Collins axe???

[John White]

When I grew up in logging country, a axe was a axe. I avoided them because it meant hard work. (which I had to do anyway) I remember my Dad sitting around with other loggers discussing which axe was the best. Plumb, Kelly true temper or keen cutter. When I left home 50 years ago, that was the end of the axe discussions. If I needed a axe doing some work, now, I just went to the hardware store and bought the cheapest axe they had. I am sure made in China. It doesn't cut very good and I don't worry much if I hit a rock ( not on purpose ) . Something happened to my using ax. I was at a flea market and found a old ax for $3. Didn't want to spend much. Rusty, but not beat up too bad, axe handle had some missing wood near the head where they hit something with the handle. Got it home, wire brushed it real good. I could see it had some good steel in it that I had never seen in a axe for years. It had a name and logo on it that said "Collins, Legitimus". Got to checking and it looks like I got a winner. Cleaned it up real good, had to do very little honing on it. Ground the head down a little where they battered it driving spikes or steel fence posts. I plan on mixing up some real fine sawdust with epoxy and repair the wood to make it look a little better. I won't be hitting any rocks with this axe. Really cuts nice. Well today I was at a Flea market and seen a small hatchet that said "Collins" on the handle. With a picture of a axe. ($10) It needed cleaning up too and rust removed. (no nicks or damage) Looks like a squirrel might have chewed on the end of the handle I am going to try and fill that back in. The handle appears to be original. There no stamping on the axe head to indicate that it a genuine Collins. How can I know that it is a genuine Collins? I looked at a few pictures on a few web sites and they show only a paper emblem glued to the head.

 

[Joebklyn]

Wood Trekker: A Brief History of the Collins Axe Company here 'ya go. Lots of E-Bay heads too.

 

[s219]

Their factory was near where I grew up, right on the Farmington River in Collinsville CT. It was a cool looking old factory. I remember they had a sign on the side of one building that listed what they made, and "adze" was a strange new word I always puzzled over as a youngster. It was a pretty big/legendary manufacturing company in a small town, the kind of thing that used to be common in New England, but you don't see any more. I believe they closed that factory in the mid 1960s, a few years before I was born.

Edit: found some history/pictures here:

The Legacy of the Collins Company






Brant & Cochran

 

[stuckmotor]

I got a Collins Axe for Christmas when I was a teenager. Lost it in the woods. My next axe came from KMart and had a plastic handle, probably, with a fiberglass core. It stayed outside for over 30 years. I finally lost it too.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I live 10 minutes from the old Collins Company factory. The sign is still on the building even though Collins has been gone for 50 years.

 

[stuckmotor]

I'm sorry to hear they're gone. They didn't last long after I got my Christmas axe.

 

[kthompson]

When you see the price of a Husky or Sthil axe it makes me wonder why other quality companies could not make it. I know much of large hand tools such as shovels and hoes are made of terrible metal. Makes using them miserable. Cheap tools are pricey if you really use them or need to use them.

 

[John White]

When you see the price of a Husky or Sthil axe it makes me wonder why other quality companies could not make it. I know much of large hand tools such as shovels and hoes are made of terrible metal. Makes using them miserable. Cheap tools are pricey if you really use them or need to use them.

You are right. Try and find a good pair of nail clippers, or a good can opener that is not made in China. Cheap shovels flex and bend, break, or a good pair of post hole diggers. I have a spud bar that will bend like a wet noodle. I made one out of a drive shaft of a Pontiac Tempest, early 60's (they had a solid rod drive shaft, about 1" dia and about 5' long) I have had it for over 50 years and have not bent it yet.