AmericanLongRifles Forums

General discussion => Antique Accoutrements => Topic started by: Pukka Bundook on May 26, 2020, 04:34:41 PM

Title: Another axe.
Post by: Pukka Bundook on May 26, 2020, 04:34:41 PM

Morning gents,

This axe used to live in the top stable at the old farm in Yorkshire.
As kids, we called it a "beheading axe" !
Any ideas on it's use?
The blade is very flat or rather thin back to the eye, and has a laminated blade, with a thin V hard steel laminate up the centre of the blade.

Any help on use, age , or anything else would be greatly appreciated.
It had a chunk out of the poll, where it has broken likely being used to drive wedges, and this I welded back decades ago.
Length of blade from poll to edge, is a tad under 11 inches.
I have seen a similar shaped axe in a catalogue, and described as a "Blocking axe" but no clue what that means.

Thanks for any help,
Richard.

(https://i.ibb.co/cysbLy8/DSCN3290.jpg) (https://ibb.co/NFG1SFN)

(https://i.ibb.co/99vgTCh/DSCN3291.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1fnQqwM)

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: Robert Wolfe on May 26, 2020, 06:52:35 PM

1898 English Dialect Dictionary has a blocking axe as an axe used for squaring timbers. It has a curved (offset) handle to protect your knuckles. No Idea if your axe fits that definition.

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: Joe S on May 26, 2020, 07:00:52 PM

Not a blocking axe. It is a beheading axe. Unequivocally.

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: Robert Wolfe on May 26, 2020, 07:01:26 PM

Here is a page from an Sheffield catalogue. Yours looks more like the shipbuilding axe than the blocking axe.  Though certainly I agree with Gordo - clearly used for beheadings!


(https://i.ibb.co/YcxDwGJ/Axes.png) (https://imgbb.com/)

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: Pukka Bundook on May 26, 2020, 08:14:48 PM

Thanks, Robert & Jose.

I can't say I've ever put it to proper use, if it Was for beheading!  LOL!
I could think of a few I'd like to top, but Will be good and not say any more, as we don't want to cause Dennis any work putting us right!

Robert, as the old farm was V near a ship-building area, (River Tees ) and close to the coast, your ideas of shipbuilding seem very appropriate.
(I do have a shipwright's adze also hanging on the wall from back at the old place)
I see a "Dod's  ship axe" on this page you show, and it looks related , and as this one is Dodd's, most likely same maker.

Also Robert, Can you show further down this catalog page please?  ...I see the poll part of a "Yorkshire axe".  Wondering what the rest of it looks like!

Thanks to you both!

Richard.

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: rich pierce on May 26, 2020, 09:13:27 PM

Looks like a chicken killer to me. Of course most any axe will do.

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: Robert Wolfe on May 26, 2020, 10:55:51 PM

Looks like I should have looked a little further down the page - Yorkshire axe is similar as well but not quite as much "hump" on top. Here is the address where you will find the catalogue: https://books.google.com/books?id=mv8GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=blocking+axe&source=bl&ots=NIuiXiAY2G&sig=ACfU3U2lYJf5BdA3YsoAyvDQSQy26W_k8Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwtIGxptLpAhV0NX0KHfiQBQg4FBDoATAAegQIChAB#v=onepage&q=blocking%20axe&f=false


(https://i.ibb.co/hVZ3fMS/Axes-2.png) (https://imgbb.com/)

Title: Re: Another axe.
Post by: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 26, 2020, 10:58:58 PM

When I think of a 'heading' axe, I think of one with a fairly long beard.  But I don't know from nothin'!