Old Hatchet

[West Jersey Detecting]

this does not appear machine made. I found it in a 250 year old site I have been hunting, but I doubt it is that old. Any ideas? I found bottles at the site going back to the 1850's or so.

 

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[lonewolfe]

coll find - no idea on age - looks old though~

hh

 

[Boilermaker27]

Through my 35 years of relic hunting I have found my share of axes and hatchets. Also have found a bunch of horseshoes. I have looked online and checked at libraries for books on axes or horseshoes. Sure wish there was a way to date these beautiful relics. I have found a number just exactly like yours. As to age I have no idea other than it seems to have at least 75 to 100 years of rust on it.

 

[TreasureTales]

Sometimes seeing an axe from the top is a helpful way to date one. The handle hole might tell us something about age, in other words. I like finding axe and hatchet heads because they mean somebody was out there cutting wood and that's always interesting to me. Were they cutting firewood or building a cabin or a root cellar? Those are the questions that always come into my head when I find one. Way cool.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Many of the oldest ones were hand-forged. Look for a place on either side where it looks like the metal was folded over.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I am not sure what you mean by "folded". Here is the top view.

 

[TreasureTales]

Hey BORAT Neil, thank you for posting a pic of the axe hole (uh oh, very close to a no-no). I'm gonna have to GUESS (no expert here) that your axe was machine made...maybe 1940s. But here's a website that you can explore when you get time and see if you come to a different conclusion. I'd look myself buy I'm trying to get ready to leave town for the Christmas weekend. Have a great day and Happy Holidays.

www.roseantiquetools.com/

 

[BuckleBoy]

yep. machine made is my guess too. the cool thing about old tools is that they electrocute really well (about the only thing improved by electrolysis is old iron, I'm convinced!) and then they can be used again. I like the idea of using something again after so many years underground.

Buckleboy