Vaughan 1940 catalog

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Steve Tall

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Another old catalog posted to archive.org (thanks to Mark Stansbury):

https://archive.org/stream/VaughanFineTools1940/Vaughan Fine Tools 1940#page/n5/mode/2up

Interesting that the Vaughan axes were made by electrically welding a "tool steel blade" to a poll/eye made of lower-grade steel. The single-bit axes started out as two pieces, and the double-bit axes were four pieces, before the welding. (see catalog page 5, archive page reference 7/32)

The Vaughan "Sub-Zero" Axe has "no high-carbon steel in the eye to crystallize when frozen." It gets a special Double Heat Treatment after welding, and is said to be suitable for chopping at temperatures down to 50 degrees below zero (see catalog page 6, archive page reference 8/32).

Vaughan had a "Tropical Hardwood Axe" having an "extra-thin" (with high-centerline) "Chip Clearance Blade" (see catalog page 7, archive page reference 9/32).

More axes are on catalog pages 8 and 9 (archive page references 10/32 and 11/32). Some Vaughan hatchets appear later in the catalog.
 
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Vaughan's patents, granted 1934, for the electrical welding of axe "blades" to the poll/eye pieces:

Single bit:
https://www.google.com/patents/US1948548

Double bit:
https://www.google.com/patents/US1948549

US1948548-0.png

US1948549-0.png
 
That sub zero Michigan , and the tropical hardwoods axe sure look nice and I'd love to see an actual example if anyone here ever finds one.

Its pretty cool to know that the 999 rip caw has been around since at least the 40's and still going strong as basically the best hickory handled rip claw ever.
I've always loved Vaughan & Bushnell, so thanks for sharing this:thumbsup:
 
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Thank you Steve.This explains a lot.
More and more,i think,we may infer that the contrasting,darker "temper line" is actually a weld boundary.
Be it an axe-blade,or a hammer face and claw.
And it stands to reason(or at the very least i'm,personally, consistently failing to discover a metallurgical reason for the HT'd portion to become darker in appearance).
 
Steve,thanks again,that's a very good point.
I'm afraid that i must say "i dunno...",(and same to what Square-peg says above...).
I'm not sure if tempered martensite(or whatever structure the alloy was heat-treated to)would oxidise Visibly differently,And,if so,that it'd turn a darker color.
The photo in that thread you posted a link to is kinda unique...Don Hanson,one of the folks that seemed to think that it was right and proper,is ultra-experienced,knowledgeble smith,i'd never doubt his opinion.
However,it's actually one of Don's specialties,the visible so-called "hamon" a Japanese term for the observable Ht effect.It is Anything but easy to achieve,even with more sophisticated etching processes.
And i believe,in MOST cases,the hardened part is Lighter in color....
(metallurgy tends to be that way,never entirely black and white...)

(i do apologise for diluting this thread ).
 
Here's a Plumb flooring hatchet with temper lines on the bit and poll.

Plumb%20flooring%20hatchet.jpg


Also note that the temper line is deepest where there is the least mass behind it at the nail notch.

FWIW, I think it CAN be a weld line but isn't necessarily.
 
Square_peg said:
And I still wonder why temper lines are sometimes curved and sometimes straight. The curved ones are always deepest at the edges and never in the center.
Click to expand...

Likewise,i wonder about that too...Possibly,when differentially HT'd,the edges will be hotter then the center-they're thinner(in convex-bladed american axes),and have more areas exposed to heat.
Indeed,it would take some doing to heat so as to form a straight line(thus this electric trick of Vaughn's is so revelatory).
And so it Would form just the curvature we see often...However,again,i know not what form of internal structure would appear so visibly when etched....:(
 
Super steel was the same price,does that mean same quality ?Got a supersteel Michigan, hard to imagine they made a better one.
 
On page twelve the Vaughan-Super Vanadium hammer comes with a wax hole in the end of the handle. I knew this was a thing for some old guys that filled their handles with oil but had no idea that a manufacturer actually predrilled it.
So is this hole for filling with oil or just a handy place to keep some wax on hand? Or both?
 
garry3 said:
On page twelve the Vaughan-Super Vanadium hammer comes with a wax hole in the end of the handle. I knew this was a thing for some old guys that filled their handles with oil but had no idea that a manufacturer actually predrilled it.
So is this hole for filling with oil or just a handy place to keep some wax on hand? Or both?
Click to expand...

"For waxing nails to be driven into hardwood."

content

from 1917 ad
 
I used to keep a bit of candle wax in my nail bags for just this purpose. Helpful if you had to drive a nail right next to a knot.
 
Steve Tall said:
"For waxing nails to be driven into hardwood."
Click to expand...

There was a contractor I worked for in the late 1980's who told me a story about this. He used to work for his father, a contractor before him. There was a woman on the crew who was an excellent carpenter in her own right and went on to become a successful contractor. One of the guys on the crew used to like to tease her about 'hammering like a girl'. So she challenged him to a contest to see who could nail off the studs in a wall fastest, one contestant working the top plate, the other the bottom plate. It was close but she beat him and he had to eat crow. Later she confessed to my old boss that she had waxed every nail in her bag. They were framing with 16 penny galvies.
 
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