Bell System B

[frankendime]

I pick up old hatchet/axe heads every chance I get. Spent the day at the house doing honeydoes and necessary evils. Went on a B double E double R UN. Spied a little sale on the way and snagged this for $2. First one I've seen...

HH ALL!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[vpnavy]

Nice buy. Thanks for sharing...

 

[acevillav]

That's a really cool piece. Do you have any details about its age, make or value ? Please teach so I may learn.
HH Ace Villa-v

 

[frankendime]

That's a really cool piece. Do you have any details about its age, make or value ? Please teach so I may learn.
HH Ace Villa-v

Hi Thanks! From my limited amount of research I've learned that there was several tools made for Bell Telephone linesmen. I'm guessing that the square hole could be used as a wrench for the old square head nuts and bolts that were used on insulators etc; Not sure about age but will look into it more. Value, not sure. $15 -20 maybe.

 

[diggummup]

Cool ax head. I guess it's a lineman's ax. Here's some info. I just pulled up for you - Stanley Axes

STANLEY / BELL SYSTEM HATCHET
The specific years during which Stanley provided specialty hatchets for the Bell System has yet to be determined. It is believed that these hatchets were available from sometime in the 1940s until at least sometime in the 1960s. At this point no catalog reference is known extant but it is surmised they may have been provided through special orders. Also unresolved is whether Stanley provided such hatchets to other utility companies or other concerns in addition to the Bell System. Numerous examples have been observed that include a square opening cut through the hatchet blade. Such hatchets are referred to as hatchet-wrenches because the square opening accommodated the square bolt heads used to secure different apparatus to utility poles.
The hatchet-wrench was not the only axe that Stanley provided to the Bell System. Long handle single-bit axes have also been observed with both the Stanley marking and the words Bell System in what appear to be factory applied markings.

and then here is a response from a guy who actually used them - OldTools Archive -- thread with message 183515


The old man reports back that in his experience the hatchets were used to set ceramic insulators on phone pole cross arms. He is also quite sure that this was not the definitive use of the tool, but merely one adaptation in the geographic area in which he worked. This was apparently in the days when in certain rural areas bare copper wires were used to bring party line service to the farmers. The square hole in the head was to grasp and align the pegs on which the insulators were mounted, as well as for the lag screws that attached the crossarms to the pole. The back of the hatchet head was used as a hammer to drive the pegs into the crossarm, as well as any galvanized nails that would have been necessary for other types of wooden braces to which said insulators were also affixed. He owned that the hatchet bequeathed to me had been reground by him in accordance with instructions passed along by an old timer with whom he had worked when he was a line gang newbie, in the one-facet bevel style previously mentioned. Apparently some nameless, genuinely ancient galoot knew how to hew a log into a beam. Getting a crossarm to lay flat against a section of phone pole was not an altogether different operation, and building a pole shed was, in retrospect I guess, "child's play." :-)Whether or not such hewing conformed to established BSP practice was, of course, such an irrelevant idea that no one dared ask. ;->On another note he also mentioned that the hole in the head of the 3 lb lineman's hammer is reputed to be the idea of yet another nameless lineman, whose suggestion was passed up the line to management and thence to the tool-ordering folk.Does anybody work for such a responsive, can-do organization today?Ma Bell gave out dull hatchets and big ass hammers, but boy, did she put holes in them when asked for!

 

[frankendime]

Thanks! Good reading. ^^^^^^

 

[Greg407]

Your post reminded me of a past dump dig on which I found this double-sided porcelain Bell Systems sign. One of my best finds. The other thing to the left is a cast iron paperweight that says Saturday Evening Post on it. Both came from the same hole along with some other good stuff.

 

[gusser]

Used one of these in my first job in the 1960's. Lineman Pennsylvania Bell System. thanks for the memories.