Author Topic: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk  (Read 1939 times)

Offline rich pierce

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Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« on: May 10, 2020, 04:43:42 PM »
Found after plowing in a field on the north side of the Mohawk River west of Fonda NY.










Andover, Vermont

Offline Clint

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2020, 03:23:31 AM »
Nice little axe head in great condition. The soil ph must be pretty mild. Do you have any guess on the date?


Offline rich pierce

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2020, 03:34:00 AM »
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.
Andover, Vermont

Offline Robby

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2020, 03:20:07 PM »
Rich, I always wondered if those original tomahawk's could take and hold a good edge. Have you tried to sharpen it?
Robby
molon labe
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. A. Lincoln

Offline rich pierce

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2020, 03:49:19 PM »
(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!
Andover, Vermont

Offline JW

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2020, 06:10:54 PM »
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.

Offline rich pierce

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2020, 07:45:38 PM »
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.
Andover, Vermont

Offline Notchy Bob

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Re: Dug Iroqouis Tomahawk
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2020, 07:53:05 PM »
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
"Should have kept the old ways just as much as I could, and the tradition that guarded us.  Should have rode horses.  Kept dogs."

from The Antelope Wife