Axes with hardened poll

Yep, the killing axe is another type of hard poll axe.

Killing Axe 1.jpg
 
All of a sudden we have a case of what came first; the chicken or the egg. The Campbells poll axe, specifically designed for driving tree wedges (according to their 1919 ad copy), makes me wonder if 'killing axe' was merely a later adaptation of this design. Clocking a cow over the forehead with a long handled hammer isn't really any more or less advantageous than doing the knocking with a poll axe. Unless of course a botched job called upon the immediate application of a sharp blade.
 
I know that most of you guys know this, but sometimes people forget that hardened does not mean that it can't be deformed. Hardening is a balancing act- too hard and it chips, too soft and it mushrooms and splits like a soft abused axe poll. The perfect hardness for a sledge or a maul head is just soft enough to avoid chips but with enough hard use even this will deform. It is slow, and not dramatic like an axe poll, but you can see that the metal has moved even if slightly.

Here is a fun example of a head that was hardened too shallowly. The soft metal moved and the hard outer shell had to give. It reminds me of a squeezed M&M.
 
rjdankert said:
31629170315_2015d49c42_c.jpg

Meat, Modernity, and the Rise of the Slaughterhouse
https://books.google.com/books?id=6...&q=poleaxe made for killing livestock&f=false


Bob
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I'm a long time game and waterfowl hunter and practical person when it comes to humane dispatch of chickens/geese/turkeys, pets and traffic-injured animals but reading into (ie trying to visualize) this old book excerpt about chute livestock slaughter seriously makes me cringe. Is there PTSD name for folks that couldn't endure this sort of task?
 
300Six said:
. . . but reading into (ie trying to visualize) this old book excerpt about chute livestock slaughter seriously makes me cringe. Is there PTSD name for folks that couldn't endure this sort of task?
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I've done a bit of hunting and fishing myself, but I don't think I'd be cut out for that sort of job. "The sobriety of slaughtermen was sometimes at issue . . ." Self medication?


Bob
 
300Six said:
I'm a long time game and waterfowl hunter and practical person when it comes to humane dispatch of chickens/geese/turkeys, pets and traffic-injured animals but reading into (ie trying to visualize) this old book excerpt about chute livestock slaughter seriously makes me cringe. Is there PTSD name for folks that couldn't endure this sort of task?
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Yeah, it was a bad way to dispatch cattle. I've heard that tired fellows at the end of their shift were a serious problem. I'm glad that practice ended.

These were created as a work axe. The killing part came later. But manufacturers were happy to capitalize on the idea and market to it.

Killing%20Axe.jpg


I've also heard that sledge hammers were sometimes used instead of a killing axe. I imagine a spike maul would do a heckuva number on a bovine skull.
 
Steve Tall said:
Here's another axe with a hardened poll, from a 1919 publication (1916 patent, according to the illustration):

BookReaderImages.php


BookReaderImages.php


Campbell's Poll Axe
Lumbermen often find it difficult to get steel poll axes which stand hard usage in driving saw or tree wedges...
... will not flatten out, as is generally the case with the old style of axe having a thin piece of inferior steel welded on the poll.
... will balance perfectly on the handle....
from Canadian Forestry Journal, 1919
https://archive.org/stream/canadianforestry15canauoft#page/87/mode/1up
https://archive.org/stream/canadianforestry15canauoft#page/80/mode/1up
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Here's the patent for Campbell's Poll Axe, showing how it was made:

G. W. CAMPBELL. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING AN AX. APPLICATION FILED AUG 2, 1916.
1,224,853., Patented May 1, 1917.


US1224853-0.png


https://patents.google.com/patent/US1224853A/en
 
Good stuff. I suspect the fullering operation to form the lugs (2) wasn't always quite as clean as shown in figure 1.

I have one like that drawing, probably a Campbell, out in the garage. I have another here at my desk that looks to have been made differently. This one looks more like they just added a lump carbon steel similar to how the Fins did it. I suppose a vinegar bath would tell me more about it. Hmmmm.
 
garry3 said:
I have seen the poll axe used in an old documentary film. That is for sure not what I witnessed. And it goes against my own experience.
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That part of the book could be taken as how not to slaughter.:)

It was a response to:

300Six said:
. . .
Unless of course a botched job. . .
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It seems to me that they are talking about "botched jobs". Plus I thought the axe pictures neat.

I thought this quote particularly interesting:
32846191220_b25dacf7b9_c.jpg

Somehow the above brings Monty Python to mind. Of course YMMV.

The book:
32385203574_42ee072a29_c.jpg



Bob
 
There are guys out there that can screw up anything. The level of incompetence by some both amazes and amuses me. Most of the time I can get a chuckle out of it.
 
junkenstien said:
Hard poll Michigan with 6 ridges in the eye,hit it with a ball peen didn't do nothing,file skated right off.View attachment 781463
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Nice find and rather more useful axe head from the recent past (60s-70s)! Is this an NOS jobbie or did you hang a cleanup/paint job on this head? What I seem to notice is the poll is chipped (ie hardened) rather than dimpled or deformed in one spot under the paint.
 
No sir ,I bought it like that.Got it for the 26 inch handle they had jammed in there,glad I did.Thinking off stripping it to see if there are any numbers on it.
 
junkenstien said:
Hard poll Michigan with 6 ridges in the eye,hit it with a ball peen didn't do nothing,file skated right off.View attachment 781463
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's like one of the TRUE TEMPER Michigan Pattern axes that have a "hard poll and extra strength in the eye section" as described in the old price list (from the 1960s?) originally posted by Square_peg:

Hardened%20single%20bit.jpg~original


Agent_H said:
This Seattle price list document has been shared here I think but the copy I have doesn’t have the first page so I don’t know the exact year it was printed. If someone here knows the date, please share.
It does have descriptions of miners, rafting, construction, and axes with hardened/hard polls:

http://cedarriverforge.com/Photo-index/Tools/Seattle Hardware catalog pages/Axes Prices.pdf
I’ve look at this thing several times but I think I was looking for a specific pattern of something we were talking about and kind of glanced over some of the descriptions. Might be old news (it is actually lol).


Square_peg – I forget, is your Dayton marked with anything besides the True Temper? I wonder if the A and B plus numerals stamped on them might indicate something poll related?
*Also I just noticed the host url on your picture is cedarridgeforge as well so it may have been you who shared the catalog.

Hardened%20single%20bit.jpg~original

*The Dreadnaught above it mentions a “hard poll” as well.

Here are the provided descriptions of their Rafting/Construction axes they had for offer:
Hardenedthings.jpg~original


And a couple of options on Miners axes:
minersaxe.jpg~original


Maybe this guy would know :)
Rafting_1.jpg~original


Rafting%20dog.jpg~original
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Suddenly we're all going to be looking for 'diamonds in the rough'. Up until now I was of the belief that 60s and up were a complete dud for expecting to find first class domestic axe heads.
 
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