Big Burly Ax head

[Goldstar1]

Just found this sucker , I haven't seen one this heavy it must weigh about 8-10 pounds, the blade is 12" and 9" wide . It should be late 1800s based on the site an old mining camp. I will have to research it .
I wouldn't want to be on the bad side of the guy who chops stuff with this thing all day .
This will probably get preserved.

 

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[vpnavy]

I pulled these from other TN threads...

United States Department of Agriculture
A Practical Ax Manual Brief History of the Ax. Here are a few pictures - a bunch more on the website

Axe Head (Mar 18, 2010)

Hammer (Better Pics) (Feb 20, 2008)
​

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Broad axe. Used to hew round logs into square lumber

 

[Hawks88]

Nice find. Should look real cool when it’s all cleaned up. Congrats

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice relic, congratulations!

 

[Gene Mean]

Nice chopper!

 

[Javadroid]

Love to see big relics like this come out -- congrats mate!

 

[A2coins]

wow they worked back then

 

[Rookster]

Was Paul Bunyan stamped on it anywhere? Nice find.

 

[Goldstar1]

Thanks for the comments and ID help. I was pretty surprised to pull this out. I was using an Equinox 800 with my new 6" coil in a super iron trashy area, it was giving a pretty good signal, a little jumpy which is usually iron but I dug anyway , it was only about 4" down , most detectors would have overloaded on it but the EQ doesnt overload and sometimes that isnt a good thing but it was this time. I will post pictures when I get this thing preserved.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Take note that the blade is only sharpened on one edge and is off set from where the handle goes in. This was so the blade would be flush against the log they were hewing. Broad axes and broad hatchets are only sharpened on one side. Electrolysis does a great job on broad axes. I've done a few.