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Thread: Plumb Axe Find

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
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    West Michigan
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    41

    Default Plumb Axe Find

    Was out at the antique shop last week, and found this beaut. Its a old Plumb Victory, it relatively good shape. Its a 3 lb head. Im going to TRY and cut all my wood for this season by hand. If anybody has more info on this, feel free to let me know!
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Sugarhill NH
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    723

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    I got two of those old axe heads in the celler but I guess the only workout I am going to get is pushing the handle on the splitter. they are nice axe heads though.
    30x8 Leader revolution, wood fired blower, steamaway/hood. 903 taps all but 54 on pipeline and 3 vacuum systems. Hauling sap this year with a 99 F350 7.3 diesel dump and of course back up is the Honda 450 and trailer.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Puyallup, Washington
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    8

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    Sam,
    Nice find! It looks like Michigan pattern axe head. The old ones have better steel in them than the modern imported ones do. When you re-handle the axe head, you should consider removing any varnish on the handle and applying a coat of boiled linseed oil. It won't raise a blister like varnish will.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    West Michigan
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    Funny you say that John! I did the exact thing this morning. I hate the feel of that waxey varnish, but love the feel of the linseed oil. Used it today. The think takes an AMAZING edge, and split about 1/2 chord today. I love it. Not like the ones made today. Hard Hard steel.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Maine
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    561

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Caruth View Post
    Was out at the antique shop last week, and found this beaut. Its a old Plumb Victory, it relatively good shape. Its a 3 lb head. Im going to TRY and cut all my wood for this season by hand. If anybody has more info on this, feel free to let me know!
    There's a guy on YouTube who does a lot of cool work on old axes (and homesteading, woodworking, metal fab, logging, etc). His user name is Wranglerstar. He has a video of restoring a Plumb axe and makes his own handles. Worth the time watching his videos. Does great work.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    NE PA
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    Looks like something Washington might have used on a cherry tree I love old tools.

    There are a lot of pages about Plumb axes if you do a google search for "plumb axe history".. Here's one that came up in my search

    http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yest...umb%20Co..html

    This article dates the mark in a rectangle as somewhere between 1917- 1980s. You can probably date it better than that if you can trace exactly when that particular mark was used. One site I looked at placed the victory slogan as used during WWII.
    “A sap-run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.”
    ~John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons", 1886

    backyard mapler since 2006 using anything to get the job done from wood stove to camp stove to even crockpots.
    2012- moved up to a 2 pan block arch
    2013- plan to add another hotel pan and shoot for 5-6 gallons
    Thinking small is best for me so probably won't get any bigger.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    West Michigan
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    41

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flat47 View Post
    There's a guy on YouTube who does a lot of cool work on old axes (and homesteading, woodworking, metal fab, logging, etc). His user name is Wranglerstar. He has a video of restoring a Plumb axe and makes his own handles. Worth the time watching his videos. Does great work.
    I have been addicted to Wranglerstar videos for months now! But I have never seen the Plumb one. Time to search!

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