Axes with eye ridges....

Miller '72 said:
My first guess is closer to 1957 but the "Kelly Standard" has me leaning a little older.
Click to expand...
I'd agree it's older than 1957, since the Kelly Standard doesn't appear in the 1957 catalog, where the listed full-size axe brands were Kelly Perfect, Flint Edge, Red Warrior, Woodslasher, Champion, and World's Finest (fireman's).
 
Steve Tall said:
If it says "Kelly Works" it's supposedly from no earlier than 1930.
After 1949, when the company was officially called 'True Temper', there was still some use of the KELLY WORKS stamp.
True Temper's catalog from 1957 shows axes with the KELLY WORKS stamp.
Kelly Works shut down on May 28, 1982. (reference)
Click to expand...

Steve Tall said:
I'd agree it's older than 1957, since the Kelly Standard doesn't appear in the 1957 catalog, where the listed full-size axe brands were Kelly Perfect, Flint Edge, Red Warrior, Woodslasher, Champion, and World's Finest (fireman's).
Click to expand...

I was thinking it might be closer to '49...keeping the brand and name recognition in play before deciding which and if what makes they may "86" from production...just a thought, no evidence.

Thanks SteveTall:thumbsup:
Cool as always:cool:
 
Any recommendations (or links) on rehanging one of these with a new handle? I have a double bit with 4 offset ridges.

Do you rough out the grooves with a chisel or just let the ridges move the material?
 
I do a little of both personally. If the head won't go down when it needs to, I chisel out some grooves. If it goes down, I don't groove it.
 
Lefty Jason said:
Any recommendations (or links) on rehanging one of these with a new handle? I have a double bit with 4 offset ridges.

Do you rough out the grooves with a chisel or just let the ridges move the material?
Click to expand...
Lefty, i usually make the very top of the eye(the first 1/2"-3/4" or so, some of that ends up coming through the top and getting cut off) small enough to fit inside the eye ridges. But from there down i find it necessary to cut the grooves. I've been able to get away with not doing them on a couple hatchets but full size axes just won't seat properly without them in my experience. I'll have to post some pics to this thread. I just saw it for the first time and I've got a half a dozen or so ridged eye axes.
 
Susan14 said:
All this banter aside is this anything different hanging an vintage axe with bar ridges? Do you still need a wedge?
Click to expand...
Yes, you still need a wedge.

In general the eye ridges make an axe harder to hang. The kerf becomes compressed and makes the head hard to pull on and off during the fitting/shaping part of the hang. It's much easier if you can find an un-kerfed haft. Barring that, installing a thin temporary wedge in the kerf will make the haft behave as though un-kerfed.

It helps to carve the V-grooves between each test fitting. The grooves will mark the haft where you need to carve next. Once the headed is well seated down on the shoulder of the haft you can remove the temporary wedge and install the real wedge.
 
So Susan, can we have our banter back now, please? Thanks.

SP, I just rehung an old cast steel Goldblatt drywall hatchet with 6 ridges. Two on each side, and one each fore and aft. Never seen that before. The eye is shorter and fatter than most, basically 11/16” wide and slightly over 7/8” long. Got a bullseye face on it, too.

I fashioned the haft from a 13” segment of pacific yew limb I saved from a view enhancement job. After roughing out the tenon, I inserted it about 1/2” to mark the contour, and then carved the same shape back about two inches.

I beat the haft home without kerf or wedge, letting the ridges plow their own furrows, and it’s on there tight. I bet I’ve got 50% or more fiber compression at the contact surfaces.

We’ll see if it stays tight, hanging rock doesn’t involve high impact forces. If it doesn’t, I can always tap it back out and continue with kerfing and wedging.

I’ve seen you mention Swel-loc before, maybe I should try some.

Parker
 
Pacific yew is amazingly tough stuff. That should make a nice handle. I've never seen that ridge pattern. I'd love to see a pic. Your method sounds great. That's one advantage of making your own hafts, you can pre-hang them before cutting the kerf.

I learned about Swel-Lock from Old Axeman's book, 'An Ax to Grind'. I thought it was overpriced so I searched for the MSDS to find out what was in it. That's when I discovered that I could buy the DPG generically on ebay and now on Amazon and other places. I still mix my own, 80:20, DPG:water.

A related note, I just purchased a True Temper 'Genuine Underhill' No. 60 lathing hatchet. It has 4 eye ridges and a waffle poll. I'm thinking of employing it as a light mortising hatchet on an upcoming split rail fence project.
 
catspa said:
So Susan, can we have our banter back now, please? Thanks.

SP, I just rehung an old cast steel Goldblatt drywall hatchet with 6 ridges. Two on each side, and one each fore and aft. Never seen that before. The eye is shorter and fatter than most, basically 11/16” wide and slightly over 7/8” long. Got a bullseye face on it, too.

I fashioned the haft from a 13” segment of pacific yew limb I saved from a view enhancement job. After roughing out the tenon, I inserted it about 1/2” to mark the contour, and then carved the same shape back about two inches.

I beat the haft home without kerf or wedge, letting the ridges plow their own furrows, and it’s on there tight. I bet I’ve got 50% or more fiber compression at the contact surfaces.

We’ll see if it stays tight, hanging rock doesn’t involve high impact forces. If it doesn’t, I can always tap it back out and continue with kerfing and wedging.

I’ve seen you mention Swel-loc before, maybe I should try some.

Parker
Click to expand...
Goldblatt, the greatest drywall hammer ever made. The bullseye face doesn't tear paper like a waffle and the poll is open, blade closed.
I don't see any eye ridges in mine and it doesn't appear cast but welded.

 
Garry, this is the first one I’ve ever seen with eye ridges.

I don’t have a Wal-board specimen handy to compare, but I recall them being similarly shaped (without the cant).

Parker
 
Y’know, I got to thinking, if it was my job to forge a hatchet/axe with eye ridges, how would I go about it?

My first thought was to use a grooved drift to shape the interior of the eye, but wouldn’t that be difficult to remove at the end of a heat?

Then I thought, forge a smooth eye, then machine or broach out the interior everywhere but the ridges. Still seems like an inordinate amount of work.

Then I got to hallucinating slightly, and thought, what if the eye had grooves instead, and after you wedged the haft, you inserted a tapered diamond shaped nail in every groove (kind of like a steel-to-wood spline joint)?

Anyway, anybody got the straight scoop on how these TTs were originally manufactured?

Parker
 
I might have mentioned this before. What I do is first put the haft in the eye until the ridges mark their location on the top of the haft. I remove the haft and grab a gun stock checkering tool ( looks like a small piece of triangular file with a offset handle) and it only takes a couple of passes to cut V shaped groves in the haft that match the ridges. Then proceed with the hang like there are no ridges at all.
 
This later 60's Woodslasher pair is my tree pruning/ limbing duo.
The boys axe was an Ebay purchase and the hatchet was generously sent to me by Agent_H, they're quite a pair.

I'll take the large limbs off with my bow saw or the little cordless electric chainsaw,then use the boys axe to limb off the larger branches, and the hatchet to strip them down further.

I have to do all this so it fits in my cheap little 15amp electric chipper.
It gets the job done, it's more of a chore than being able to just throw it all into a big gas powered chipper, but I don't have to deal with tree trimming all that often.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top