Craftsman stamps

I had the opportunity to look through a few old Sears catalogs today. I saw the years 1896, 1905, 1910, 1927 and 1955. The four older catalogs only showed other maker's axes - nothing from Craftsman. The 1955 catalog showed the Craftsman stamp with the block lettering as seen in the 4th and 5th photos of my original post. So no help at all on dating these stamps.

There's another museum in town that supposed to have a complete set of Sears catalogs dating back to before the turn of the 20th century. Hopefully that will turn up something.
 
Square_peg said:
Thanks for the pics, Cedar. I've seen pictures of that stamp but never knew anyone who had one. Let us know what you think of the steel I bet it's good.
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Yeah, the steel seemed to feel pretty good under the file today. It sharpened up quite nicely. Will let you know how it holds up to the abuse of a ten year old once I make a handle for it and turn him loose with it.

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I really do like the geometry of this little guy.
 
Sears bought the Craftsman name form the Marion-Craftsman Tool Co in 1927, according to searsarchives.com. So that complicates things.
 
Thanks. That explains why I found no Craftsman axes in the early catalogs. I found on Wikipedia that Sears bought the Craftsman name in 1927 for $500. At $500 it couldn't have been a largely produced name brand if it was used at all prior to that. So I think we're safe to assume that anything marked Craftsman is almost surely made after 1927.
 
Came across a Craftsman double in an oval (can't remember if it was a double oval). Guy said $20 for that and another smalller boy's axe (unknown maker as yet). Handle is pretty much gone. Too much?
 
I think the old Craftsman axes are really nice (good steel, good geometry) but they don't seem to fetch a lot of money on the bay. Keep 'em as users.
 
Made out good for $20. Double oval craftsman. Nice geometry. Second axe turned out to be a plumb house axe.



 
Here's one I picked up recently. A Connecticut pattern. Very abused but going to make a go of it as usual. I know Craftsman isn't that popular but that's not a bad thing.



saw this on the 'bay. interesting.

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CedarEater said:
The hatchet head arrived today. At this point I do believe this is the earliest of the Craftsman stamps.

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I noticed this stamp on the bottom of the head and I don't know what it means. Looks to me like it was double stamped E5 or F5.

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I hope my son will appreciate and enjoy his 10th birthday present.
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Love that stamp! Nice present for sure.
It seems that the Golden Jubilee's are not at all uncommon. Must have made them for more than one year?
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I've got a hatchet with no ovals on the stamp, markings on the bottom. It has a high centerline and the hardest steel I've ever encountered.
 
Has anyone seen this Craftsman stamp before? I'm new to the forums and picked this up at a yard sale last week for $2 Didn't realize it wasn't a regular hatchet till I got it home. It just says Craftsman, no ovals, no manufacturing numbers. It does have a dash to the left of the name and a 4 to the right.
 
I may soon have more information on the dates of the various Craftsman stamps. I was contacted today by a museum which has a collection of Sears Roebuck catalogs dating back to the turn of the last century. In a couple weeks I'll get to view them (and hopefully photograph them). It sure would be nice to have a chronology for old Craftsman stamps.
 
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