpened up.

I wonder how much wood all those have busted or chapped away at?

Some of the adzes were made around Washington's presidency and show a lot of wear, so I bet mountains of wood were worked on with these tools.

From the wear and damage on the polls, many of the axes and hatchets pounded a lot of metal stakes, pins and nails too.

Keith

Some of the places I have worked at as an a/c mechanic had planes with the same aircraft crash ax as you have there.

Did some guy have a collection or was it just all piled in a barn someplace?

I bought some more old adzes and other tools today. Here's the adzes.






Here's a hammer for driving railroad spikes.



I'm not sure of the purpose for this pick.



This is a miners pick for close work.



This is a dandelion/weed puller, patented in 1904.




Keith

Here's the patent for the weed puller:

"Description
M. FRANCO.
WEED FULLER. APPLICATION FILED 050.16. 19x9.-
Patented Nov, 29, 1921.
; Z7ZVnfor M. Wanca part WEED-FULLER.
iseesso.
Specification of Letters Patent.
Patented Nov. 2%, 15 9211.
Application filed December 16, 1919. Serial No. 345,225.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, MAURICE FRANCO, a citizen of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in "Weeddullers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains'to make and use the same.
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in weed pullers and has for one of its objects the provision of a device of this character whereby weeds along with their roots can be easily and quickly extracted from the ground without the danger of severing the stalk of the weed and permitting the roots thereof to remain in the ground for further growth.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a weed puller of the above stated character, which shall be simple, durable and eflicient, and which may be manufactured and sold at a comparatively low cost.
With these and other objects in view as will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.
For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the fol lowing description and accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a plan view of a weed puller constructed in accordance with my invention Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1,
Fig. 3 is a plan view of a modified form of weed puller,
Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3,
. Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating another modified form of my invention.
Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a shank having secured to one end a suitable handle 2, while the other end of the shank has formed thereon a barb 3 which extends approximately fortyfive degrees to the shank. The barb 3 and the last namedend of the shank terminate in an extremely sharp point 4 so that the device can be readily and conveniently inserted in the ground to permit the stalk of a weed to be caught between the shank and the inner edge of the barb 3.
A beveled cutting edge 5 is formed upon the outer edge of the barb 3 and extends from the end of the barb to the sharp point 4'. One edge of the shank 1 is provided with beveled faces to form a cutting edge 6 that cooperates with the cutting edge 5 when inserting the tool in the ground for engagement with a weed.
define a gripping edge 8. The inner edge of the barb 3 is provided with beveled faces 9 so as to form a gripping edge 10 that cooperates with the gripping edge 8 in grasping or gripping the stalk of a weed when placed between the barb and the shank. The gripping edges 8 and 10 are not extremely sharp so as to obviate the danger of severing the stalk of the weed when extracting the weed with its roots from the ground.
In operation, the tool is held at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees and is inserted in the ground adjacent a weed and after being inserted in the ground, the weed is then caught between the barb and the shank by swinging the tool slightly laterally and then by pulling on the handle, the weed with its root is conveniently and readily extracted from the ground.
Referring to my modified form of invention as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, it consists of a shank 11, having secured to one end a comparatively long handle 12 providing a construction wherein it is not necessary for the user to stoop over when inserting the tool into the ground forextracting weeds. The shank 11 in this instance has a compound curve 13 terminating in a pointed end 14. A; barb 1.5 is formed on the pointed end of the shank 11 and cooperates with the shank in forming a weedreceiving space 16. The shank having a compound curve 13 provides a comparatively large weed receiving space so that weeds that have stalks of considerable size can be readily caught therein. The shank 11 and inner edge of the barb 15 have cooperating gripping edges 17, so that the stalk of a weed can be readily gripped between the barb and the shank. The outer edge of the barb 15 is sharpened to The other edge of the shank 1 is provided with beveled faces 7 to of the shank 11 so that the device can be readily inserted into the ground. I
Referring to Fig. 5' illustrating another modified form of my invention, the shank.
20 has one end disposed angularly and secured to a handle 21. The other end of the shank is pointed as shown at 23, and has formed thereon a barb 24. The barb and shank have their outer edges beveled to form cutting edges 25. The inner edge of the barb and the other edge of the shank are beveled to define gripping edges 26. The gripping edges 26 are provided with serrations 27 adapted to bite into the stalk of a weed so that said weed can be extracted from the ground without the danger ot the stalk slipping between the gripping edges 26.
While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will i be understood that minor changes in construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.
Having thus described my invention, whatlast namedend of the shank and cooperating with the shank in forming a weed receiving space, gripping edges formed on the.
barb and shank, and cutting edges formed on the barb and shank to permit easy insertion of the tool into the ground.
2. A Weed puller comprising a shank, an
angularly related barb formed on said shank,
said barb and shank terminating in a'pointed end, cutting edges formed on the outer edges '1 of the shank and barb, gripping edges formed on the inner edge of the barb and the other edge of the shank, andserrations formed in the gripping edges.
In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.
I MAURICE FRANCO. Vitnesses r EDWARD I. TBAII-IAGAN, ALEX E. HAG RTY."

Keith

You and fishguts should get together and see who has the most useless junk.LOL

We had one of these growing up. We were told it was out of an aircraft like and emergency get out of the airplane and survive in the wilderness axe kinda thing but that could be totally wrong. It hung on the side of our log splitter.

Keith, In your 11th pic down, what is the second tool used for? Rail road or mining? I have one like it but it has a pretty short handle on it. I think it must have been used for mining with the shorter handle but what would they use the hammer end for? Thanks Ken

The crash hatchets are designed to cut through the thin "skin" of an aircraft, while protecting the user from being electrocuted by the thousands of electric wires used in a plane.

Keith

I'm going to somewhat disagree on the electrical statement. If your chopping through the skin of an aircraft it has crashed and the electrical system is disconnected. Additionally, aircraft run on 24 volt dc. Even the larger aircraft. 24 dc won't do much shocking. There are inverters on medium to large aircraft running AC but likely they are off if the aircraft crashes. The rubber coating is more for grip I'm going to say.

As you can see in Ohio Boy's post, they still advertise new crash axes as being insulated against 20,000 volts. It would not be a major selling point, if an insulated handle was not needed. A lot of crash axes were used on aircraft damaged by hostile fire during WWII, which likely still.had intact electrical systems. Those aircraft were different than today's.

Keith

I believe that pick was designed for railroad use. The reverse end is just the right size for driving a railroad spike.

Keith

Keith the up swell with red handle and a hatchet like it are kind of uncommon ? I have a old hatchet like that that i put a longer handle in and I use it very often in log building projects .Seems like I can get to more different positions with it . Are they made today and where to buy and what is the common name for that style ? Thanks for posting and I hope you do well on them .

That's called a Dayton Pattern. It is more upswept than most. Michigans are similar, but the corner's of the poll are more rounded, instead of square. Because of its light weight, the one in the picture is likely a "boys axe".

Here's a chart of different common axe head patterns:



There are many other patterns of axe heads. Some axes are kind of in between patterns too.

Daytons are common in my area, because they originated about 45 minutes from here.

I don't know much about new axes and I am still a pretty rank amateur on antique ones. There's is a tremendous amount to learn Sorry, I don't know of anyone still making them.

Keith

Might be a stone masons grozing head, used like a broad axe only for stone.

Did you get that all at one auction? That was a heck of an auction if you did. What else do it have? It is crazy what some of the prices axes are bringing on eBay nowadays. You killed it at $12.43great deal Was there any Black Raven's there?????

The first pictures were all from one auction. It was out in the middle of nowhere, which greatly helped on price.

I have not been lucky enough to find a Black Raven, that wasn't identified in an auction or in a classified's picture, without a description. Black Ravens are so valuable now, there are starting to be a lot of fakes. The fakes are usually stamped or laser cut, instead of embossed.

I put a lot of effort into looking for axes, hatchets, adzes and cleavers.

I had these two True Temper hatchets shipped in from an online auction on Saturday.



Keith

Great collection! From what I understand there were possibly hundreds of edged tool makers in the U.S and Canada from the 1840’s to 1940’s. I have found dozens of axe heads detecting early homestead and logging sites they seem to be a common find. I usually bring home the smaller heads also some of the early 1860-1880 single bits. Indian trade ones occasionally show up too.

Thanks. The trade axes often bring very good prices, even in pretty horrendous shape, from being buried for many years. I found two buried axe heads here, when I put in new electrical conduit. They were both splitting axe heads. I don't have any original trade axes.

I bought these two axes at auction today.




The bottom axe is a jersey pattern, True Temper, Flint Edge, Kelly single bit, splitting axe.

I believe the red axe, on top, is also a Kelly splitting axe.

Keith

What was the one that looks like the letter P used for?