AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Accoutrements => Topic started by: rich pierce on May 10, 2020, 04:43:42 PM
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Found after plowing in a field on the north side of the Mohawk River west of Fonda NY.
(https://i.ibb.co/g6TYCqL/mo-hawk2.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/qxB0QSK/mo-hawk3.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/hDw1w19/mo-hawk4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Tmdqdq2)
(https://i.ibb.co/5hZWqLp/mo-hawk5.jpg) (https://ibb.co/XxHZmt0)
(https://i.ibb.co/yyct8YZ/mo-hawk6.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
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Nice little axe head in great condition. The soil ph must be pretty mild. Do you have any guess on the date?
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I was told this style dates to 1720-1740. That’s also when there was a Mohawk village near the find site. When I got it, the eye was crushed because somebody tried to use it as a splitting wedge. I was in my 20s when I got it, and restored the eye to its current appearance, put a handle in it, and turned it into my main “real use” tomahawk. The steel bit is very nice quality.
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Rich, I always wondered if those original tomahawk's could take and hold a good edge. Have you tried to sharpen it?
Robby
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(Not recommended to use artifacts like a young me might do) It holds a great edge equal to any hatchet I’ve had. Even those fancy Euro hatchets!
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What a find and crazy good condition. Something about that soil must have really helped preserve it. We found a roughly turn of the century jersey pattern ax while metal detecting on my property and it was extremely pitted. It must post-date that tomahawk by at least 120 years, yet because my soil is so acidic, it looks far older. I've been wanting a repro with your tomahawk's profile. I need to save some pennies and have Eric Shatzle or someone make me one.
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It was uncovered on what’s called locally “Hickory Hill” leading to “the sand flats” above Fonda, NY. Easy plowing found compared to clay, rocky, shale-y soil on much of our farm a few miles south of the Mohawk River.
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That is a nice find, Rich, and I would commend you on your restoration of it.
It's not easy to find a good trade axe head these days, what with the mania for "throwing 'hawks." It would be great if someone could use that head as a pattern for investment cast reproductions.
Notchy Bob