It followed me home (Part 2)

jake pogg said:
Why would you want to add weldment to such a sweet little axe?:)

There's a certain fitting homeliness to it,some rural forge,getting close to the end of a workday...:)

What that divot looks like to me is the smith going about it a bit heavy,and smashing that much softer iron in next the steel edge.Once you do that you're screwed,steel is too hard to level that spot back out.
(i've ended up with this particular pox on some of my own forgings:)
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I'll show you a close-up of what worried me first, and a look at the other side.
geySErJ.jpg

Sorry, there wasn't much light on this morning:
lE313Jb.jpg

I thought it was hand-forged when I looked at the broken side. Looking at the other side, I don't know what to make of it.
Maybe I could find somebody to repair the crack, and leave it at that? Or, maybe I can pretend it's fine and leave it alone.
This is a little better. It looks to me like it was plated.
rVRai9O.jpg

hKdreAA.jpg
 
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I'm sorry,yes,i see what you mean.These new photos make me doubt the rural forge scenario too.
That "poxed",pitted side,is most likely the one that was pointed down as the head has lain in some very damp shed,or even right on the ground.
The corrosion followed the layers of imperfectly homogenized iron,eating along the boundaries of iron and slag and possibly through the outer layers that concealed that crack throughout the tool's life...
That fairly recent re-hafting appears to be fairly tight and forceful...Looks like it held up to that,maybe it'll hang together...But you're probably right and it can use the repair afterall.

I don't know much about the possible plating...Sure,it was done in many places and for many reasons,usually with better grade of tools.On the Continent it was fairly common to Copper the nicer of the woodworking tools,but i believe Tin,Nickel,and assorted "German silver"-ish blends of softer alloys were used for added resistance to corrosion.

Are you on the other side of the pond?(Fie fi fo fum?:))...Do you know what regional pattern this would be?
Maybe there's a known tradition of plating associated with that particular area/region...
(Not too long ago Josh Burrell has come into a bunch of old patterns for many olde Englyshe axes...he published them on his Instagram,i b'lieve...i don't have a link though...)
 
jake pogg said:
Are you on the other side of the pond?(Fie fi fo fum?:))...Do you know what regional pattern this would be?
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I'mSoSharp said:
I wonder if it has spent many years laying on a damp/wet floor getting deep rust pitting on the floor side only?
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I'm in SW lower Michigan. It isn't entirely unlike a half-hatchet, but there's no nail notch and the poll is barely there. I don't think I've seen those pointy cheeks (?) on a normal hatchet either. It looks to me like some reenactor or rusticator made or commissioned himself a tomahawk, except for what I think is nickel plating, and what looks to me like a modern-shaped eye.

GgLtPmY.jpg


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I wonder if it could have been made by a factory to commemorate an anniversary of something frontier related. Or Fess Parker merchandising?

I think you're both right that it was lying on one side in the damp. Even an unsealed concrete floor might do such damage, and this old farm probably had some outbuildings with dirt floors.
 
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scrteened porch said:
It looks to me like some reenactor or rusticator made or commissioned himself a tomahawk, except for what I think is nickel plating, and what looks to me like a modern-shaped eye.
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Hmm...Always possible,but looks to be a little better made than that.The edge is steel(you can see the difference in pitting between iron body and steel edge),and in that top-view photo it may even look like it has a hard-plated poll...

The eye would be fairly typical for US for a century and more,and longer than that for UK...
It looks to me like one of the fairly common Brit patterns,frankly,but i may be WAY off(and often am!:)
 
jake pogg said:
Hmm...Always possible,but looks to be a little better made than that.The edge is steel(you can see the difference in pitting between iron body and steel edge),and in that top-view photo it may even look like it has a hard-plated poll...

The eye would be fairly typical for US for a century and more,and longer than that for UK...
It looks to me like one of the fairly common Brit patterns,frankly,but i may be WAY off(and often am!:)
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That's right, the British kept the light poll longer than we did, didn't they? Thanks. I'll look for old catalogues.
 
scrteened porch said:
I'm in SW lower Michigan. It isn't entirely unlike a half-hatchet, but there's no nail notch and the poll is barely there. I don't think I've seen those pointy cheeks (?) on a normal hatchet either. It looks to me like some reenactor or rusticator made or commissioned himself a tomahawk, except for what I think is nickel plating, and what looks to me like a modern-shaped eye.

GgLtPmY.jpg


SREmhZs.jpg


I wonder if it could have been made by a factory to commemorate an anniversary of something frontier related.Or Fess Parker merchandising?

I think you're both right that it was lying on one side in the damp. Even an unsealed concrete floor might do such damage, and this old farm probably had some outbuildings with dirt floors.
Click to expand...
Tiny poll (looks unbalanced) in relation to rest of the hatchet makes me think Ice hatchet with chopped off spike
BookReaderImages.php

https://archive.org/stream/AmericanAxeAndToolCatalog/American Axe and Tool Catalog#page/n17/mode/2up
 
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