Joseph Breck - type of axe???

[CapeApe]

Can anyone tell me what type of axe this is...
and anything about the company: Joseph Breck & Sons - Boston, Mass.
This looks unique to me because it looks like it is hand forged around the handle, as opposed to just a cast piece.
<img src=http://www.use.com/2013_12_10_216_4e7b00b6c2baa157b162?p=1#photo=1>

http://www.use.com/gencodes.pl?set=4e7b00b6c2baa157b162&preview=4
Sorry! I don't know which of these image links will work. Typing from my new ipad.

 

[Steve Tall]

It's a sod axe.


To get your photos to show, you need the .jpg format. Here's one of your photos:

Here's an example from the booklet "An Ax to Grind":

Figure 24--A 19th-century sod ax for building sod houses.

from http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_trails/publications/fs_publications/99232823/page08.cfm

 

[Steve Tall]

In this big document about old tools, there is a photo of a similar axe from Joseph Breck on page 94:
http://www.toolsteach.org/pdfs/iconography.pdf


Some info about the company (from another thread):

Curiosity led me to look up the company history (from Wikipedia):

"Joseph Breck (1794–1873) was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. He founded his business, Joseph Breck & Company, in 1818, in Boston, Massachusetts...In 1840, Breck published his company’s first catalog, the New England Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store Catalogue, to promote his company’s products...Breck bought a house in Brighton, MA, in 1854 and lived there until his death. The company continued through the years as a garden supply company. In the 1950s, Luther Adams “Bo” Breck, the fifth-generation Breck, transformed the family business into a Dutch bulb importer and flower bulb catalog company... The company still exists today as Breck's." [Brecks.com now sells bulbs and perennials.]

I wonder who made their axes, and when they stopped selling them (1950s?)...

 

[Square_peg]

In this big document about old tools, there is a photo of a similar axe from Joseph Breck on page 94:
http://www.toolsteach.org/pdfs/iconography.pdf

Wow, thanks for that.

 

[Operator1975]

I have two Brecks Victors axes - no idea if same makers though.

 

[Steve Tall]

I have two Brecks Victors axes - no idea if same makers though.

Same maker, I mean same distributor (Brecks apparently had other companies manufacture their axes, similar to Cold Steel and their knives).

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