STRANGE AXE HEAD

[Royston]

This belongs to an old friend of mine.
Any ideas as to what it is. It came from ebay and when he bought it it he thought it was a boarding axe, but when received it appears too big. it has a very chisled blade which looks more like a log splitter to me but I cannot explain the spike.
It has some sort of mark but it is not clear at all.

All suggestions are welcome

thanks
Roy

[VANDOO]

I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT BUT FROM ITS FORM I WOULD GUESS IT IS EITHER A FIGHTING AX OR A FIRE AX. THE JAPANESE HAVE SOME STRANGE FIRE AXES BUT THIS SEEMS A BIT LARGER THAN USUAL FOR A JAPANESE FIRE AX. A VERY INTERESTING ITEM GOOD LUCK GETTING A ID. ON IT.

[Jim McDougall]

Roy, as far as axes go, this one is truly an anomaly, and I have spent hours looking through 'the usual resources' .In looking through Neumann ("Swords and Blades of the American Revolution") there is really nothing that corresponds to the most unusual head or bit, on this example. It is important however to note that 'spiked' axes or tomahawks were very well known during the Revolutionary War period.
The spike does have functional similarity to these features on boarding axes, and Neumann does note that these were introduced by the English into continental America in the early 18th century, losing thier appeal by the early 19th. (p.269).

It is extremely unusual to find an axe head like this, with the heel completely absent and the blade radiused directly around to the leading edge. I looked through "Boarders Away" and "Native American Weapons" but nothing there either.

Finally, reviewing " Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Man" (Carl P. Russell, 1967), on p.262, I found a line drawing of a small head axe with this type of profile in the radiused blade, however it is a 'poll' type (without the spike) with blunt squared back (fig. C). This item is among holdings of the Ohio State Museum, and is a relic of the tragic massacre of Moravian Indians (primarily Delaware and Munsee) on 8 March, 1782. This event is known as the Gnadenhuetten Massacre, and is the result of misperceived alliances between the factions of these tribes between British and American forces. Militiamen from Philadephia killed 96 individuals in the incident.

On p.256 ( Russell, op.cit., fig. 61f) is a small head axe with square poll similar in size but with full profile head, rather than the radiused edge. This was found in the wreck of the American gunboat Philadelphia, sunk in 1776 in Lake Champlain.

The markings on the blade are consistant with markings typically found on the heads of axes in this same position on these colonial examples. While many stamped markings are known from imports as trade items, these crude markings were commonly chiseled into the blade by smiths, and are known as 'touch marks'.

While this example does not correspond in profile with the smallhead poll type axes, it does seem quite possible that it might have been fashioned with the well known spike head type that was prevalent, in mind.
The markings, though not likely identifiable, are as noted, consistant with typical placement in position in these times. It is noted by Russell that these 'touch marks' are seldom identifiable, even though they did serve as a kind of 'makers mark' in local regions at the time. Many items were probably one off or small in number, as well as these marks were not recorded.

I hope this helps, it was interesting to learn more on these early axes. The condition also seems consistant with these items of the period.
Very nice find.

All best regards,
Jim

[A Senefelder]

I will venture only this, from the obvious forging marks visible on it , i'm going to say that Japanese is out ( in my humble opinion ), i've seen this sort of simple functionality on pieces from Europe, the Americas, and a little less so from indo persia/turkey but have never encountered that level of " obvious " forging in my limited exposure to Japanese work in arms and armour. Even the mass produced armours for muskettiers of the 16th and 17th century period of high Japanese conflict have a finish that is generally above European " munitions " armour. I'm very far from an expert in this area but the lack of finish doesn't feel right for Japanese. On the flip side the shape of the cutting edge is one of the oddest i've seen, ranking up there with some of the two pointed boliva axes from India. While later European axe heads had tended to have the head inclined forward twords the top of the edge to better utilize force in a downward stroke from the saddle there is almost no way for the under part of the cutting edge in this axe to be used to inflict damage at the angle it is made at. I almost wonder if this is not some sort of early specilialty axe for perhaps cutting ice for cold storage? Just a guess. Better trained eyes than mind will come up with something i'm sure.

[fearn]

Hi Royston and all,

I've been scratching my head on this one too. The thing I wonder is whether the axe head was reshaped for some special function. One way to look at it is whether there are production axes which have a more normal ax-head profile and are otherwise identical.

Best,

F

[M ELEY]

Fearn has a good point. Many of these older tools were re-shaped over time to be used for a specific purpose. If you note the thickness of the spike end versus the edged end, it may be that this might have been a spike hammer at one time, but flattened into said shape to act as another type of tool. As a collector of spike axes, I had an axe at one time with similar head with thickened spike and thinner down-turned blade that was some sort of rock hammer, but had been reshaped into a ginseng axe for digging up roots. I agree with American or European, with the shape resembling many of the Underhill tool patterns of early-mid 19th century. Haven't seen this exact shape, so this is just my opinion. Hartsler & Knowles "American Indian Tomahawks and Frontiersmen's Trade Axes" is an excellent resource, with some of the tool-type spike axes in the back reference.

[broadaxe]

I must ask for exact measures & weight, + photos of the cross section.
Stubby spike and very short, steep edge may suggest this is a stone dressing/mining/quaring tool.

[Jim McDougall]

any thoughts on the markings?

[broadaxe]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

any thoughts on the markings?

The mark is generic. I see those both on north american tomahawks and middle eastern axes

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by broadaxe

The mark is generic. I see those both on north american tomahawks and middle eastern axes

Well noted. These generic and universal type symbols are known in thier simplicity to often be most likely convergant. However, the placement of them in this particular location on the head corresponds to the many examples of colonial and frontier America I have seen.

Certainly markings exist on many forms of many cultures, but these in this position seem strategically placed, even if not specifically identifiable.

All the best,
Jim

[Royston]

Thanks for all the information so far.
Here are some more photographs.
The axe head weighs 8 lbs.

Regards
Roy

[katana]

Hi Royston,
this was bought via eBay ? I saw this , or one almost identical. I thought it quite interesting so I checked with the seller to see if he had any ideas as to its history. Apparently it was used in an industrial/factory environment, I can't remember exactly where and what it's exact use was, sorry.

All the Best
David

[Rick]

I asked a tool savvy friend and he posits that this may be for the scoring and splitting of ice blocks in the old days .

Chip the score line with the axe and a few well placed blows from the pointed end would make the fracture .
http://www.howellfarm.org/farm/crops/ice/ice.htm

[M ELEY]

An ice cutter is, of course, possible, but they typically had "duck-billed" blades that were convex and of lighter proportions. Having seen the new pics of the thickness of the blade, I'll disgard my earlier theory that the blade was a flattened down hammer. The edge doesn't look particularly sharp, does it? So, we know it was an industrial tool, but for what???

[broadaxe]

After seeing the cross section photos I say once more this is a tool meant for stone work of some sort. For ice harvesting it looks an overkill; however it may be good for working with frozen wood or trees.
BTW, in western cultures stone dressing tools are of axe shape, in middle eastern cultures such tools are of adze shape - edge in right angle to the haft.

[fearn]

hi Broadaxe,

While I like the idea of using it on stone or something hard due to the edge bevel, the shape would be painful to use, because if you hit a rock with that axe edge, the chips spray back at you. Not good. Most of the stonemason's hammers I've been looking at are flat bladed, and I think that's for safety as much as anything.

Another issue is the relative lack of wear, which doesn't go with use on stone.

I'm tending to think of it as some sort of ice axe, but one used to open streams up so that livestock can drink. Therion arms (link) sold an antique axe built for this purpose, and while it's not that similar to this specimen, I can see this specimen being used on ice. My guess, actually, is that it got remanufactured from a more standard axehead at some point.

Best,

F

[Royston]

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and time.

regards
Roy