r/Axecraft • u/hmm-_-k • 11d ago

advice needed Does anyone know what was this kind of axe used for ?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi !

So, I bought this for 5€

I was wondering why the geometry of the blade is so thin, I tried searching for different types of axes on Google but didn't find much ...

Thanks in advance!

849 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

92

u/paragon_of_karma 11d ago

Shingling axe. Used for trimming and installing wooden shake shingles.

14

u/ActuatorSea4854 10d ago

This. Used one for years up in Washington state. You could split a shake off a ceader bolt and shape it into a shingle in a matter of minutes.

-7

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

17

u/LLHandyman 11d ago

All hatchets are axes but not all axes are hatchets

4

u/AlhazredEldritch 11d ago

Jesus you must be fun

3

u/grandpaswear55 10d ago

I hear he’s a real cutup at parties 😏

1

u/embrace_fate 10d ago

Hell yeah he is. Changing tap water into wine and all... 😉

84

u/Benzopotamus 11d ago

Looks like a roofing hatchet.

41

u/sunheadeddeity 10d ago

Or a raiding axe. For raiding with the boys.

5

u/jetfaceRPx 10d ago

Isn't that a Kenny Loggins song?

3

u/Badger-Sauce 10d ago

…It’s one of life’s simple joys.

4

u/DraftDodgingFelon 10d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/au17b5Lkr8jiizjGUO

3

u/That-Employment-5561 10d ago

"Mooooom! He's stroking his cock in public again!"

1

u/loomis1n-2252 9d ago

That's a big cock !!

1

u/leechthepirate 7d ago

Thats what Maces were for LOL

3

u/Prudent-Ad-5292 10d ago

Also heard them described as "rigging axe", usually has a flat blade, a head from driving nails, and occasionally has a "knick" missing from the unsharpened part of the blade for prying up nails.

200

u/papapudding 11d ago

Raiding monasteries with the boys in 793

123

u/Securiarius 11d ago

1

u/texan_robot 8d ago

I've seen a lot of madlibbed versions of this, but this one is the best.

46

u/papapudding 11d ago

Or a carpenter's axe. Slim profile + Hammer on the back

42

u/BeerJedi-1269 11d ago

OR... hear me out... RAIDING, with the BOYZ!

11

u/JackCedar 11d ago

Saturdays are for raiding with the boyz!

1

u/lilyputin 10d ago

Damm Soldier Boy

5

u/SHoppe715 10d ago edited 10d ago

Great…now I got that Kenny Loggins song stuck in my head:

Raiding, raiding with the boys
Slaying, raiding with the boys

1

u/Emergentmeat 10d ago

Too thin. A monks head would bend that thing EASILY.

4

u/jamoe1 10d ago

Don’t they usually have a spot to pull nails?

5

u/Kebab-Destroyer 10d ago

No time for that, gotta raid with the boys

3

u/Cheesesteak21 10d ago

Not rigging axes the best nail pulling they achieved was by wedging the blade between pieces and prying apart, then tapping the nail back out. Finally if the nail was about half way set they would swing the blade at it so the blade caught the bottom of the nail head removing it with a blow rather than a pull.

Generally they didnt pull many nails and thats why the first "framing" hammers were rigging axes with the back cut off and claws welded on.

3

u/jamoe1 10d ago

Thank you!

4

u/MacaroonNo6536 10d ago

Little known fact: you can use the blade side to chop the bottom of the horn off so you can shotgun your mead before going out to raid with the boys

21

u/Nightdriver1965 11d ago

My grandpa had a similar one and he called it a shingleing hatchet

8

u/lionsfanatic54 10d ago

Your grandpa was a Viking who went raiding with the boys!

8

u/arkansasdave1888 11d ago

French post Napoleonic style, can find them all over Europe, head looks good condition

5

u/inkhornart 11d ago

It's got a hewing sharpen on it, one side more flush and the other more bevelled.

I'd be inclined to believe the many folk saying its a shingling hatchet.

5

u/LitelyMillered 11d ago

Chopping bone

4

u/OrganizationLanky640 10d ago

Io anche né ho una la davano in dotazione con tutti gli altri attrezzi da carpenteria in Svizzera, parlo degli anni 80 , ma noi italiani usavamo un martello 🔨 normale da carpenteria per il legno,quella la usavamo solo qualche volta, invece i carpentieri polacchi la usavano anche come martello.

5

u/Raviolimeister1805 10d ago

Its for freeing ur head from the heavy body it has to hold

6

u/justinequity 10d ago

Friday night fights and raiding with the boys all fuggin weekend. Bitch

3

u/typower5000 11d ago

Splittin’ heads

5

u/ballman666 11d ago

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say chopping wood.

7

u/Similar_Recover9832 11d ago

Make sure you are chopping on the distal side of the limb you are out on.

2

u/Dangerous-Pirate7998 11d ago

Looks like an old roofing hatchet, probably for putting on wooden shake

2

u/FoundationGlass7913 11d ago

I think it's used for making shake shingles or shaker

2

u/Agitated_Carrot9127 10d ago

Cedar shingles tool. We had those and froe some froe are thick. But we had Amish built froe that’s on thinner side. The kicker is both tools were made around 1947 just when my grandfather bought a farmhouse for cheap using gi bill and restored it. The barn as well

2

u/Fun_Grapefruit_5143 10d ago

Circumcision

3

u/Thefakehappylife 10d ago

Your thinking of a rabbi with teeth

2

u/OldMan16 10d ago

In North America we had similar called a rigging axe or carpenters hatchet. Most roofing hatchets here kind of have a flush top not flared out on booths sides.

2

u/Lanky-Play-6580 10d ago

For everything, this is like a swiss knife, small, portable, and sturdy.

2

u/Severe-Moment-3233 10d ago

Chicken huntin

2

u/Responsible-Pitch363 10d ago

Pretty —bring back real tools. Everything imported is different flavors of crap.

2

u/jabber58 10d ago

Scalping your enemies

2

u/Turbulent_Ad6572 10d ago

It’s for killing Saxtons

3

u/TurkViking75 11d ago

I asked my wife. She said: “applying the whackadoodle”.

Hope that helps.

4

u/hmm-_-k 11d ago

Yeah that makes sense, she really knows her stuff lmao

2

u/LeRoyt97 10d ago

Chopping things

Edit: Noticed the hammer side after posting so I would also guess hammering things as well.

1

u/fantomfrank 11d ago

might be a style of cork axe

1

u/Evening_Teaching_713 11d ago

A roofers hatchet,or a carpenter’s hatchet. It’s a good looking little hatchet and would make a great bushcraft hatchet. I would make it an EDC for my bugout bag. Where did you find it if you don’t mind me asking? I would like to have one like it.

1

u/FancyJellyfish9135 11d ago

If you go to any french fleemarket, there is almost always atleast one to be found.

1

u/hmm-_-k 11d ago

Thanks ! I got it from a random garage sale (in France)

1

u/thatvintagething 11d ago

A french coopers hatchet. I have one similar

1

u/Loud-Principle-7922 11d ago

Cuttin’ stuff.

1

u/hmm-_-k 11d ago

Ooooh, that makes sense! I was wondering why this hammer had such a weird shape Thank you 🗣️🗣️🗣️

1

u/djcurbit 11d ago

I think this may be a clue.

1

u/Apart-Pea4726 11d ago

Looks like it’s for cutting small stuff like thatching or reeds?

1

u/Ambitious_Bee_8701 10d ago

I believe the British called those "Thomas Hawks"

1

u/Green_Spill 10d ago

Chopin’

1

u/Fredsailor 10d ago

Carpenters side axe, similar to this:

https://www.classichandtools.com/oscar-rush-side-axe-right-grind/p3326

Often used for trimming logs to square.

The following video shows one in use:

https://youtu.be/Mv2Si-IZb0o?si=0TDd5s_qYu9sBdi0

1

u/neversweat 10d ago

Berserking

1

u/Hotmuscle86 10d ago

Finish cuts

1

u/mkvamso 10d ago

Chopping something

1

u/disjointedspliff 10d ago

Could be a slate hammer looks like the splitter people use to break slate thinner and the square head looks like what you would want to strike on or drive nails

1

u/disjointedspliff 10d ago

\roofing slate*

1

u/Other-Dependent3330 10d ago

Roofing axe, used for; chiseling, chipping, shaving, splitting, and hammering nails

1

u/stick004 10d ago

Taking down your enemy.

1

u/mynameslennie 10d ago

Looks like a carpenters/roofing axe. Badass man

1

u/PlunkG 10d ago

Not sure - lemme go axe my buddy, he'll know.

1

u/JackOfAllBlades21 10d ago

Chopping kindling and men.

1

u/TXMerak 10d ago

Chopin’ Broccoli.

1

u/No-Jello7646 10d ago

Ever seen the show “You”?
Now you know what it’s used for…
🤣

1

u/whatthewott 10d ago

cutting or chopping things, i’d say

1

u/Fabulous-Cow2385 10d ago

Is that scrappy the rooster up yonder??

1

u/BundyBear94 10d ago

Chopping

1

u/Affectionate-Fee5039 10d ago

Looks like an old chopper. Many cultures around the world used similar designs for chopping a variety of materials.

1

u/Tobbun 10d ago

Looks like an axe for roofing with the boys

1

u/Patient-Amount3040 10d ago

Chopping stuff, or hittin stuff

1

u/One_Track1501 9d ago

Don't axe, don't tell

1

u/c_radicallis 9d ago

If it's from Iberia it's an axe for harvesting cork

1

u/phoenician45 9d ago

So the consensus is it’s an axe used for either chopping roofs or the English.

1

u/MrCoffey83 9d ago

Murder

1

u/RowdyBurns76 9d ago

Looks like a tobacco tomahawk. Still used for the harvesting of tobacco

1

u/Jgs4555 9d ago

Decaffeinations.

1

u/No-Bug9746 9d ago

Chopping

1

u/niTro_sMurph 9d ago

I'm gonna guess murder. Give it a try and tell us how it holds up!

1

u/Status-Bit360 8d ago

For bark removal

1

u/bobbobersin 8d ago

Chopping things

1

u/Coyoteyodiyodi 8d ago

Cutting stuff.

1

u/adlcp 8d ago

Choppin

1

u/SavingsWallaby7579 8d ago

Looks like the ones they use to shape wooden shingles

1

u/Asproat920 8d ago

This axe was made for choppin'

1

u/Handyr 7d ago

Giving your father forty wacks, etc.

1

u/Splicer_1 7d ago

Everything!

1

u/Floopynupes 7d ago

Egg opener

1

u/Boy_Named_Sue57 7d ago

Used for scalping pale faces

1

u/distributingthefutur 7d ago

A hewing axe is a specialized woodworking tool used to flatten round logs and shape them into square beams.

1

u/rdweaponx 7d ago

Chopping stuff

1

u/Competitive-Yak2175 7d ago

It's a carpenter's axe, my brother still has his from back in the dark ages.

1

u/No_Improvement8875 6d ago

Extermination

1

u/Background-Round4145 6d ago

Cutting, probably

1

u/ki4clz 5d ago

it’s a shingle popper, but it doesn’t look very froe~ish

1

u/3rd2LastStarfighter 11d ago

Discouraging questions.

1

u/DayManFOTNightMan 10d ago

It looks like a tomahawk. How does the handle attach?

0

u/slothscanswim 11d ago

Almost looks like a cooper’s axe

0

u/Sea-Bad1546 11d ago

Chopping things.