Tool Talk
What's-It Forum => What's-It Forum => Topic started by: Twilight Fenrir on September 27, 2016, 09:29:06 PM
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I bought a box lot at auction, because it had a 100+ year old Cat's Head hammer in it... There were a few other interesting tools in the box, but the Cat's head is what I was after... However, this other little piece was in the box and has my stumped...
It's a hatchet head, but unless it was used to make matches and popsicle sticks, I can't figure out why it exists this small. The blade is 2" across, and 3" from bite to heel. It is drifted just like a regular axe... but proportionate...
Is this a saleseman sample? Or was this actually made to be used for something in particular?
(http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q226/Midnight_Fenrir/Tool%20Pron/IMG_20160927_210001_zpsmovulfnq.jpg)
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Possibly a child's toy back before everyone wimped out and started considering eyesight and ten fingers as being necessary parts of later life. (I hope I channeled Aunt Phil properly.)
Maybe a a souvenir or promo?
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Roy Underhill had a small hatchet he said was for chopping dovetails. LOL
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It is not distinctive enough to represent a particular hatchet, and so it would not be a good salesman's sample.
It looks like it was never sharpened, and so that seems to suggest a toy.
What is the purpose of the hole, and what happened to the handle? Puppy chewed it to pieces?
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It is not distinctive enough to represent a particular hatchet, and so it would not be a good salesman's sample.
It looks like it was never sharpened, and so that seems to suggest a toy.
What is the purpose of the hole, and what happened to the handle? Puppy chewed it to pieces?
I would say it was probably sharp at one point or another.... The back of the head is slightly mushroomed from being struck by a hammer. But it is dull as a froe at the moment....
The hole is probably to help keep the handle on, seeing as how the eye isn't much wider than a wedge, traditional means wouldn't be as practical?
I dunno, it could very well be a toy, but it feels like a real tool, and I get the impression that it is probably very old, but I've been wrong on that befofe :P
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maybe for busting up candy or ice,back in the day?
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Belt axes were carried by hunters and others in the 1700s and early 1800s. Is it 3 piece construction (2 iron and one steel) or later all steel construction? It looks like a little more modern kindling ax from the one photo. If it is 3 piece, then I would lean towards a belt axe.
I had a friend who had a Ft. Miegs ax that looked similar to that one. Google Kentucky belt axe and Ft. Miegs axe; a few look like it, although most of those were more elongated.
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Take a top view pic, that can give hints as to age.
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I dunno, it could very well be a toy, but it feels like a real tool, and I get the impression that it is probably very old, but I've been wrong on that befofe :P
Time was, kids got real tools, just small ones.
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I just returned from an antique mall that had one about this size. It was labeled as a child's hatchet and had an L.L. Bean label on the head. It looked almost new. If I had seen this thread earlier, I would have taken a picture of it.
Bob Culp