All About Pocket Knives

At an "antique junk" show a guy usually holds them for me and I walked up to his table and he said "I just sold my three axes to a guy, I didn't know if you would show up today or not" Needless to say I wasn't too happy about it.
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Don’t let it get you down, buddy. Sometimes you’re the guy, other times you’re the other guy.

My swap meet season will be starting soon, and I’ll be trying to talk my vendors out of taking axes down south to sell (where the big money is, I hear).

Parker

catspa wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 2:58 pm

Don’t let it get you down, buddy. Sometimes you’re the guy, other times you’re the other guy.

My swap meet season will be starting soon, and I’ll be trying to talk my vendors out of taking axes down south to sell (where the big money is, I hear).

Parker
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Good luck Parker, I reckon the "the hunt" is 51% of the fun ... A few years ago it was easy to find ax heads cheap and plentiful. Sometimes I paid $1 for a nice one! I am blaming Flea-bay and that internet deal that 'ol Al-Gore invented... it has driven the prices up and the demand and other pickers not interested in collecting axes are buying them just resell and they could care less about the history of the tool, or what a tool means to a civilized society so to speak and do a little "philosophy'en"

Here's the handle on that axe...

Oh, that’s pretty Scott. And I’m a hardcore straight haft guy.

Also, I like your coffee scoop (and I don’t drink coffee).

Parker

TripleF wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 3:40 pm Here's the handle on that axe...

Oh, that is a nice-looking piece of wood! Most of the handles I find out here are baked and dried out by the scorching Arizona sun and 1% humidity...

catspa wrote: ↑Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:52 pm Oh, that’s pretty Scott. And I’m a hardcore straight haft guy.

Also, I like your coffee scoop (and I don’t drink coffee).

Parker

Thanks Parker.
What does straight haft mean please?

Haft (and helve) are archaic names for tool handles. I badly misread the grain on a couple curved ones that I carved, and even before they failed I considered them awkward.

Two things worked against me - a career of swinging straight handled hammers, and the fact that some tools (a spike hatchet, for example, or a ball peen hammer) can be swung either way.

When swinging toward the curve (convex side toward you), I find it barely tolerable. The other way, it’s downright horrid.

So I have a strong preference for straight tool handles, and I’m pretty picky about grain orientation, too. I carve the shapes that match my muscle memory.

All that said, if you showed me that axe in person, I’d probably ask to take a couple swings with it. (And thank my lucky stars I don’t have to use it through half a cord.)

Parker

Some new pick-ups from yesterday

I got 2 Plumbs out of the "haul" and one Kelly. The Kelly Ax is from the Charleston, West Virginia factory. Kelly moved in 1904 when they again relocated, that time to Charleston, West Virginia. The factory remained there until 1930. So, the ax is 1904-30 vintage.

These Kelly axes from Charleston, have been hard to find out here in the past few years, and I found 2 within a couple of weeks !!!

The Adze is from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

What a great haul! I don't think I could do as well...

Dan In MI wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 3:26 am What a great haul! I don't think I could do as well...

Thanks Dan, I got most of this stuff from a guy that goes to every estate sale in town and ends up buying too much stuff and eventually just wants to get rid of what he has leftover. That saves me the hassles of driving all over the place at 6 Am trying to be the 1st guy there at the sale

Man, Rich, you find axes like I find knives.
Knice scores bro!!

TripleF wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:00 am Man, Rich, you find axes like I find knives.
Knice scores bro!!

Thanks Scott ... I may have to slow down here pretty soon on getting more... I am running out of space to store them I got axes piled up everywhere ...

Spent a few hours yesterday cleaning red paint oof an old Marbles #10 hatchet . There still is some paint in the pores that might just have to stay there. It appears from the Marbles book to be WW1 era. I've had it for years but finally got around to paying a little attention to it.____Dave

A fantastic old axe, Dave!

djknife13 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 1:09 pm Spent a few hours yesterday cleaning red paint oof an old Marbles #10 hatchet . There still is some paint in the pores that might just have to stay there. It appears from the Marbles book to be WW1 era. I've had it for years but finally got around to paying a little attention to it.____Dave

Amazing.....love it!!

djknife13 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 1:09 pm an old Marbles #10 hatchet . It appears from the Marbles book to be WW1 era.

Dave, that's 'bout as sweet as it gets for an ax lover!!!

I posted this in another forum and didn't get any responses. I'll try here. Only markings are True Temper / Flint Edge. Hatchet with an elongated hammering end. I see one or two similar online, but unable to find additional information. All responses appreciated.

Maybe it grew that long nose by lying around - I bet it’s a Pinocchio hatchet!

Parker

Just got a pm from a member saying it's a miner's axe / hatchet and apparently, they are uncommon. Thanks to all including the Pinocchio tip that was a tad short.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.o ... ng-axe-axe

I have ben cleaning up some tools and axes and to my delight and surprise, This ax head turns out to be a True Temper Forest Service Axe Head, Marked FSS. I could not see any of that under all the rust so it turns out to be a better find than I had thought. Also some photos of the rust sludge left behind at the bottom of the cleaning tub. The ax on the bottom I decided to give a "copper" finish.

I just picked up 3 Plumbs, When I bought them, I couldn't see the maker's name, at a night swap meet, and lucked out finding some really "sweet" Plumbs. off to the cleaning tub next...

Picked this up at a yard sale... from a guy that always has yard sales and NEVER (never say never? ) sells any axes...

Turns out to be a HULTS BRUK AXE... as I suspected ...

What a great pick-up!