Vintager Chinese Kung-Fu axes, hatchets....put em' up!

G

gben

Joined
Nov 26, 2014
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501
A ramshackle hatchet of Chinese origin tuned up for use this summer. It is definitely decades old, but who knows how old it is? I re-set the loose handle with some new wedge material, took off some burrs that had grown from it being used as a hammer, and gave it a dangerously sharp edge. Cutting edge of this hatchet is near file-hard! It had to be ground sharp with stones. The rest of it is tempered to be softer as it should be. It was two dollars at a local second-hand sale. It is going to be fun using it this season.

I have sent an image of this to a friend of mine in Taiwan to see if he can decipher the Chinese symbol. Notice the little picture of a knife or blade-tool next to the symbol, cool.

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It looks like a chicken head to me, probably beheaded more then a few of them in it's day.
 
Thank-you Steve. I just got a message back from my friend in Taiwan that said the Chinese character does indeed say "deer". If he comes up with any information on this company I will certainly throw it up here.
 
I liked what 300six said in another thread on this manufacturer:

300Six said:
It's hugely fashionable to begrudge the Chinese these days for 'inexpensively making min-spec goods that consumers think they need/want' but in truth Asia (China, in the most part) is at the heart of civilization when it comes to innovation and manufacture. 2000 years ago they invented gunpowder and initiated a host of other useful technologies that ultimately led to European dominance of the world.
Might well be that you have a Mao Tse Tung-inspired n. American export implement in your hands (based on shape and profile) and might well be that this was crafted on a 'people's assembly line' by an impoverished and wizened old 'cat', that knew exactly what needed doing and had 50 years (and many generations) of experience behind him.
Samurai-type (multiple-laminated steel) swords of Japan were dismissed as frivolous junk world-wide until USA and a few other swell-headed world powers had the misfortune of having experienced them.
Get out your axe file to see if it 'skates', or not, and then get yourself prepared to go to bat on behalf of (or against) the inferiority of import axes.
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A file does indeed skate on the cutting edge of the Deer hatchet, and although it has seen much use it is not cracked through the eye like a few Plumb axes/hatchets I have here. So it looks like a quality product and there is no reason to dismiss it just because it is from China.
 
Found this one last weekend only marking is 1 1/2 on bottom of poll, could be one of these or not.

P5050114.jpg P5050116.jpg
 
RICKOFF said:
Found this one last weekend only marking is 1 1/2 on bottom of poll, could be one of these or not.
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The "followed me home" thread has another head with 1 1/2 on the bottom of poll, with a diamond stamp and a ZH, Those diamond stamps are sometimes found with "Made in China" visible. "ZH" is a trademark of Suqian Zhenhao Tools and Hardware Co., Ltd., Jiangsu, China.

marbat said:
A nice old lady gave me this 1 1/2 lbs hatchet today. Not sure what I got as it is very rusty but otherwise very good shape.

Only markings aside from 1 1/2 lbs I can see.

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Thanks, Steve was only 3 dolla and it looked OK. But looks more like the one that gben posted without the markings.
 
I thought the haft that it came with was not original because the bit was mounted upside down and pulled it. Later I googled the haft part# and came up with this.
HA50 lable.jpg HA50.JPG P5060127.jpg

Great Neck HA50 I'm going to try to use the haft again and see if it will make a good kindling hatchet. (Made in China)
 
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