Recent find.

[woodland scout]

Is this what I what I think it is or am I wrong.
I bought this at the car boot fair at the royal Stoneleigh show ground Warwickshire.
The gent was an oldish fellow and he was Canadian from Alberta Canada,but when I asked him about It
he said It was a French splitting axe.
Well we agreed a price,I broke his arm off and paid him.
So what do you think?
The only markings on it are TOUT AC H or M stamp on the blade you can just see in one of the pictures.
The handle is rectangle in section trimmed down to oval to fit the head which is fixed with two wooden wedges in a cross configuration.
Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

 

[whats wrong with you all]

Can't see the picture my friend!

 

[British Red]

 

[brambles]

Is this what I what I think it is or am I wrong.

Well that sort of depends on what you think it is, does'nt it?

 

[mountainm]

Its a rather fine shatter proof rule about the size of an axe.?

 

[leedsbrew]

Its a rather fine shatter proof rule about the size of an axe.?

Lmfao ....

 

[sycamour]

Its a rather fine shatter proof rule about the size of an axe.?

Ha Ha priceless!

 

[Biker]

Yep, I'd say that is of French heritage. Non standard home made handle by the looks of things though. I can only see one image and that's showing in BR's posting. I'd be interested in seeing more. These are the type I seek out to restore and sell on. Good honest old school steel and crying out for another chance at being in harness. Nice fine mate, really nice find! Use it well.

I picked up two more at a vide grenier (French name for boot fair) here yesterday. Well chuffed.

 

[British Red]

There you go Aaron......we must talk about one of your finds if you have a light one with an 18" helve

 

[Biker]

Thanks for posting the pix Hugh, yep definitely a French design. The name's not familiar, but then there are so many variations and makers I'm no expert by any means. I have found that Talabot, Peugeot Ferres and Goldenberg are brands that are very highly rated.

Don't let the mushrooming on the hammer side worry you, I've seen them used/abused as something to strike against with another hammer to split firewood, so some burring over is to be expected. Just grind off the burrs and it'll make a fine hammer face in its own right.

Note to British Red - Sure we can talk tomahawks Hugh. Fixed head or take down? Fixed heads I have several of, they range roughly between 500g to 650g, very similar to the one in the pix actually. All my restored axes come with a new hickory shaft and professionally fitted by yours truly and will have had 3 coats of linseed oil. Drop me a PM sometime. I'm off out to work on my house in a bit so I'll catch up with you later OK? Aaron.

 

[British Red]

Thanks Aaron - I'll drop you a note

 

[woodland scout]

Thank you for your input, pleased with the pixs first time.Interesting on the comments. I do not know why some of us caught not see the pixs.
Thought all you have to do is right click and open in another page and see pixs in photobucket never mine.
just one thought though on the axe, were these exported by the thousands to Canada and all over.
Do we think it might be old enough to be from the fur trade ?
Either way I likes, it's in the right in the hand and I will be using it when just a little TLC has been applied and the wood worm treated on the right end of the shaft.
Any thoughts will be welcome with thanks. Paul.

 

[British Red]

In photobucket, to the right of the picture is a box marked IMG. Click in that box and it will automatically copy some code. Then click on your post and click paste. This will copy the html code for you image.