repost from what is it

[aa battery]

a local know it all says this might be a fur trade axe. If it is my daughter is going to check the area better.

 

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[littleneckhalfshell]

from the size, I would say 'hatchet' not axe, but it looks like it had a very bad forge weld, since I assume that the part in the left side of the picture is meant to be folded over to the middle ground where you can sort of see the parting line. I can't tell from the picture, but from what I could see, it does not look like it is wrought iron with a steel edge welded on, seems to be a forge blade of one piece with the eye welded around to the mid point. It is obviously a hand forged piece, but as for date, they are still making hand forged axes, so that is not proof of date. more important would be the quality of the metal, wrought iron, (does not look like it, wrought iron often in a badly rusted state can have the look of woodgrain) Blister steel, modern steel, all play a part in the metal timeline.

 

[littleneckhalfshell]

a little more on the subject of the metal of the axe from http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f11/steeled-edges-drop-forged-hand-forged-timelines-4823/

""I have been trying to find out how I can tell the age of various axes by the way they were made. For example, I read that the Bessimer process was invented around 1855 and by about 1870 the process had been perfected, thus making it cheap enough to make axes of all steel. So my assumption then was that if the axe has "steeled" edges then it must be pre-1870. But then I ran into some problems. Apparently manufacturers were making iron axes with steeled edges up until about 1930! ""

Since modern mild steel and tool steel in use would be only common post 1870 and thus past the fur trade period, it would seem that the axe lacking a welded in steel at the cutting edge (not seen by me in the picture) might suggest that this is post 1870, but if it could be shown that it was wrought iron, it might be a cheaper non steel, wrought iron only axe. Again knowing the metal it is made from would help.

 

[aa battery]

this is the closest i got French year 1710 and it is iron