Off Topic weird vintage axe, handle fail

Agent_H said:
I thought an Adirondack handle had the same shoulder on both sides (like a double bit) while that one initially strikes me as an actual single bit.
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Maybe someone has an "official" definition of an Adirondack axe handle but, to me it is simply a curved handle on a double bit axe (eg Adirondack style handle). FWIW, I've only seen these handles in pictures and drawings and the majority have symmetrical shoulders. If a person set up each edge of a double bit axe for a different purpose, it seems like an asymmetric shoulder handle would make it easy for the user to quickly know "which end is up".

Agent_H said:
If that is a 2.5lb cruiser I can see it filling the eye.
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Corollary: if it is a full size head, I can't see it filling the eye?


Bob
 
rjdankert said:
Corollary: if it is a full size head, I can't see it filling the eye?


Bob
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I at first thought it was a Knot Clipper cruiser and maybe the the other shoulder was taken off one side to fit it.

Before seeing the second picture, the ads for 3.5lb and other materials you pulled up of course. :thumbsup:
 
Agent_H said:
I wonder if we could find the "With Handle No. CCI" listed as a single or double bit handle as a replacement. Or on other single bit models from the same/similar resource?
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Since your post, I did look. The E C Simmons ad I posted was from just a few pages I have from that catalog. I went through the other pages (also poked around the internet). Short story - the full size Keen Kutter labeled single bit axes with Cumberland handles on those pages were Handle No CA.


Bob

Long story:





 
Bob, since you made me think more about it. That is what we do lol.

I just held a new standard-sized single bit handle up to several double bits and there are section/corners of open space left on either side of the handle going into the narrow portion of the eye.
s0Ibq7Y.jpg


CynTfSS.jpg


That handle's tongue fills the first half inch or so of a Plumb rafting pattern before sticking without molestation so I'm operating on the assumption that it's standard sized (came from a military surplus store). It actually may even be a little big compared to some. The rest of it is ugly and fat, that is for sure.

I could shave down the other side and put it in there but "small on the bottom" would mean even "smaller at the top" were it widens.

Questions then. So, a single bit handle in a double bit head would be a style or a handle choice? A curved handle built with more material in the tongue to take on a wider eye would be a different type of handle? An Adirondack handle?
Now, I have no idea if the double shoulder does an Adirondack handle make but a boy's axe sized "Adirondack" would be pretty neat I believe.

You know, it also could just be the three heads I grabbed as well - an old insert bit butterfly looking thing, 4lb WV US90, and an unmarked swamping pattern. The butterfly/felling one I would guess to have been made maybe a little before or around the time-frame mentioned in that news article.

It might well be that nice Old-School handles were in fact wider at the tongue front to back than what we have now or have had for quite a while. In that case it would simply be altering existing stock to be accepted by the longer oval of a double bit eye?

I don't know anything more than we have going here but it's interesting - can someone else try a quick tongue-eye match-up?
 
rjdankert said:
Since your post, I did look. The E C Simmons ad I posted was from just a few pages I have from that catalog. I went through the other pages (also poked around the internet). Short story - the full size Keen Kutter labeled single bit axes with Cumberland handles on those pages were Handle No CA.


Bob

Long story:





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So, there is a difference in number designation. If the ones that look like a single bit are listed as a different model number then what can we deduce?
An Adirondack handle can have a standard double bit shoulder or stick to the lines of a standard single bit handle of the same length?

Another question might be, "Who worries about this nowadays?"

We do - otherwise who else will? ;)
 
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I kind of get the impression that full-size stock modern single bit handles run a touch small for the average full-size double bit head - don't doubt it can be done of course.

Just for conversation, how about a shortened 32" full-size handle, pared down to 28" and a cruiser sized head?
AdironackCruiser? by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr

*And a melon wedge too I guess. They are easy to shape but tend to dry out pretty quick.
 
Most. It's a better method for complex images than impression die forming. You have to deal with flow and draft angle when using a die. Not so with etching.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Most. It's a better method for complex images than impression die forming. You have to deal with flow and draft angle when using a die. Not so with etching.
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YesteryearsTools agrees that most were etched.

"Most decorative markings on axes and hatchets were commonly accomplished by means of etching. Simply speaking, the process involved a mask or frisket that was made by depositing wax on a paper backing sheet, much like that accomplished by a printing process but the wax was considerably thicker. The wax was placed on the cleaned surface of the metal. As the wax adhered to the metal more readily then the paper the paper could then be peeled off leaving the wax where the acid was not supposed to effect the metal. Acid was deposited on the masked area and held in place by a thicker ridge of wax around the outside. Most of the effect of etching was down so minimal material removal was done toward the sides. After sitting for a period of time the acid was expelled. The surface was then rinsed and cleaned resulting in a design that had been dissolved away from the surface of the metal. Various additional steps were involved to create multiple levels but simply put this was the process involved in in decorating ETCHED axes."
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Info Search.html
 
50+ years ago when I was in high school our 9th grade shop class actually taught us how to do this process with the exception of the pre-made design on paper. We set a dam with tape to keep the wax from running off the metal we were etching so that when pouring the wax it would be roughly 3/16 of inch deep. Once cooled the wax was then carved with knives shaped for the purpose. The item would then be placed on wax paper to save the bench if the etching chemical were to spill. Once the chemical was poured we would check it periodically by pouring out the chemical and if the pattern was etched deep enough the etching process would be stopped by rinsing in water for an extended time. If not the chemical went back into the wax pattern. It was fun to do and in the time since being in school I have used this process once. However, I have used a variation of the process in making printed circuit boards for ham radio projects a number of times in my 47 years in the hobby.
 
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