True Temper 1957 catalog

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Steve Tall

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Aug 28, 2010
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True Temper Striking Tools
Catalog A57
Axes, Hammers, Hatchets, Heavy Goods

BookReaderImages.php


https://archive.org/stream/TrueTemperStrikingToolsCatalogA57/True Temper Striking Tools Catalog A57#page/n0/mode/2up
 
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The following axe brands were available from True Temper's 1957 catalog:

Kelly Perfect
Red Warrior
World's Finest (equivalent to Red Warrior)
Flint Edge
Vulcan (equivalent to Flint Edge)
Woodslasher (Red)
Champion (Black equivalent to Woodslasher)
Tommy Axe
Tomahawk
 
The 1957 catalog from True Temper includes:

"Hard poll" on Kelly Perfect (with "extra strength in the eye section.")
"Dock Axes" in Dayton Pattern as an option for "Constructors Axes... for use as maul."
"Undercut Axe... Made especially for use with power saws in felling timber."
 
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Thanks Steve! I wonder what the manufacturing difference was between "hard poll" Perfects and ....." for maul use" Dayton pattern 'dock' axes.
 
Steve Tall said:
The 1957 catalog from True Temper includes:

"Hard poll" on Kelly Perfect (with "extra strength in the eye section.")
"Dock Axes" in Dayton Pattern as an option for "Constructors Axes... for use as maul."
"Undercut Axe... Made especially for use with power saws in felling timber."
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So cool to see the Undercutter in that catalog.

The descriptions suggest that any of their modern axes could be heat treated to harden the polls.

Even the Woodslasher,
"Forged from a solid bar of high carbon sieel, properly heat treated and tempered."
 
Steve Tall said:
World's Finest (equivalent to Red Warrior)
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i think i regret not buying those red warriors i saw.

on a different note, what the heck did they put in the kelly perfect paint? i tried to sand a small bit off and scratched at it with a screwdriver and that stuff was harder than the axe head itself
 
phantomknives said:
...what the heck did they put in the kelly perfect paint? i tried to sand a small bit off and scratched at it with a screwdriver and that stuff was harder than the axe head itself
Click to expand...

The 1938 True Temper catalog describes "Making the Finish Permanent" by baking on the surface coatings in electric ovens. The final finishes are then applied by hand. The upper left photos show the finishing department with a Kelly Perfect axe being painted:

BookReaderImages.php

https://archive.org/stream/TrueTemperToolsCatalog1R1938/True Temper Tools Catalog 1-R 1938#page/n141/mode/1up
 
I passed up a True Temper undercutter that was heaped in with a load of Pulaskis about 2 months ago. A little sorry I did but I didn't have cash and had one one of those moments of, "Do I need it?"

The answer to that question was "no" when I went back two days later and it was gone.

my thoughts were that I hope someone was excited to find it.
 
i was thinking about getting a CT pulaski and doin the old angle grinder conversion to it to get an undercutter but i decided $65 was out of the price range for project aimed to save money
 
Agent_H said:
I passed up a True Temper undercutter that was heaped in with a load of Pulaskis about 2 months ago. A little sorry I did but I didn't have cash and had one one of those moments of, "Do I need it?"

The answer to that question was "no" when I went back two days later and it was gone.

my thoughts were that I hope someone was excited to find it.
Click to expand...
I have found several like that. They think they are Pulaski's.
 
I have been on a tear lately and have accumulated the following True Tempers before Kelly Works markings. 1) Kelly Perfect Double Bit 2) Lippincott Double Bit, 3) Worlds Finest Hatchet 4) Tommy Axe Hatchet 5) Tomahawk Hatchet. I can tell you laying these besides any other vintage axe you can see the difference in quality steel and the craftsman Ship. I'm wanting to make a display box and put all together as a family. Still looking for others to add to the collection.
 
Curious that True Temper was slow off the mark with regard to undercutter axes. Either that or they had oodles of unsold inventory in 1957, or didn't know when to quit making them. If I recall Walters Axe had originated these some 20-25 years earlier and had already stopped making them in the 1950s after carburetion of chainsaws had been vastly improved upon.
 
300Six said:
Curious that True Temper was slow off the mark with regard to undercutter axes. Either that or they had oodles of unsold inventory in 1957, or didn't know when to quit making them. If I recall Walters Axe had originated these some 20-25 years earlier and had already stopped making them in the 1950s after carburetion of chainsaws had been vastly improved upon.
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Walters made the undercutter axes from 1938 to 1955, according to Larry McPhail:

McPhail also found an undercutter ax in Klenman's collection. It's one of 50 prototypes made by the Walters Ax Company for Vancouver area loggers. It was specifically designed to knock out the notch left by the first Stihl chainsaws imported to the area in 1938. "It was a short production ax, made from 1938 to 1955," McPhail says. "I feel really lucky to have one of the original 50."
https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=21880
 
Thank you Steve. You can be counted on having the facts at your fingertips rather than relying on faulty memory.
I was sent out on an emergency call to help rescue campers and trailers from Whiskers Point Provincial Park in BC in the summer of 1980. The mature 100+ foot high spruce trees that had blown over or broke off during a wind storm effectively sealed off the campground. Somewhere gov't of BC found an old (mostly unused but of late 50s-mid 60s era) Pioneer chainsaw with a very a primitive clutch that wasn't very effective because the chain turned when you hauled on the starter, and wouldn't stop spinning while the motor was running, for me to use. It sure instilled in me an appreciation for 'modern' saws.
 
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