The Mini Hatchet
- Thread starter Hacked
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Just one of the many interesting axe/hatchet niches you'll come across. There are some vary serious mini hatchet collections out there.
Mini hatchets are vary fun little tools and once you've gone camping a few times with one on your hip, its hard not to bring one along on every camp trip.
Of course any hatchet could be carried as a belt hatchet, but theres something special about the size and weight of mini hatchets that make them extra perfect for belt carrying.
If you have the patients and an eye for details, you'll eventually come across a good deal on a mini hatchet... they're rare but common enough that those that really want and seek out one should be able to find a fair deal on one eventually... that said, the secret is relatively out of the bag these days and people have began to charge more for vintage mini hatchets but thats were patients and consistence comes into play, if you stay focused on the hunt you'll eventually find someone thats letting one go for the right price.
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What's the deal with these tiny marvels - Let's talk about it?!?!-
Basically I just wanted to add my general thoughts on the mystery of mini hatchets, since there seems to be vary little info out there about mini hatchets... I figured id start the topic of discussion back up and see if theres any new info or perspectives to be shared here since this forum page was originally created years ago now.
What's the consensus here on salesman samples? are they myth, legend, or real?
Has anyone found vintage catalogs or articles that could help us better understand mini hatchets purpose in the world of axes?... were they simply salesman samples, were they hunter/trapper hatchets, were they wood knockers... were they a salesman sample for some companies turned into full production item by other companies?
This forum generally seems to be the most extensive gathering of info/collectors on mini hatchets that I've came across, but so far through the 20 pages little focus has really been on discussing the actual theories and knowledge behind the true origins of these amazing little tools... I suppose thats cause theres not much info out there beyond general speculation.
I'm still confused as to the original intent of these mini hatchets. In the case of the vaughns/craftsman mini hatchets they were clearly a full production item possibly marketed to hunters/trappers, car campers... but Im beginning to believe vaughn/craftsman were just among the first to see the value in mass producing "salesman sample" hatchets for consumers... maybe marbles was the first? since they certainly had some of the widest variety and most unique and interesting mini specialty hatchet designs out there... but I think the origin's of these tiny marvels still has to come from the world of door to door salesman... and out of the salesman world someone seen the marketability of turning salesman samples into full production mini hatchets... like those by vaughn/craftsman, walters and marbles... and thats some slim pickens knowing how many various axe companies have existed over the years... but those companies are among the few that are known to have had mini hatchets apart of there full production line-up.
In the case of the collins mini hatchet I have, it seems to be what id consider a true salesman sample... mini hatchets clearly aren't a typical hatchet, they seem more so like a scaled down version of a full sized axe... at least thats the case of the collins I have, I have no doubt that my collins mini hatchet couldve/wouldve been lugged around by a salesman for demonstration purposes showcasing the amazing quality of collins full sized axes but on a much smaller and more transportable hatchet sized item, then the full sized axe it was most likely designed off of...
And thats one of the keys to the puzzle imo, hatchets existed and wouldve been just as easily transportable by door to door salesman and yet a salesman sample hatchet seems to be a much different tool... these mini salesman hatchets are clearly a specialty designed tool/item for one purpose or another
.
and when you think about it, the head pattern and shape of a hatchet is pretty standard and common across all companies... of course you got exceptions like the Kelly Tomahawks, Plumb nationals, and various hudson bay hatchet heads but generally speaking a hatchet head from one company to the next is fairly similar... basically always a small Dayton pattern.
but when you get into full size axe head shapes/patterns theres a much wider variety from company to company and the various brand name designs within each company... you've got your Michigans, Connecticuts, Dayton, Cedars, Hudson bays, Tasmanian, Rockaways, Jerseys, Rafting, Half/full wedges and Maine wedges etc etc...
Some of these patterns have of course been used as hatchet heads over the years... but for argument sake lets just say these patterns are more commonly found on full size axe heads vs hatchets and thats were a good salesman sample would come into play...
since for example, a door to door salesman could carry 3-4 of the most popular full size axe patterns from out of the sales catalog with them door to door, through the use of scaled down salesman sample hatchets... which in my mind makes sense, since what salesman wants to lug around 3-4 full sized axes plus whatever else there selling going door to door, when you could just bring a salesman sample thats essentially a scaled down replica of the full sized axes.
When it comes to my collins mini hatchet, collins made soo many axes and was among the leaders of axe sales/production for so many years... if the mini hatchet was a true production item of collins there should be catalog ads showcasing it, not to mention many many more found in the wild... just like the commander and homestead collins axes/hatchets for example, which are readily still found all over to this day... and the ads/spec sheets are easily findable on the internet but the collins mini hatchet I have to my knowledge is extremely rare (first and only one I've ever seen) and the more I think about it, look at it, and feel it... the more convinced I am that this was some kind of a limited produced product for sales/marketing purposes... aka a salesman sample.
If the salesman hatchet theories are correct, its interesting to think of how these little guys got released into the wild... companies must've made vary limited quantities of there salesman samples to be distributed to various sales teams... I'm surprised they didn't have individual serial numbers or any kind of unique identification tracing numbers on these mini hatchets... I mean surely salesman would've took the samples for themselves from time to time and then simply reported them as lost to the company... forgetting to pack an item or two back up, either purposely or accidentally after an in home sales demo likely happened fairly often... but even more interesting to me is the thought that some salesman may have even been convinced to sell customers the salesman samples under the table after a little haggling by the customers.
To round things up, salesman sample mini hatchets are vary interesting and mysterious... outside of the vaughns and craftsman mini hatchets, marbles, walters midget axes, and of course gransfors mini hatchet... mini hatchets seem to be quite rare... like seriously 85-90% of the vintage mini hatchets I've seen on flea-bay are usually vaughn or craftsman... I've seen vary few to none at all from the major 3 companies Collins, Plumb and Kelly... and thats one of the strangest pieces of the puzzle since if there was some kind of an emerging new market for mini hatchets back in the day that marbles, walters and vaughn some how seen and were able to capitalize on, you'd think the big 3 would've also known about it and been on top of the emerging trend enough, that we should see many many more mini hatchets from the big 3 companies... it seems even back in the day these mini hatchets were a niche market that few were able to capitalize on at the time.
but what do I know?!? that's literally just opinions and theories of mine... so it all must be taken with a grain of salt, but I think theirs some reasonable truths and theories in there.
Mini hatchets are one of the axe world riddles that we may never find the true history behind, so its interesting to see other peoples knowledge and theories on the subject being shared, so again, I just wanted to re-spark the general discussion of where these mini hatchets/belt hatchets/salesman sample hatchets came from and what there intended purposes were... whats truth, whats myth... whats known and whats theorized... Lets talk about it folks.
Basically I just wanted to add my general thoughts on the mystery of mini hatchets, since there seems to be vary little info out there about mini hatchets... I figured id start the topic of discussion back up and see if theres any new info or perspectives to be shared here since this forum page was originally created years ago now.
What's the consensus here on salesman samples? are they myth, legend, or real?
Has anyone found vintage catalogs or articles that could help us better understand mini hatchets purpose in the world of axes?... were they simply salesman samples, were they hunter/trapper hatchets, were they wood knockers... were they a salesman sample for some companies turned into full production item by other companies?
This forum generally seems to be the most extensive gathering of info/collectors on mini hatchets that I've came across, but so far through the 20 pages little focus has really been on discussing the actual theories and knowledge behind the true origins of these amazing little tools... I suppose thats cause theres not much info out there beyond general speculation.
I'm still confused as to the original intent of these mini hatchets. In the case of the vaughns/craftsman mini hatchets they were clearly a full production item possibly marketed to hunters/trappers, car campers... but Im beginning to believe vaughn/craftsman were just among the first to see the value in mass producing "salesman sample" hatchets for consumers... maybe marbles was the first? since they certainly had some of the widest variety and most unique and interesting mini specialty hatchet designs out there... but I think the origin's of these tiny marvels still has to come from the world of door to door salesman... and out of the salesman world someone seen the marketability of turning salesman samples into full production mini hatchets... like those by vaughn/craftsman, walters and marbles... and thats some slim pickens knowing how many various axe companies have existed over the years... but those companies are among the few that are known to have had mini hatchets apart of there full production line-up.
In the case of the collins mini hatchet I have, it seems to be what id consider a true salesman sample... mini hatchets clearly aren't a typical hatchet, they seem more so like a scaled down version of a full sized axe... at least thats the case of the collins I have, I have no doubt that my collins mini hatchet couldve/wouldve been lugged around by a salesman for demonstration purposes showcasing the amazing quality of collins full sized axes but on a much smaller and more transportable hatchet sized item, then the full sized axe it was most likely designed off of...
And thats one of the keys to the puzzle imo, hatchets existed and wouldve been just as easily transportable by door to door salesman and yet a salesman sample hatchet seems to be a much different tool... these mini salesman hatchets are clearly a specialty designed tool/item for one purpose or another
.
and when you think about it, the head pattern and shape of a hatchet is pretty standard and common across all companies... of course you got exceptions like the Kelly Tomahawks, Plumb nationals, and various hudson bay hatchet heads but generally speaking a hatchet head from one company to the next is fairly similar... basically always a small Dayton pattern.
but when you get into full size axe head shapes/patterns theres a much wider variety from company to company and the various brand name designs within each company... you've got your Michigans, Connecticuts, Dayton, Cedars, Hudson bays, Tasmanian, Rockaways, Jerseys, Rafting, Half/full wedges and Maine wedges etc etc...
Some of these patterns have of course been used as hatchet heads over the years... but for argument sake lets just say these patterns are more commonly found on full size axe heads vs hatchets and thats were a good salesman sample would come into play...
since for example, a door to door salesman could carry 3-4 of the most popular full size axe patterns from out of the sales catalog with them door to door, through the use of scaled down salesman sample hatchets... which in my mind makes sense, since what salesman wants to lug around 3-4 full sized axes plus whatever else there selling going door to door, when you could just bring a salesman sample thats essentially a scaled down replica of the full sized axes.
When it comes to my collins mini hatchet, collins made soo many axes and was among the leaders of axe sales/production for so many years... if the mini hatchet was a true production item of collins there should be catalog ads showcasing it, not to mention many many more found in the wild... just like the commander and homestead collins axes/hatchets for example, which are readily still found all over to this day... and the ads/spec sheets are easily findable on the internet but the collins mini hatchet I have to my knowledge is extremely rare (first and only one I've ever seen) and the more I think about it, look at it, and feel it... the more convinced I am that this was some kind of a limited produced product for sales/marketing purposes... aka a salesman sample.
If the salesman hatchet theories are correct, its interesting to think of how these little guys got released into the wild... companies must've made vary limited quantities of there salesman samples to be distributed to various sales teams... I'm surprised they didn't have individual serial numbers or any kind of unique identification tracing numbers on these mini hatchets... I mean surely salesman would've took the samples for themselves from time to time and then simply reported them as lost to the company... forgetting to pack an item or two back up, either purposely or accidentally after an in home sales demo likely happened fairly often... but even more interesting to me is the thought that some salesman may have even been convinced to sell customers the salesman samples under the table after a little haggling by the customers.
To round things up, salesman sample mini hatchets are vary interesting and mysterious... outside of the vaughns and craftsman mini hatchets, marbles, walters midget axes, and of course gransfors mini hatchet... mini hatchets seem to be quite rare... like seriously 85-90% of the vintage mini hatchets I've seen on flea-bay are usually vaughn or craftsman... I've seen vary few to none at all from the major 3 companies Collins, Plumb and Kelly... and thats one of the strangest pieces of the puzzle since if there was some kind of an emerging new market for mini hatchets back in the day that marbles, walters and vaughn some how seen and were able to capitalize on, you'd think the big 3 would've also known about it and been on top of the emerging trend enough, that we should see many many more mini hatchets from the big 3 companies... it seems even back in the day these mini hatchets were a niche market that few were able to capitalize on at the time.
but what do I know?!? that's literally just opinions and theories of mine... so it all must be taken with a grain of salt, but I think theirs some reasonable truths and theories in there.
Mini hatchets are one of the axe world riddles that we may never find the true history behind, so its interesting to see other peoples knowledge and theories on the subject being shared, so again, I just wanted to re-spark the general discussion of where these mini hatchets/belt hatchets/salesman sample hatchets came from and what there intended purposes were... whats truth, whats myth... whats known and whats theorized... Lets talk about it folks.
Hickory n steel
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I think they're just small hatchets, or trappers hatchets.
Remember the " bag axe" or " belt axe " of the colonial and frontier days, they were a pretty small tool like this.
If they were salesman samples you'd see more patterns than just a Michigan pattern, a carpenters half hatchet, or the oyster hatchet.
And if I'm not mistaken axe manufacturers would connect with hardware distribution companies who specializes in supplying tools to hardware stores.
Maybe I'm wrong , but I never pictured every manufacturer having their own salesman traveling around.
I don't imagine any kind of door to door home sales, and I'm not sure salesman samples would be necessary for axes in general.
I bet that if the salesman for a distributor told the hardware store owner " these axes have all the desirable features, are of good quality, and are competitively priced " the store owner would probably buy them based on pictures alone.
Maybe there were " suttler " types who would travel to mining camps or logging camps selling tools but I don't know if they were just showing the tools available for order or actually selling what they had their wagon loaded with.
Remember the " bag axe" or " belt axe " of the colonial and frontier days, they were a pretty small tool like this.
If they were salesman samples you'd see more patterns than just a Michigan pattern, a carpenters half hatchet, or the oyster hatchet.
And if I'm not mistaken axe manufacturers would connect with hardware distribution companies who specializes in supplying tools to hardware stores.
Maybe I'm wrong , but I never pictured every manufacturer having their own salesman traveling around.
I don't imagine any kind of door to door home sales, and I'm not sure salesman samples would be necessary for axes in general.
I bet that if the salesman for a distributor told the hardware store owner " these axes have all the desirable features, are of good quality, and are competitively priced " the store owner would probably buy them based on pictures alone.
Maybe there were " suttler " types who would travel to mining camps or logging camps selling tools but I don't know if they were just showing the tools available for order or actually selling what they had their wagon loaded with.
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I'm with Hickory n steel on this. I've never seen a mini hatchet that I believed was a salesman sample. All I've seen have been purpose built as a mini hatchets. All of us who have them recognize their usefulness.
You have to think about it, no salesman ever went door to door selling axes. He was marketing strictly to the large hardware suppliers and logging companies and maybe a few other industries like railroads. Those types are going to have to handle and test a full size axe before they place an order.
You have to think about it, no salesman ever went door to door selling axes. He was marketing strictly to the large hardware suppliers and logging companies and maybe a few other industries like railroads. Those types are going to have to handle and test a full size axe before they place an order.
Hickory n steel
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Absolutely.
Were not talking ice boxes here.
And another thing to think about is that dimensionally they're always just small hatchets, you could not scale one up and end up with a correctly proportioned axe.
They are very clearly made to a size intended for use.
Btw heres a real salesman sample
Obviously this is just for handles, I have no clue how axes would be transported.
Would be cool to have regardless, but I'd be too tempted to hang heads on 'em.
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Hickory n steel
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Looks like Vaughan & Bushnell no longer makes the little Sub Zero super sportsman 
The little 2/0 oyster hatchet is still listed, but out of stock.
That ones probably on it's way out as well.
Luckily I have 2 super sportsmans, too bad I gave the third one I had away.
The little 2/0 oyster hatchet is still listed, but out of stock.
That ones probably on it's way out as well.
Luckily I have 2 super sportsmans, too bad I gave the third one I had away.
Helping my dad clean out my grandfather’s house, we ran across this little thing. My dad said he couldn’t remember whether he or his dad found it, but his dad made a handle for it and let my dad run around with it. I will try to get better pictures of it later.
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Hickory n steel
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It looks very typical of the common style for " belt axes " in the 1800's, but more pictures would definitely help.
Looking over this thread and seeing what it holds, I'm tempted to ask a blacksmith what they could do with a 4-6 ounce piece of 1055 steel and a ball peen hammer handle.
But I know the end result for their time and labor would still be more expensive than what I'd pay for a vintage mini hatchet. So even though I might have one, the endeavor wouldn't be cost effective.
But I know the end result for their time and labor would still be more expensive than what I'd pay for a vintage mini hatchet. So even though I might have one, the endeavor wouldn't be cost effective.
Hickory n steel
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I just finished redoing this one, it was riding in the toolbox on the back of my minibike for a while and the handle got chewed up by the sharp spine of little Fanno folding saw I had with it.
It's hard to believe the handles for these little Vaughan super sportsman's actually have this shape hidden in them.
Honestly they actually have all the proper contours, all you gotta do is exaggerate them and slim the handle way down.
Edit: looking back through this thread, I can see that Vaughan seems to have improved the handles for these more recently. Especially what I had to work with for this one and the other I had ordered at the same time 2 years ago, they were much nicer than the first I bought almost 10 years ago.
I could not have pulled these shapes out of my first one, and it had the terrible handle I'm used to seeing on these.
I really hope Vaughan decides to bring these back, but sadly I know that they just weren't selling , not enough people are looking to buy a brand new hatchet that is a work in progress.
It's hard to believe the handles for these little Vaughan super sportsman's actually have this shape hidden in them.
Honestly they actually have all the proper contours, all you gotta do is exaggerate them and slim the handle way down.
Edit: looking back through this thread, I can see that Vaughan seems to have improved the handles for these more recently. Especially what I had to work with for this one and the other I had ordered at the same time 2 years ago, they were much nicer than the first I bought almost 10 years ago.
I could not have pulled these shapes out of my first one, and it had the terrible handle I'm used to seeing on these.
I really hope Vaughan decides to bring these back, but sadly I know that they just weren't selling , not enough people are looking to buy a brand new hatchet that is a work in progress.
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This is a strange little head bought at a Flea market in Portugal. (Sorry for the poor images, I've broken my good camera so these are taken with an ancient tablet).
The bit is hardened, but what it was for is anyone's guess, very thin, very light with a fairly small eye. I'll guess a handle shape for fun & see what it's like.
The bit is hardened, but what it was for is anyone's guess, very thin, very light with a fairly small eye. I'll guess a handle shape for fun & see what it's like.
Hickory n steel
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It's not my best work ever but it's not too bad, and it's definitely functional albeit a bit tight until it breaks in.
Hickory n steel
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Now that's a real beauty.I don't know who made the various mini axe's but this is most definitely a Mann made example.
It definitely deserves a special properly scaled handle.
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Made a handle from a dry wild olive branch I had..... 
12-1/2" long. Should get a chance to play with it tomorrow, I'm not expecting much!
12-1/2" long. Should get a chance to play with it tomorrow, I'm not expecting much!
Hickory n steel
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Certainly looks appropriate.Made a handle from a dry wild olive branch I had.....
12-1/2" long. Should get a chance to play with it tomorrow, I'm not expecting much!
That backwards curve to the handle seems to have opened the hang some too, the bit on that head really angles downwards.
I'm sure theres a reason for that, but I don't know anything at all about axes from other regions.
It's definitely a cool little axe.
The Zieg
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This would be a terrific axe for trail rides (in my case, on a horse, though motorbikes and bicycles cross country would also benefit from having it along).Made a handle from a dry wild olive branch I had.....
12-1/2" long. Should get a chance to play with it tomorrow, I'm not expecting much!
Zieg
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