Axe heads for ID

shayde78 · 17th August 2018, 01:08 AM

I suspect these are never easy for which to narrow down an ID. So many made by local smiths, and an astounding number made for trade with North America. These seem like they don't correspond well to the shape of the predominant trade axe shapes. The smaller one (in the foreground of the final picture) has a head that flares both at the top and bottom (while most of the trade axes I looked at have a top edge that maintains alignment with the top of the socket). It looks decidedly European and shares similarities to profiles of martial axes.

The more robust example seems like it may well be intended for woodscraft. Although, it remains much smaller for anything other than a sturdy belt axe.

For scale, the tiles are 12"x12"

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

kronckew · 18th August 2018, 03:10 PM

Poorly made Indian (From India not 'native american'), they are fairly often found cheaply on eBay, with free postage!. Villager items for the 'service' castes at best. the oversized wrap around circular and poorly (if at all) welded construction of the sockets precludes it from being a weapon, and would probably not be very good for chopping anything hard. doubt they have any connection to european trade axes sent to the americas. Banged around and buried in cow dung for a few weeks to make them look older.

(A quick search on the above mentioned site showed 5 Indian Rare Great Vintage Unique Collectible Hand forged Iron Axe Heads much like these, all slightly different, cheap and free postage from India.)

shayde78 · 20th August 2018, 03:03 AM

Ah...thank you, Kronckew. I found these as part of an estate sale in Ohio, so I had little frame of reference. I also discovered that trying to search the word "axe" on here fouls up the search engine as it is too short a word.

I appreciate your expert opinion.

kronckew · 20th August 2018, 06:28 AM

yes, that >3 character search limit can be annoying, as well as the lack of logical connectors like AND,OR,NOT.

...In which case Google can be useful as it doesn't have those limits.

do a google site search, ie. use google search on:

axe -stone site:vikingsword.com

the '-' is a NOT, I generally also use a -site: pinterest.c* and -site: pinimg.c* to get rid of their clickbait crud. ( the keyword site: should not have a space after it, added above as a colon followed by the 'p' char. is a smily face sticking it's tongue out

.)

17th August 2018, 01:08 AM	#1
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Axe heads for ID I suspect these are never easy for which to narrow down an ID. So many made by local smiths, and an astounding number made for trade with North America. These seem like they don't correspond well to the shape of the predominant trade axe shapes. The smaller one (in the foreground of the final picture) has a head that flares both at the top and bottom (while most of the trade axes I looked at have a top edge that maintains alignment with the top of the socket). It looks decidedly European and shares similarities to profiles of martial axes. The more robust example seems like it may well be intended for woodscraft. Although, it remains much smaller for anything other than a sturdy belt axe. For scale, the tiles are 12"x12" Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Attached Images

18th August 2018, 03:10 PM	#2
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,182	Poorly made Indian (From India not 'native american'), they are fairly often found cheaply on eBay, with free postage!. Villager items for the 'service' castes at best. the oversized wrap around circular and poorly (if at all) welded construction of the sockets precludes it from being a weapon, and would probably not be very good for chopping anything hard. doubt they have any connection to european trade axes sent to the americas. Banged around and buried in cow dung for a few weeks to make them look older. (A quick search on the above mentioned site showed 5 Indian Rare Great Vintage Unique Collectible Hand forged Iron Axe Heads much like these, all slightly different, cheap and free postage from India.) Last edited by kronckew; 18th August 2018 at 03:25 PM.

20th August 2018, 03:03 AM	#3
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Ah...thank you, Kronckew. I found these as part of an estate sale in Ohio, so I had little frame of reference. I also discovered that trying to search the word "axe" on here fouls up the search engine as it is too short a word. I appreciate your expert opinion.

20th August 2018, 06:28 AM	#4
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,182	yes, that >3 character search limit can be annoying, as well as the lack of logical connectors like AND,OR,NOT. ...In which case Google can be useful as it doesn't have those limits. do a google site search, ie. use google search on: axe -stone site:vikingsword.com the '-' is a NOT, I generally also use a -site: pinterest.c* and -site: pinimg.c* to get rid of their clickbait crud. ( the keyword site: should not have a space after it, added above as a colon followed by the 'p' char. is a smily face sticking it's tongue out .)