A Trade Axe?

Lee · 12th July 2024, 12:39 PM

I am, unfortunately, suspicious of the manner in which this axe head was made, as it appears to be a product of a more modern casting process rather than hand forging. Axes, like spears, can be so difficult because the same forms reoccur in many times and places.

I bought what was supposed to be a frontiersman's belt axe (for disassembling game, etc.) at a country auction at a genuinely old house in upstate New York. I sent images to Mr. Miller, whose fur trade tomahawk site is linked above, and he suggested it was instead a reworking of a small claw hammer. XRF was very consistent with that interpretation. The estate was that of a former re-enactor who dabbled in blacksmithing.

12th July 2024, 12:39 PM	#7
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 913	I am, unfortunately, suspicious of the manner in which this axe head was made, as it appears to be a product of a more modern casting process rather than hand forging. Axes, like spears, can be so difficult because the same forms reoccur in many times and places. I bought what was supposed to be a frontiersman's belt axe (for disassembling game, etc.) at a country auction at a genuinely old house in upstate New York. I sent images to Mr. Miller, whose fur trade tomahawk site is linked above, and he suggested it was instead a reworking of a small claw hammer. XRF was very consistent with that interpretation. The estate was that of a former re-enactor who dabbled in blacksmithing.