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I shared earlier that I enjoy bringing vintage Axes back to life, and after a couple requests I figured I would do a build along.
I was on fleabay and a lady out of Utah posted a Kelly True Temper Perfect axe head in Michigan pattern. Kelly had a ton of models and their names denoted their quality. In order (with some other models between not listed) was the Perfect, flint edge, and woodsman lines.
"Michigan pattern" denotes the style of the head. In early America shipping goods was a pain as we didn't have the infrastructure. During this time most axe heads were made by your local blacksmith and designed to best suit the area in which they were being used. Axe heads evolved in small geographic areas for what the users desired. As infrastructure like transportation, shipping, printing, and mail service was built, things started to evolve and capitalism took it's course. Axes could be sold in catalogs, made by corporations, and shipped across the US. The key to this was you still had to produce the style head the customers in those areas wanted. If you were going to sell axes in Michigan, they better be Michigan patterns, else they wouldn't buy your axe and would simply commission one from the local blacksmith. As you can imagine this put a hurt on the local blacksmiths customer base. In the early years of Kelly each axe was made by hand by, you guessed it, a blacksmith. Over time these tradesmen left the area and migrated towards cities looking for work, only to work for the very companies who ran them out of business. Ain't capitalism grand.. Anyway, I digress. Below is a chart of the more popular patterns offered by most companies.
Lets take a look at the head I picked up on fleabay yesterday. Bought from a person in Utah and found on the local farm. It's not a looker and I have my work cut out for me with this ugly duckling. But hey, the seller posted it with a buy it now price 1/4 of what it should have been, I couldn't resist.
So what makes this Axe a "Michigan" pattern. If you look at the patterns above you'll notice a few things about this axe, namely it's more rounded and not as squared off as it's cousin right above it in the chart the Dayton pattern.
The "bit" (sharp end) is curved for chopping deeper into the softer woods largely found in Michigan's north. A flat bit in soft wood tends to spread the impact and reduce depth, basically it has more bounce.
The "toe" (bit edge furthest away from the axeman) and the "heel" (bit edge closest to the axeman" are rounded. This was to reduce chipping and breaking of those edges when chopping cold or frozen timber. As we all know banging cold steel against hard objects leads to busted tools. I imagine the loggers of the great north told their blacksmiths "If the corners are going to bust off and I have to grind them round, then you might as well make the damn thing round to start with" lol
The rear end of the axe is called the "poll" and it is also rounded. It wasn't designed to be used as a hammer but rather to give balance, weight, and momentum to the axe during the swing. It is not hardened so they made it rounded to deter it from being used as a hammer. Their theory was if we don;t want them using it as a hammer just make it a crappy hammer. Obviously the previous owner disagreed with them as it's slightly mushroomed.
The "cheeks" (flat sides of the head) also has a different pattern. If you look closely at this rusted bastard you'll see it. It's there to keep the axe from getting wedged in the wood and sticking. To a logger it was a really important feature. If your job is to swing an axe all day, the last thing you want to do is yank it back out after every swing. It doubles if not triples your work and required energy.
As for the age on the head it's difficult to tell with Kelly as the company made a ton of changes and moves and hardly any were documented. This one should be somewhere between 1920-1949. I'll have to get it cleaned up to know more. This one should be here August 6th.
I shared earlier that I enjoy bringing vintage Axes back to life, and after a couple requests I figured I would do a build along.
I was on fleabay and a lady out of Utah posted a Kelly True Temper Perfect axe head in Michigan pattern. Kelly had a ton of models and their names denoted their quality. In order (with some other models between not listed) was the Perfect, flint edge, and woodsman lines.
"Michigan pattern" denotes the style of the head. In early America shipping goods was a pain as we didn't have the infrastructure. During this time most axe heads were made by your local blacksmith and designed to best suit the area in which they were being used. Axe heads evolved in small geographic areas for what the users desired. As infrastructure like transportation, shipping, printing, and mail service was built, things started to evolve and capitalism took it's course. Axes could be sold in catalogs, made by corporations, and shipped across the US. The key to this was you still had to produce the style head the customers in those areas wanted. If you were going to sell axes in Michigan, they better be Michigan patterns, else they wouldn't buy your axe and would simply commission one from the local blacksmith. As you can imagine this put a hurt on the local blacksmiths customer base. In the early years of Kelly each axe was made by hand by, you guessed it, a blacksmith. Over time these tradesmen left the area and migrated towards cities looking for work, only to work for the very companies who ran them out of business. Ain't capitalism grand.. Anyway, I digress. Below is a chart of the more popular patterns offered by most companies.
Lets take a look at the head I picked up on fleabay yesterday. Bought from a person in Utah and found on the local farm. It's not a looker and I have my work cut out for me with this ugly duckling. But hey, the seller posted it with a buy it now price 1/4 of what it should have been, I couldn't resist.
So what makes this Axe a "Michigan" pattern. If you look at the patterns above you'll notice a few things about this axe, namely it's more rounded and not as squared off as it's cousin right above it in the chart the Dayton pattern.
The "bit" (sharp end) is curved for chopping deeper into the softer woods largely found in Michigan's north. A flat bit in soft wood tends to spread the impact and reduce depth, basically it has more bounce.
The "toe" (bit edge furthest away from the axeman) and the "heel" (bit edge closest to the axeman" are rounded. This was to reduce chipping and breaking of those edges when chopping cold or frozen timber. As we all know banging cold steel against hard objects leads to busted tools. I imagine the loggers of the great north told their blacksmiths "If the corners are going to bust off and I have to grind them round, then you might as well make the damn thing round to start with" lol
The rear end of the axe is called the "poll" and it is also rounded. It wasn't designed to be used as a hammer but rather to give balance, weight, and momentum to the axe during the swing. It is not hardened so they made it rounded to deter it from being used as a hammer. Their theory was if we don;t want them using it as a hammer just make it a crappy hammer. Obviously the previous owner disagreed with them as it's slightly mushroomed.
The "cheeks" (flat sides of the head) also has a different pattern. If you look closely at this rusted bastard you'll see it. It's there to keep the axe from getting wedged in the wood and sticking. To a logger it was a really important feature. If your job is to swing an axe all day, the last thing you want to do is yank it back out after every swing. It doubles if not triples your work and required energy.
As for the age on the head it's difficult to tell with Kelly as the company made a ton of changes and moves and hardly any were documented. This one should be somewhere between 1920-1949. I'll have to get it cleaned up to know more. This one should be here August 6th.
For our mobile viewers it says (Soft steel body; Hardened Poll, Crucible forged Steel, Tempered Bit, polished with bevels painted blue.) What I find interesting is it says "hardened poll" I've read in other ads from the late 40s where it wasn't hardened. 
