🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Old Rusty Hand Forged Blade. Non Symmetrical Axe Head.

USNFLYR

Full Member
Dec 17, 2018
248
352
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I found a contorted blade in shallow water where a wharf use to be. The site was once used to get quarried rocks and salmon down river. At first it looked like this was an axe head that was severely mangled. But after cleaning it up, it now appears that it was forged and used as a "wedge"? One side (the upper) appears to sloop upwards. The backside looks to have been hammered upon. Complicating my theories is the fact that while cleaning, I found remnants of wood from where a handle was inserted. I have a hard time imagining a wooden handle being used in "tree chopping" or timber clearing. Either way, I will apply a layer of Gempler's and save it….. (I may be wrong on wedge vs blade ….. and maybe the "eye" and back side hammer surface was merely bent through usage)….. I guess I’m reaching out for a sanity check. Do axes fail? Can they become this mangled?



66C5AB2E-0348-4513-8B77-2B642DAEFF03.jpeg
F5031BB9-FC50-4929-83C0-CDA37EDD4CD7.jpeg
64F4AAAB-1D13-40C6-9315-3F3EF2FF4766.jpeg
2AAB0D58-0C8B-429C-8EAA-7EE62E0813A1.jpeg
5013E02C-EBAF-450A-9C65-A3E741AD11E7.jpeg
E2834A1E-2B6E-4BF0-9182-298741FD83D4.jpeg
not symmetric in design?
 

Last edited:

boogeyman

Gold Member
Jun 6, 2006
5,016
4,397
Out in the hills near wherendaheckarwe
Detector(s) used
WHITES, MINELAB, Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Can

you provide a picture of another example that’s in better shape? I’m confused with the bit being perpendicular to the strong axis of the handle.
Google froe. The way you have it layed the handle would be pointed down. The handle would need to be up in your picture. The handle would be used to hold & steer the blade while pounding the blade to split away the wood. Google froe and there's tons of pictures and vids of them in use. Sort of like a primitive bandsaw. Find pictures in Google that'll help you more than I could explain in words.
 

Upvote 2

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
1,221
1,906
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
W
Google froe. The way you have it layed the handle would be pointed down. The handle would need to be up in your picture. The handle would be used to hold & steer the blade while pounding the blade to split away the wood. Google froe and there's tons of pictures and vids of them in use. Sort of like a primitive bandsaw. Find pictures in Google that'll help you more than I could explain in words.
Well I did Google it before asking. The handle isn’t parallel to the cutting edge as are all of the ones I see online. I’m not arguing, just trying to understand.
 

Attachments

  • 338DF216-6AC9-45CF-A5A8-289672783506.jpeg
    338DF216-6AC9-45CF-A5A8-289672783506.jpeg
    106.1 KB · Views: 15
Upvote 1

Tpmetal

Silver Member
Jan 4, 2017
4,407
7,507
Western ny
Detector(s) used
equinox 800, Whites mx sport, Garrot carrot, bounty hunter time ranger
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
100 percent an axe head that was beat on as a wedge. the eye tells the story of how it bent, and if it was purpose made for this shape that eye would not be all mangled and misshapen. It would have been a nice even shape without all those dents and gouges where they tried to straighten it back out or something.
 

Upvote 3

boogeyman

Gold Member
Jun 6, 2006
5,016
4,397
Out in the hills near wherendaheckarwe
Detector(s) used
WHITES, MINELAB, Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Boogeyman
Can you provide a picture of another example that’s in better shape? I’m confused with the bit being perpendicular to the strong axis of the handle.
Take the blue arrow and point it to the bottom of the pic. Then you'd pound on the edge facing the camera. Handle up pound down. What la! Yr splitting shingles.
 

Upvote 1

pa plateau hiker

Bronze Member
Jul 15, 2012
1,077
1,276
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
As Tpmetal says, it's a badly mangled axe head. It's too thick at the base to be a froe. I have been digging rusty iron since the early '70's and have found my share of beat up axe heads, which this is one. Not a froe.
 

Upvote 1

Almy

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2011
1,035
1,891
Maritime Provinces
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Cibola
Primary Interest:
Other
Not a froe. Froe has long blade parallel to handle direction. Blade is pounded on its top edge.
I think is is an carpenter's hatchet that has been used as a wedge by pounding on the poll with a sledgehammer. If it were an axhead, the handle holes would each buckle outward (away from each other) on both sides pretty evenly. That's natural because they have an outward curve. That made the hole wider in the middle and shorter in the pounding direction.
This one failed by having the sides bend in the same direction. So it seems to me that one of the thin sides of the hole was originally straight in the same plane as the straight side of the head that went against the workpiece. The other side is curved to make the hole for the handle. Pounding on it could cause the curved side to buckle as with a normal axhead and the straight side to buckle inward as per the example here. I've never seen any one damaged like this one but I do have 2 carpenter's hatchets so I can visualize the possibility.
 

Upvote 1
OP
OP
U

USNFLYR

Full Member
Dec 17, 2018
248
352
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Not a froe. Froe has long blade parallel to handle direction. Blade is pounded on its top edge.
I think is is an carpenter's hatchet that has been used as a wedge by pounding on the poll with a sledgehammer. If it were an axhead, the handle holes would each buckle outward (away from each other) on both sides pretty evenly. That's natural because they have an outward curve. That made the hole wider in the middle and shorter in the pounding direction.
This one failed by having the sides bend in the same direction. So it seems to me that one of the thin sides of the hole was originally straight in the same plane as the straight side of the head that went against the workpiece. The other side is curved to make the hole for the handle. Pounding on it could cause the curved side to buckle as with a normal axhead and the straight side to buckle inward as per the example here. I've never seen any one damaged like this one but I do have 2 carpenter's hatchets so I can visualize the possibility.
Almy, good observations. What I can’t visualize is that the hammering surface of the maul is perpendicular to the blade. The eye forms a perfect rectangle. In the failing process, you’d expect one "eye" side (or both) to bulge outwards, then the maul to collapse inwards. If this was repurposed as a wedge, with the open space in the eye, the further pounding and weak iron would’ve caused the maul surface to bend inward? While cleaning I scraped layers of wood out of the eye. This means a wood "chunk" was still in the eye as the wedge was used (accounting for the perfect rectangle shape of the eye). This wood filling the space could be why the maul did not continue to collapse into the middle. Or this blade had a wooden handle that was used to chop something in an offset manner. Interesting.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0
OP
OP
U

USNFLYR

Full Member
Dec 17, 2018
248
352
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks everyone that contributed to solving this mystery! My Gemplers rust converter just arrived from Amazon. The wedge/froe shaping blade will look great on my shelf, and it will have a neat story.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0

Zep11in

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2019
92
192
Louisiana
Detector(s) used
Whites 6000D, Whites MX5, Garrett AT Max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just going to throw my opinion in....Log Hew.. they took on several shapes and forms, especially when not mass produced.


dc37f72e1f2d0ff388c3e4139b494f71-3064165433.jpg
 

Upvote 0

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
1,221
1,906
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Lo
Just going to throw my opinion in....Log Hew.. they took on several shapes and forms, especially when not mass produced.


View attachment 2048550
The long axis of handle in your photo is parallel to the bit. As it should be since that will be what gets the energy when it is swung. Important aspect to how a tool was used.

EDIT: The handle likely broke and the owner used it as a wedge with the handle wood still firmly intact in the eye. That preserved the inside shape and it may have lasted quite some time before it bent sideways.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 1

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top