Tomahawk / axe head found this morning.

[Th3rty7]

I posted this in the todays finds earlier this morning I guess it's alright to repost here. I found this axe head this morning while working on a drainage ditch. It was laying in an old pile of scrap metal under a spring house in southern West Virginia on a friends farm. They are rerouting the water line to a cow pond. Does anyone know anything about this style of axe? Recorded history of the farm goes back to the early 1700s. Would you clean it up or soak it in something or leave it as it is? It's got some kind of corrosion / rusting going on. I volunteered to help out because I've found some native american artifacts on the farm,( I also found 2 arrowheads) but I sure didn't expect to find this, It made my day. Any comments / opinions are appreciated, have a good one.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,267916.0.html

 

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[Tnmountains]

Holy cow great recovery. It does NOT look like my trade axe but that does not mean anything. Looks like a candidate for electrolysis's. There is a link on here somewhere of types of axes. I know bigcycpresshunter has the link. I would cross post in the whatisit forum also they will find another like it in a hurry. Might be a banner,,,, looks rare. Some type of harvesting tool?

 

[joshuaream]

What other kind of metal was in the scrap heap?

Certainly worth getting an expert to look at it before you clean it.

Joshua

 

[truckinbutch]

Looks fairly recent to me . The eye is one indicator .
Evenso , I'm no expert and I would follow up on this .
Jim

 

[GL]

I would love to have that. Too cool! Great find even if it's new or old.

 

[Th3rty7]

What other kind of metal was in the scrap heap?

Certainly worth getting an expert to look at it before you clean it.

Joshua

Rusted iron I think, I'm gonna get some opinions on it. It's really not that similar to the other trade axe I have, from about 20 miles away,or held up to the elements as well as this one. This one is dated 1771, and has a makers mark. The time and location it was found probably would have put it in the hands of the Shawnee, led by chief Cornstalk.

 

[creek astronaut]

I checked out the other post thirty7,when i first looked in on this i was sceptical,just because i dont know much about these types of relics.But the guys who collect this stuff and commented, seemed to think it was the real deal.I did a little research and it sure as hell looks like an 18th century trade axe.Lets see that piece up on the banner!!!!!!!congrats dude!

 

[Th3rty7]

I checked out the other post thirty7,when i first looked in on this i was sceptical,just because i dont know much about these types of relics.But the guys who collect this stuff and commented, seemed to think it was the real deal.I did a little research and it sure as hell looks like an 18th century trade axe.Lets see that piece up on the banner!!!!!!!congrats dude!

appreciate that Greg, to be honest I'm not completely sure myself. That's why I posted it in that section because those dudes know their metal, I dont really know the first thing about trade metal. Even if it's 100 years old I'll still enjoy the find and like looking at it. I'm going to get a couple opinions on it before I restore it with oil and carve a hickory handle for it.

 

[truckinbutch]

I don't want to disparage either find . What you posted in post 5 is fantastic and a perfect example of
what I'm talking about in comparison to your first post .
The first post looks like it is a contemporary throwing hawk . The handle would be too small to be durable .

 

[Th3rty7]

I don't want to disparage either find . What you posted in post 5 is fantastic and a perfect example of
what I'm talking about in comparison to your first post .
The first post looks like it is a contemporary throwing hawk . The handle would be too small to be durable .

I can take whatever anybody wants to dish out man, you're not going to hurt my feelings. Like I said earlier I dont know anything about metal, I'm here to sponge up knowledge and information, not win first prize at the dog show. If it's a contemporary throwing hawk, cool, I've never found one of those before, I'll restore it, put a mean edge on it and a handle, and throw this thing around the yard. All I know is I found a pretty old rusty tomahawk, I dont know and never said it was authentic. Thanks for the comments and your interest.

 

[truckinbutch]

Gracious reply considering the response you are getting on the other thread . Please don't start throwing it until you are certain . I've based my opinion on pictures you presented .
That opinion is tempered with my judgement as a blacksmith and woodworker . I bought nearly identical contemporary throwing hawks for my kids while teaching them primative skills .
I hope your's turns out to be the real deal . Finding two goes beyond Banner .

 

[allen]

that is an awesome find !

 

[pickaway]

Great find...

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Great find thirty7. If it turns out to be the real deal and from the 18th century then it is definitely Banner worthy.

 

[larson1951]

pretty cool man
I would not clean it up
I would leave alone
You can always clean it later

But you could never put it back to the way you found it

 

[SouthernGirl]

WOW Banner

 

[BamaBill]

Its a hatchet. Could be 50-100 years old.

 

[savant365]

It looks like an unsharpened (spike side) version of a Rogers' Rangers tomahawk

http://www.bmtomahawks.com/store/en-us/dept_1.html

 

[MarkDz]

That looks extremely cool, and I'd encourage you to investigate it further. Just IMHO, though, I think it's probably a fairly modern farm tool. Really old tomahawks would have a rough "blacksmith-made" look to them. This one looks to me like it was mass produced.

 

[Airborne80]

In either case... its a neat find. Considering the history of the farms and the area.... you may want to run a metal detector across the ground... just in case. Great post!