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small tool/ax

A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone can identify this
small ax/tool?I found it a few years ago and
have not been able to find exactly what it was
used for.I found it in an old lumber camp site.
It is very small and has been hand forged by a
blacksmith.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks.
HH Jussi
 
...I have seen a small axe exactly like this one, same bend in the handle and curve in the blade, picked it up and looked at it before, but for the life of me I cannot remember where it was that I saw it.
A sawmill you say? Oh, this one will come to me!!!!
 
Steve,
Not a sawmill,but an old lumber camp from
around 1900 or so.I also found a Canadian cap
badge there,it is the shape of a maple leaf.
I just wonder what they could of used this small
tool for.Sure wasn't used for chopping down
trees.ha ha Thanks for any help you can come up
with.HH Jussi
 
...seems about 10, 12 inches? Is the handle bent so the head is offset like a broadaxe, and is the blade cupped slightly or is that just distortion in the pic?
Can you show us a different angle as well? Thanks
 
Steve,
The length of the ax is six and a half inches.
The blade is cupped or concaved/convexed,the
handle is curved also.I will try to send another
picture.Jussi
 
...he hired out with his team of horses to the Hubble company. They'd stay in there all winter, coming out for Christmas, and not returning home again until the spring thaw in time to put the crops in the ground. The lads weren't very old when they'd quit school and join their fathers and brothers there.
He mentioned once that in the later days of the camps when some of them started heating with oil, that the smell got pretty high. He figured the wood smoke had a way of absorbing the body odour better.
Daylight to dark in the bush. Boiling clothes to kill the lice, washing up in a tub of cold water. Sure made those guys tough old blisters.
Hmmmm.... back to your axe. It looks like it's been hammered on the blunt end. Toe nail clippers? <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=";)">
 
Steve,
Yeah those must of been some hard camps to
live in,alot of them had women cooks,how would
you have liked to been one of them.Toe nail
clippers,for their horses' hooves that they used
in the logging business.That is my guess.Jussi
 
I believe it wsa used for barking logs(remove bark).There was a larger long(curved handle) for removeing bark and hand hewing. PS If you dilligently search the internet you'll find they are still being made.(try a search under logging saws).
 
Bill,
I don't think it was for that Bill,the tool
is so small,only six inches long.How about for
making small wooden bowls to eat from?It sure
is a weird tool,cause of the size and the shape
of it.Thanks for the info though.Jussi
 
...Jussi, from what I can see Ferrier's tools haven't changed much from the ones that were used by the Roman Legions. There are hoof knives and trimmers, but I haven't seen anything quite like your little axe.
In the 1700's Sugar Axes were a household item. They were small axes, not unlike yours, but usually more decorative, used to break up the cones of sugar. Descriptions of these say they were used with a hammer to stike it on the blunt end.
Also, chisel axes are described as specialty tools by coopers, wainwrightes etc... Though some of these are small hatchet type that were pounded like a chisel, again, I cannot find a match to yours. <img src="/metal/html/shrug.gif" border=0 width=37 height=15 alt=":shrug">
The distinct shape and intentional curve of the handle and the blade suggest a very specialized job. Perhaps a homemade gouge for wood carving? Did you happen to find this in Quebec or an area known for this traditional craft?
 
Steve,
Thanks for the info,some of what you said could
be how it might have been used.It has been hit
or hammered on the blunt end,so it was pounded
into whatever it was to carve,etc.This was found
in the U.P. of Mich.,not Canada,that is why I
thought that the Canadian cap badge was so neat.
If you want I could try to send a pic of it also.
I never knew that they cut sugar like that.Jussi
 
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