the green tomahawk of the Rogers Rangers?

CutlassCollector · 6th August 2022, 11:27 AM

Hi,

Prior to the last quarter of the 19th century nails were made by hand using hand tools and were of square cross section. Mass produced nails came along around 1880 with machines designed for that purpose. Nails then became round in cross section.

A 'vee' shaped nail puller is not suitable for square nails.

Up until the 1850/60s axes were made of iron with a small amount of steel to form the hard edge forge welded to the end of the blade. Steel was much more expensive and hard to come by. Unfortunately it is hard to tell the difference between the two without specialist equipment or a grinding wheel (different sparks), so this is not a useful way to confirm a date.

Seam lines are often visible in very old axes not only at the edge but between the two halves where the iron has been folded over to form an eye and then hammer forged into one piece. However the best made axes will not show a seam

I agree with the other comments - your axe is modern and most likely made in a factory in the 20th century.

6th August 2022, 11:27 AM	#9
CutlassCollector Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Scotland Posts: 355	Hi, Prior to the last quarter of the 19th century nails were made by hand using hand tools and were of square cross section. Mass produced nails came along around 1880 with machines designed for that purpose. Nails then became round in cross section. A 'vee' shaped nail puller is not suitable for square nails. Up until the 1850/60s axes were made of iron with a small amount of steel to form the hard edge forge welded to the end of the blade. Steel was much more expensive and hard to come by. Unfortunately it is hard to tell the difference between the two without specialist equipment or a grinding wheel (different sparks), so this is not a useful way to confirm a date. Seam lines are often visible in very old axes not only at the edge but between the two halves where the iron has been folded over to form an eye and then hammer forged into one piece. However the best made axes will not show a seam I agree with the other comments - your axe is modern and most likely made in a factory in the 20th century.