"Original" axe...

I just bought this NEAT little axe head on ebay. Cost me about $30, shipping and all. It was sold as being from the '30's. I found out that the Bedford Mfg. Company was started in Bedford, Quebec in 1895. The company and the name changed hands in 1930. So, it is definitely not an 18th century axe. Stamped lightly on one side of the head (barely legible) "BEDFORD QUE", and on the other side "__DFORD M____O". The cutting edge is almost 2 5/8". Head is about 4 1/4" long. I had been "designing" the "Perfect" little 18th century style axe head, and this European/French style head was what I considered to be just right, and lo and behold, I find this on Ebay, which matched my design almost perfectly. So, I bought it. When I got it I was more than pleasantly surprised. This is NOT a drop forged, cookie-cutter, punched eye axe head. This thing is hand forged, wrapped eye, with an inserted steel bit!!!! It's fantastic. I show this not only because it is super neat, but also to show that apparently, hand forged, insert-bit axe heads did not disappear in the mid 19th century, and that just because you have a hand forged axe head, does NOT make it automatically "old". I have the STRONG feeling that a great many "original 18th century" axe heads are 19th-20th century axes... and I'm not even counting all the shingling hatchets that have been made into fake tomahawks!!! :haha:

Excellent buy! I like that one. Looks just the right size.

Neat. And the price was right.
That will make a dandy pack basket/camp axe. Do a number on lobster backs too. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup: Good score, those tradesmens axes (shingle splitters and the like ) can make nice camp axes as long as they are not passed off as originals , that is going to be a very handy piece of kit reference to the shinglesplitters is not about your axe

Chris, is the whole blade steel or just the edge? Can't see the weld line easily.

Though hard to see in the photos, you can see the line of the bit on one side (also there's a little void where it didn't quite smooth out), the other side is much harder to see, and I can barely make a line out. On the bottom of the head, in the notch in front of the eye, you can see what appears to be the end of the inserted steel bit protruding slightly.

I do know by filing that the edge is harder than the rest of the head.

Good deal. :thumbsup:
I like old axes and hatchets and have more than a couple around here...

LOL Me too.Picked up a couple on e-bay last night.But not a dandy little one like Stophel's.Good score on that one. :thumbsup:

I have another TINY axe head I got on Ebay (though of decidedly more modern design and construction) that is just begging to be made into an itty bitty "bag axe"!



Yes, the eye really is that small! I'll have to open it up some for a more substantial handle.

Real nice. Now get working on a nice hickory handle.

Just put a handle on the forged axe. Glue on the wedge is drying. :wink:

I might start foolin' with that other one later today...

That's a perfect size for a totin' axe IMO.

hanshi said:

That's a perfect size for a totin' axe IMO.

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Same here. All sorts of jobs you can "get by on" with a knife, but they're really better with a small axe. Sure there are jobs that require a bigger axe, but for run of the mill, day to day living in the hills, a small axe is just about priceless.

Stophel said:

I have another TINY axe head I got on Ebay (though of decidedly more modern design and construction) that is just begging to be made into an itty bitty "bag axe"!

Yes, the eye really is that small! I'll have to open it up some for a more substantial handle.

Click to expand...

Kool! I've got a lil' un like that somewhere marked Sears Roebuck.

Now that is a neat little ax. :thumbsup:
Good score... :hatsoff:

Handle fitted and finished



Now, to come up with some kind of sheath.... I have not yet decided how I want to carry it.

Really happy you got that one Stophel. I know how much you appreciate detail, not to mention that is a very useful size.

Good job on that handle.. :thumbsup:

Lookin' just fine.
BTW, are we having a 'tiny axe' contest?
Enter mine. :wink:

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That itty-bitty one is it your ceeegar cutter. :bow: