It followed me home (Part 2)

I started to clean some axes and I realized that I collected a lot of iron during 3 week period.
1. is it actually miner's axe?
2. red diamond axe( never heard about it before)
3. us 91 woodings-verona: Is it really that hard (Rockwell hardness)?
Bbvwl
not a tool for Alaska?
http://imgur.com/a/Bbvwl
 
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crbnSteeladdict said:
I started to clean some axes and I realized that I collected a lot of iron during 3 week period.
1. is it actually miner's axe?
2. red diamond axe( never heard about it before)
3. us 91: Is it really that hard (Rockwell hardness)?
Bbvwl
not a tool for Alaska?
http://imgur.com/a/Bbvwl
Click to expand...
If you're referring to that first one, what's the handle length ?
If it's about 19" this is typically standard length for a house axe, but If it's shorter it could more likely be a miners axe.
I don't know if there's any actual difference between miners or house axes, or if it's just how they're marketed.
I know that a house axe is just a standard normally 31/2lb head on a 19" handle, and miners axes may or may not be the same which is why the shorter handle may mean something.
 
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A house axe is typically a 2 pound +/- head with boys axe size eye or maybe a little smaller and around a 19" handle. A miners axe is typically 3 or more pounds and has a full size eye. Lengths vary.
 
Hickory n steel said:
If you're referring to that first one, what's the handle length ?
If it's about 19" this is typically standard length for a house axe, but If it's shorter it could more likely be a miners axe.
I don't know if there's any actual difference between miners or house axes, or if it's just how they're marketed.
I know that a house axe is just a standard normally 31/2lb head on a 19" handle, and miners axes may or may not be the same which is why the shorter handle may mean something.
Click to expand...
length 18 inches
full size eye
head weight 4lbs 7oz
total weight 5lbs 2.5 oz
no maker marks only tiny diamond with pimple inside it
http://imgur.com/a/KumEq
 
crbnSteeladdict said:
length 18 inches
full size eye
head weight 4lbs 7oz
total weight 5lbs 2.5 oz
no maker marks only tiny diamond with pimple inside it
http://imgur.com/a/KumEq
Click to expand...
That's a new one for me. My first thought was a typo but I looked at the head size. Does that handle fit the eye and appear to be factory produced?
The diamond stamp on the cheek may point to Plumb as the manufacturer.
 
garry3 said:
That's a new one for me. My first thought was a typo but I looked at the head size. Does that handle fit the eye and appear to be factory produced?
The diamond stamp on the cheek may point to Plumb as the manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Looking at the severe mushrooming, length of the handle, my first idea was somebody mounted this axe on boy scout's handle and used it as a splitting wedge. Well.... it has full size eye, handle feels factory made (whoever owned it had no idea how to rehang it ...just kept nailing additional nails into the eye) . There is 2.5 inches of overlaid insert left( a lot of life left for the bit). The dents and scuff marks on the back of the haft point to primary use as heavy hummer.
It is possible it found its way from Pennsylvania mines to NJ. I am just not sure that severe mushrooming would be consistent with hammering wooden beams in narrow tunnels
 
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Here is a mixed bag of sharp things from this morning.
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr


"Big Indian" - *There is some tall grass out back shaking right now.
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr

Pike end? The guy said it was a fire poker – I tried not to laugh because 1. it’s rude and 2. really no one but a handful of people would see why that is funny…

“A guy could go through wood handled fire pokers pretty quick”, was all I got out lol.
I’m tempted to take it apart for closer look.
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr

This doesn’t look native to around here – German/Austrian sort of thing? The handle struck me.
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr
Coopers handle by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr

Sanvik orange? The hardware is all there, and the I can fix the blade. The handle really is something and looks like I could get a small Finnish axe head on it – good template?
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr

Ok, not an axe (not sure what it is) but I have been experimenting with odds and ends to make removing steel wedges easier – doesn’t that look like something that could be modified somewhat to pry?
MixedBag by Agent Hierarchy, on Flickr
 
Canadian Mojo said:
I was wondering a spanner wrench was doing in there with the other stuff in the first picture.
:D
Click to expand...

Thank you for ID lol. OK, yeah, that one might be more "axle than axe" - I've just been angry at some steel wedges lately and see something useful in it to help me deal with them. Somewhere here there is a post by Square_peg with a tool I think he fashioned to do something similar but can't seem to find it.
 
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I got this pretty decent pure white hickory handle and the 2 wedges for $2.50 at a local store here near my family's house where I'm staying for a few days.
I had to dig and dig through the bin to find this one as the others all had horizontal grain, but for 2$ it's actually a good deal better than the link handles I pay $6.50 for at my local hardware store.
I bought it for my 1.5lb Germantown machinist hammer that could use a better handle, and am going to try my hand at cross wedging for the first time tomorrow when I get home.
 
crbnSteeladdict said:
Looking at the severe mushrooming, length of the handle, my first idea was somebody mounted this axe on boy scout's handle and used it as a splitting wedge. Well.... it has full size eye, handle feels factory made (whoever owned it had no idea how to rehang it ...just kept nailing additional nails into the eye) . There is 2.5 inches of overlaid insert left( a lot of life left for the bit). The dents and scuff marks on the back of the haft point to primary use as heavy hummer.
It is possible it found its way from Pennsylvania mines to NJ. I am just not sure that severe mushrooming would be consistent with hammering wooden beams in narrow tunnels
Click to expand...
Handle looks like maybe its been stained red like the Plumb handles? I would have thought that maybe some one switched heads on an old Plumb house axe handle, they did have a full size eye but you have that triangle stamp on that head also. Its hard to say just what it is...
 
crbnSteeladdict, If that handle is stained "Plumb" red and the axe is of two piece construction then its been rehung on that short haft.
 
I was looking at a photo of the temper line in a Plumb the other day. It showed a curve similar in shape to the bit. A few weeks ago we were trying to think of a way to get a curved quench line in a one piece steel axe (the surface of the liquid quenchant would be a flat plane). I think I might have the answer. Uneven transfer of heat back into the quenched zone. The thicker center of the axe holds more heat and it transfers further back into the bit removing temper.

It's a theory. I'd like to hear other blacksmith's thoughts on this.
 
Steve Tall said:
I don't recall what we know already about the timeline, but today I noticed a mention in a book that said Plumb was producing a one-piece axe in 1911.
Click to expand...
That is the earliest I have heard. From advertising I believe the date was one piece heads by 1915. I can't see much of what information was provided in your link. Was this one piece a prototype? Just one axe in the line or do they say? And I am under the impression that the red handles came out in the twenty's.
 
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