Pre 1930 Kelly Flint Edge?

L

Lane Ramsey

Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Messages
18
i got this axe off eBay for 15 bucks a few month ago, can’t find anything about it, atleast about one with the same stamping. Has an abnormally large top eye opening, but it’s not it’s bent or broken. Any help?

Photos from eBay listing:https://www.flickr.com/photos/138873432@N03/?

I’ll get some new photos of how it looks now up later.

Thanks for looking!
 
It’s a longgg way from being finished, but it looks a LOT better without all the rust, but the putting on it might be a bit to bad... but non the less, it’s a very cool axe!
Thanks for looking phantomknives!
 
Uploaded some photos of now, as you can see in the photos, the pitting on the one side of the eye is really bad. What intrigues me the most, is if you look at the top of the axe where there is supposed to be tempered steel, it looks like the tempered steel is wrapped around the soft steel, and also why is the tempered steel on both sides dark, then light? I’ve never seen that on an axe before.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138873432@N03/?
 
Lane Ramsey said:
it looks like the tempered steel is wrapped around the soft steel
Click to expand...

That's what's call an overlaid bit. High carbon steel laid over a mild steel core.

What makes you think pre-1930? Do we have a date for when Kelly/TT went mono-steel?
 
The reason why I think it’s pre 1930 is because it doesn’t have a true temper stamping, and it doesn’t say Kelly Axe and Tool Co, but I guess it could be 1930 or newer, but I know it’s 1949 and older because of the no true temper stamping, but has anyone seen a flint edge that has the stamping in that spot? It says Kelly Flint Edge Charleston WV USA (the only reason I saying that is because the stamping is pretty worn off on the one side)
 
Looks like a user in that some one has opened up the bottom of the eye and will be a bit of a problem fitting a standard handle to this head.

thanks
 
Maybe, and I’m not disagreeing with you, because you guys have been restoring these axes longer than I have, but there are no marks, or welds, and it completely straight all the way up on the sides, I can even get a picture of it if you would like to see for yourself, but there is nothing even inside the eye that would suggest that it was cut Open. But it definitely will be a hassle trying to find a good handle to put in it with how large the eye opens up to.
 
Lane Ramsey said:
...I know it’s 1949 and older because of the no true temper stamping...
Click to expand...

1949 is the year of the corporate name change, but True Temper axes (from Kelly) appear in their 1938 catalog:

BookReaderImages.php

https://archive.org/stream/TrueTemperToolsCatalog1R1938/True Temper Tools Catalog 1-R 1938#page/n137/mode/1up

That 1938 catalog also says their axes are drop forged, which is evidence that your overcoat axe was made before then. (Warren Axe and Tool was still using the overcoat method in the 1930s, and their 1937 catalog calls the Warren axes "hand forged", instead of "the cheaper drop-forging process".

If you look closely at the stamp, before the word KELLY is there any faint marking that looks like J.P. as shown below in the bottom-right Vulcan stamp? This might indicate pre-1930 manufacture.

Kelly%20Vulcan%20%20Sta%20Con%209.jpg

image from YesteryearsTools
 
Ok, I never knew that! Thanks! And also, the word Kelly on the axe head is so worn down, you can’t even see it, I mean all it is, is a very very faint k and you can see the ly but nothing else really
 
I posted two new photos with another of my axes, in the same pattern, and all it is, is the top of the eye, nothing is wrong with the bottom, it’s just the top, but I think it came like that from the factory because there are no lines, or welds, nothing, and it’s completely symmetrical on both sides.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138873432@N03/?
 
I’m just gonna leave it as is, and just put a big wedge in it, and make the wedge cut as wide as I can without it damaging the structure of the handle, but after all, it’s just gonna be a wall hanger.
 
Could be the result of numerous winters spent outside with a rotting handle wicking up water from a puddle and then freezing. The expansion of the wood from freezing driving the eye wider over time. I suspect the numerous cracked eyes we find are the victims of this same process. Your axe just had softer steel in the eye so it didn't crack.
 
I’ve never heard about that theory, but that’s highly possible, but the only thing that I’m confused about with that, is if that did happen, then why is the bottom of the eye not misshapen too? I know it wouldn’t be as bad as the top, but I mean it’s perfect on the bottom except for the pitting
 
Lane Ramsey said:
can’t find anything about it, atleast about one with the same stamping
Click to expand...

Lane Ramsey said:
It says Kelly Flint Edge Charleston WV USA (the only reason I saying that is because the stamping is pretty worn off on the one side)
Click to expand...

A single bit I have appears to have the same stamping except the top line says "KELLY'S FLINT EDGE":

23343582940_fec6bd2413_z.jpg



yesteryearstools.com says that Kelly moved to Charleston in 1904. I have tried to date mine but have not found solid evidence of when that mark was used. FWIW, I have seen a few others with "KELLY'S" but not "KELLY". Example (not mine):



Also, so far I have not seen a marking like that associated with A F & H CO or True Temper (the trademark or the company) or strictly to Kelly.

Bob
 
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