hewing ax??????????

[sweetinsanty]

we have found ax heads before....but none like this. the blade is off set and the handle enters at an angle. I googled hewing ax, they appear to be off set so you don't bust your knuckles while coming down on the side of the log. has anyone ever found any of these, or are they pretty common. the video shows them using it to flatten the sides of logs for so they can be stacked. my youngest son found it buried in a group of cedar trees. it cleaned up nice and is still pretty sharp!!!

 

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[nhbenz]

Not uncommon for these to show up here, but still a fun find. It appears to me though that it may be damaged. If you were trying to strike something with the "hammer" end you wouldn't hit it squarely with the handle in the position it's in. Perhaps it was unsuccessfully used as a splitting wedge?

 

[osage express]

Your Ax is for hewing the side of a log.It is bent for a purpose .Very nice find

 

[mojjax]

Looks haunted - time to call a exorcist - LOL

 

[releventchair]

While your pic is not a broad axe, a broad axe was used to hew to a line to create a flat surface. By scoring to depth at intervals with another axe ,the sides/ slabs were knocked away with the single edged broad axe. Yours was used similarly( probably?) , but on smaller stock than on big timbers.
Rather than try to create an angle on the axe head to avoid striking knuckles against the work ,the wood handle was simply bent/ angled when formed.
Your pic makes the head looked damaged from striking the poll.
Being single edged ,it was not designed for splitting wood like a maul,wedge, or double edged axe.

To further smooth a flat side ,if axe work was not accurate ,an adze could be used.

 

[sweetinsanty]

While your pic is not a broad axe, a broad axe was used to hew to a line to create a flat surface. By scoring to depth at intervals with another axe ,the sides/ slabs were knocked away with the single edged broad axe. Yours was used similarly( probably?) , but on smaller stock than on big timbers.
Rather than try to create an angle on the axe head to avoid striking knuckles against the work ,the wood handle was simply bent/ angled when formed.
Your pic makes the head looked damaged from striking the poll.
Being single edged ,it was not designed for splitting wood like a maul,wedge, or double edged axe.

To further smooth a flat side ,if axe work was not accurate ,an adze could be used.

my first thought was ....who ran over it?! lol! but I'm sure it would have cracked way before it ever bent. I'm sure its one of those things where we drug it home and have know idea what it is.lol.i was finding civil war bullets along the creek and told my son to go check a group of cedar trees. he wasn't there 2 minutes and held this ax head up.

 

[releventchair]

my first thought was ....who ran over it?! lol! but I'm sure it would have cracked way before it ever bent. I'm sure its one of those things where we drug it home and have know idea what it is.lol.i was finding civil war bullets along the creek and told my son to go check a group of cedar trees. he wasn't there 2 minutes and held this ax head up.

Pardon my manners. Neat recovery! A great keeper in my opinion.

 

[Oddjob]

View attachment 1408493

The picture shows the best way to identify a Hewing Hatchet in such poor shape.

You have this on yours, if it was not like that then I too would say it was a poormans wedge, that shifted from several impacts.

Makes it a pretty cool find I think, it is more common to find old heads that have been beaten into something they where not intended for than it is to find a Hewing Hatchet. Have you and your son gone back and hunted that spot more, I sure would.

 

[taz42o]

That is a damaged broad hatchet,someone hit the back with another tool. A hewing axe or hatchet has a flat side with the handle parallel to that side
,just offset.
As in these pics.
But its not uncommon to hew with a broad axe/hatchet

 

[Tony in SC]

OODJOB is right. The handle in a hewing axe is still straight with the blade. Yours is twisted because it was used as a wedge, seem this many times. It's a neat very old axe, with a history. Tony

 

[sweetinsanty]

That is a damaged broad hatchet,someone hit the back with another tool. A hewing axe or hatchet has a flat side with the handle parallel to that side
,just offset.
As in these pics.
But its not uncommon to hew with a broad axe/hatchet

not arguing because I don't know. but you are showing a newer polished one. old forged ones aren't going to look like that. weather it was hand made or not. I'm keeping it. like a hewing ax or hatchet....it is only sharpened on one side of the blade. I was thinking if some one beat on it hard enough to (bend) it.... it would crack or snap where its thin around the handle?

 

[Peyton Manning]

I vote bent

 

[taz42o]

A nice find no matter what type it is

 

[pa plateau hiker]

If it's sharpened on one side only, I'm calling it a damaged broad hatchet.

 

[Bruce R]

Looks like it's designed to chop out a notch with a blind corner.