Collins Bush Axe - Identification Information

[Moonw]

Interesting. Do you have/know of any demo of the proper technique?

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I still need to throw one together. Most folks try to use them more like an axe on targets they were never really intended for. They have a more pendulous stroke to them with the handle pointing down towards the ground.

 

[Steve Tall]

...the proper technique?

...from a USDA booklet titled "Equipment for Clearing Brush from Land" published in 1961:

Brush hooks.-- Brush hooks are useful in cutting the stems of growth. The brush hook is swung like a scythe. It is sharpened by grinding with an abrasive wheel.


Machetes are mentioned for cutting "stems or branches", but the brush hooks are said to be for stems (not branches). This is written in the section on "Small Brush", defined as woody growth having stems no larger than 2" diameter.

Farmer's Bulletin No. 2180, Equipment for Clearing Brush from Land, USDA, 1961

from this thread on Brush Axes:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1239807-Brush-Axes

[Note: My less-than-literal interpretation of that brief "swung like a scythe" instruction is that the brush hook should cut low, at stems near to the ground, and not be swung overhead at branches.]

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've found in particular that there's a particular method of gripping the handle that works best, allowing one to immediately and neatly turn the wrists to reverse the blade such as to cut on the return stroke. It's almost a sweeping action side to side. There are other strokes one can use for cutting undergrowth where you fish the hook behind a stem nearly parallel to the ground and then just draw the tool back towards yourself with a quick jerk to sever the stalk low to the ground, etc. but the bulk of the work is performed well with the aforementioned method.

 

[phantomknives]

It's an older model. Newer ones had the eye welded on. Yours also a square-head bolt which indicates age. Yours is cool for the forge weld alone.

The thing is there is just no value in these. Nobody wants them. I've kept and restored one because it had a railroad stamp on it and I collect from that railroad. Yesterday I came across a very nice True Temper brush axe at an estate sale. Like new for $10. I almost passed but decided the handle was worth $10 to me.

i have one of these, quality control wasnt the best on these, my weld's spotty and the eye's upside down. might have been re welded but thanks for IDing it

 

[ddayx10]

I find I'm still looking around the internet for information regarding this bush hook (seems the proper old fashioned reference I've heard and found).

In digging I did some some videos of people swinging or attempting to show use of this item, some did it well some struggled. I was thinking about the comments I had read here from people who seemed to have seen them used before and other things I'd read promoting these as a fire fighting tool (thinking forest service).

In this video this guy seems to be using his in a productive and experienced way for clearing his land a bit. I can see clearing brush lines and stuff for fire blocks and dealing with all sorts of nasty issues right low to the ground.

I thought the comments by FortyTwoBlades seems spot on for many applications. I think I know exactly what you're saying. Also it seems this tool would be more powerful and easier to use in some instances with a longer handle.

It's cool you mention the quality phatomknives. I'm not expert but I thought the forge weld on this could have been more seamless, but I also thought they were mass producing by hand and forgiveness has to be allowed. They probably said, no its not pretty but that will never come off there in a million years. There's also a weird anomaly on this one at the bottom of the blade near the handle where the blade thickness is chipped right at the bottom corner. It looks like it came from the mfg that way... a little imperfection.

The factory for this company was pretty cool to look at on the banks of the river. There's a lot of information and some cool pictures on this page. The picture of the factory itself and a museum exhibition showing one of these on the wall are cool.

https://www.bnctools.com/blogs/news/the-legacy-of-the-collins-company

I also found lots of old catalogs but they seem to be in private collections of small museums, etc and they have like "copy clubs" or fees. I tried some google patent searches but really got nowhere with that (needle, hay stack... bush hook).

Lastly Steve Tall that link you posted (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1239807-Brush-Axes) is the one I was looking at that had this same bush hook but it looks cast to me. A couple of the images are very clear and you can see the "eye" doesn't appear to be welded and there seem to be casting "bubbles"/ imperfections. I think that is a newer one but I have no way to know really. On page 2 of that thread there's another one but it is welded (and looks like could be a re-weld).

 

[Square_peg]

His brush axe is sharpened on the outside of the curve, maybe the inside,too. That style was common but not as common as yours.

 

[Moonw]

...from a USDA booklet titled "Equipment for Clearing Brush from Land" published in 1961:

Brush hooks.-- Brush hooks are useful in cutting the stems of growth. The brush hook is swung like a scythe. It is sharpened by grinding with an abrasive wheel.


Machetes are mentioned for cutting "stems or branches", but the brush hooks are said to be for stems (not branches). This is written in the section on "Small Brush", defined as woody growth having stems no larger than 2" diameter.

Farmer's Bulletin No. 2180, Equipment for Clearing Brush from Land, USDA, 1961

from this thread on Brush Axes:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1239807-Brush-Axes

[Note: My less-than-literal interpretation of that brief "swung like a scythe" instruction is that the brush hook should cut low, at stems near to the ground, and not be swung overhead at branches.]

Thank you, makes a lot of sense.

 

[Moonw]

I've found in particular that there's a particular method of gripping the handle that works best, allowing one to immediately and neatly turn the wrists to reverse the blade such as to cut on the return stroke. It's almost a sweeping action side to side. There are other strokes one can use for cutting undergrowth where you fish the hook behind a stem nearly parallel to the ground and then just draw the tool back towards yourself with a quick jerk to sever the stalk low to the ground, etc. but the bulk of the work is performed well with the aforementioned method.

The one thing I was sure about was that people trying to "muscle through" those stems (which you see in most videos) were doing it wrong. Your answer was enlightening, thanks!

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

His brush axe is sharpened on the outside of the curve, maybe the inside,too. That style was common but not as common as yours.

Looks like an older Council double-edged and it would have been sharp on the interior. The guy in the video is using it more like an actual axe still, though. Granted, it looks like dry, dead crap that likes to "shatter" and so that sort of cut with that tool would help keep it from getting bound up, since they're light compared to most bush hooks--really more like an off-center ditch bank blade.

 

[300Six]

Agreed. The original haft wouldn't have had the kerf. But it's old. Slim, nice unclipped fawns foot.

I have a mostly unused brush hook similar to this which was given to me by the original owner who'd bought it in the mid 1960s. The blade is unmarked but the Walters stamped handle does have a kerf cut in it.

 

[Square_peg]

Did he state that he had never re-hung it?

 

[rjdankert]

I have a mostly unused brush hook similar to this which was given to me by the original owner who'd bought it in the mid 1960s. The blade is unmarked but the Walters stamped handle does have a kerf cut in it.

FWIW, the replacement handle (70-011) for Council Tools 12" single edge bush hook (122-C) is the same as the one for their 3.5# Jersey (35JR36C).


Bob

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I suspect that the decision was eventually made to begin using regular SB handles on bush hooks to reduce handle inventory since the end result was just about the same. Bush hooks did commonly have a slightly smaller eye than a common SB axe, though, and so many replaced handles show signs of having been whittled down to fit.

 

[BamaDADx3]

Welcome DDAYx10. Careful the bug don't bite you while your playing with it though. Next thing you know you will have a whole garage full of axes. hatchets, meat cleavers, hammers, and yes two bush/brush axe/hooks. Oh wait maybe that's where I'm at now! LOL. I get a lot of enjoyments out of the history as well as bringing an old tool back to life! I believe you said you had an old axe lying around??? HA HA HA HA

 

[quinton]

I have a Council brush hook with the original handle that is nearly 50 years old. The handle has a kerf.

 

[300Six]

Did he state that he had never re-hung it?

The gentleman has two left hands (or is all thumbs) when it comes to repairing things. He was a recent PhD mining geology graduate when he bought this (plus a Montreal pattern pulpwood Walters) in the 1960s figuring it might be handy for exploration field work. He said the thing scared him enough after trying to use it that he put it away and never used it again. Only reason I got it (his wife discovered it while cleaning out the garage 25 years ago) was I have been replacing rake, shovel and wheelbarrow handles etc for him for a long time.
It's also my understanding that Walters-made replacement handles were not stamped Walters but rather had other markings such as Ideal. I stand to be corrected on this but finished products, and not heads and handles, were what Walters mostly offered to the public. Matter of fact the specific function of the 'factory' in Ogdensburg NY was to assemble heads and handles for the US market.

 

[Square_peg]

Thanks 300. I guess axe handles in new brush axes are more common than I thought. Several folks have seen them.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I think it likely happened around the same time that patterns started shrinking. It reduces inventory requirements.

 

[300Six]

Thanks 300. I guess axe handles in new brush axes are more common than I thought. Several folks have seen them.

You'd have thought the factory would take the time to stuff a shim in the kerf (for appearance sake) before assembly. but I guess it wasn't high priority nor did buyers care.