Hatchet rescue

Very nice!

Whoa, Good catch.
And it's a Keen Kutter .

Good work. Excellent find.

Nice! I love to find old tools like that and bring them back when I can. Getting harder to find them now though as so many others are on the look out for them.

Kingcreek

Nice job of cleaning up the old Keen Kutter hatchet! I always liked having a small hatchet around to clear out old shrubs and small saplings along with trimming the branches on the yearly Christmas tree. I got this Nordlund hatchet from my Dad when he no longer needed it.

Great find!

I never get to find cool things like that at yard or garage sales... Normally just find clothes for overweight women who got on weight watchers.

Good stuff, bringing back a solid old tool to life....

I have one that I found somewhere, it says Solingen, Western Germany, on the side.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

The Keen Kutter brand made some very fine tools. Good find and good save.
There used to be some serious money spent collecting those by a guy that I worked with.

Maybe 20 years ago I found this Vaughn half hatchet head laying in the road. Turned around to go pick it up. The handle was completely broken off - just wood in the eye and it was in pretty rough shape. Got the eye cleaned out and the head cleaned up. Put the head on this fiberglass core composite handle. The kit included epoxy and chopped fiberglass to fill the eye and bond everything together. It's been super solid for years now. This tool saw a lot of use before I found it - the waffling on the hammer head is very heavily worn. It's a great tool and I'm glad I found it and brought it back to life.



This Estwing was a garage sale pick up for a dollar. It had been left out in the weather, was rusted to hell and gone and the stacked leather handle was way beyond saving. Some bicycle grip tape I had laying around works just fine instead. It had been abused somewhere along the way too, as the poll has some mushrooming. Well worth the dollar. Need to make or find a sheath for it.



This is a cool thread. Glad to bring it to the top again.

Finally took some photos of mine. I remember finding this one, can't remember any details except it had no handle when found.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I love reviving old hatchets and hand axes.

Simple and gratifying if the item is worth it to me.


Todd.

What’s the history of nail notches on hatchets with ax heads. Those with hammer heads were probably shingling hatchets or intended for a carpenter tool box.

Kingcreek said:

Don't know what the history is on the nail notches because they weren't regular shingling hatchets. Maybe meant as a general purpose camp hatchet or what were sometimes called a "house axe"?
I have several vintage forged axes that I have reconditioned and rehandled including a big Gamble's Artisan double bit on a 32" haft.
Old axes are like puppies. The pathetic things follow me home from yard sales and estate auctions and I care for them and give them a new home.

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I'd have to say the utility of those nail notches were pretty limited. Whenever I need to pull a nail, claw hammer gets first try. If that fails, and it often does, super bar gets next try. And if that doesn't get the job done, a lady slipper / cat paw will normally get things started. Don't remember ever pulling a nail with a hatchet.

whughett said:

What’s the history of nail notches on hatchets with ax heads. Those with hammer heads were probably shingling hatchets or intended for a carpenter tool box.

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Hatchets with hammer heads were made for various purposes. Shingling, framing, lath work, all kinds of work. It's a great tool history. My Vaughn was a framing half hatchet.

Boattale said:

I'd have to say the utility of those nail notches were pretty limited. Whenever I need to pull a nail, claw hammer gets first try. If that fails, and it often does, super bar gets next try. And if that doesn't get the job done, a lady slipper / cat paw will normally get things started. Don't remember ever pulling a nail with a hatchet.

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My understanding of the nail notch has zero to do with shingling, but a whole lot to do with fencing. If a board breaks or gets kicked off then the nail can be pulled and replaced or straightened. Even wooden shingles were too thin to really get a bite on a nail with a hatchet head. Sometime recently I saw a video or a series of pictures explaining how to do a bunch of stuff with hand tools that people just can’t do anymore, like tensioning barbed wire with a claw hammer or fencing pliers, and they had a lot of hatchet and hand axe tips.