Patterns: evolution and death of the diversity of American Axes

Pattern: (n) 1) A repeated decorative design.

(n) 2) A model or design used as a guide

   If you were raised in the same era as I, or earlier, you’ve likely seen a McCall’s, Simplicity, or Butterick’s brand clothing pattern, or at least one of those sitting on a store shelf or in a relative’s sewing basket. These patterns were sold to those who were looking to make their own clothes, and supplied a basic design that allowed for the creation of a standardized dress, shirt, skirt, pants, or some other form of clothing. If you followed the basic design included in the thin paper packet, you’d get an exact copy of what someone else, in a standard size, had designed. However, if you were a bit taller, or shorter, or, as I was, a bit “huskier”, you may have to make a few adjustments to ensure the correct fit. A little longer of arms, maybe a more generous waist, or a longer inseam to allow for growing legs. With these patterns, you could choose to make an exact replica of the standard size, or use the template as a guide for creating exactly what you needed or imagined.

The use of the word “Pattern” in axes and hatchets is both intentional and significant, and it, like quite a few other axe industry related terms, is often misunderstood and misrepresented. As the American axe developed in colonial times, different forms that were familiar in European manufacturing were found useful in the “New World”. However, the new landscape was far different than Britain, Spain, or even Germany, of those days, as Europe had been plundered for its lumber for thousands of years at that point. Along with a sheer volume increase, the trees were of a different make, with the newly encountered species ranging from soft, sappy pines to the hard oaks, walnuts, and American hophornbeam, appropriately nicknamed ironwood. Along with the need to fell timber for constructing homes and developing agricultural lands, tree based industries that had been minimized in Europe, such as those that produced naval stores, found themselves in excess in the newly European settled west. These immensely diverging and varied needs led to variation in the size, shape, makeup, and form of the new “American Axe”, keeping innovative blacksmiths busy forging the ideas of their customers and creations of their own design. As the industrial revolution led to both an increase of production and an increase in the need for marketing tactics, design “needs” flowed into aesthetic design “wants”, leading to new less-than-necessary aesthetic changes. Not only was there a need to produce an adequate tool for a job, but there was now the need to convince a consumer that “your” design was the best. As the 19th century meandered through, the number of axe patterns exploded, leading major manufacturers from 3 or 4 variations to 30 or more, and resulting in the birth of the ever popular “Pattern Chart”.

Specific manufacturers, when crafting their axes in the pattern requested, were encouraged through marketing needs to make slight, or drastic, alterations to the original pattern design in order to produce the best functioning, and the best selling, product. A longer bit here, a taller poll there, a rounded heel, bevels, a rounded rather than a triangular lug, or a hardened poll. Some changes were functional, others merely for looks, but most were aimed at a particular market or niche, many of which were localized to a single demographic. Many of the “California” patterns (the “California Yankee”, the “California Swamper”, the “Eureka”, or the “Noyo”) were aimed at the timber trade of the Pacific Northwest, where as the “Southern State” (the Kentucky, the Southern Kentucky, the North Carolina, and the Georgia) patterns were aimed at the naval store producing companies in the areas they were named for. Amongst patterns, individual designs often varied by manufacturer, even if they were marketed to the same demographic. It’s tough to convince a consumer that your product is better when it looks and performs exactly like a competitor. Variance between consumers was just as likely to be a marketing ploy as it was an improvement in design.

As industry competition and diversity of industries maximized around the turn into the 20th century, pattern variation peaked as well. Along with more than 50 domestic patterns, exportation patterns, such as the Austral, Tasmanian, and the lengthy list of South American Patterns, topped out as well. (European exportation was minimal as the continent had a well-established domestic trade that was entrenched due to availability of raw materials, specifically steel and iron.) Competitiveness between major manufacturers peaked around the same time, with the condensation of a large portion of American axe makers folding into the American Axe and Tool Company. The “Roaring 20s” caught the tail end of pattern innovation, with the years following causing a significant decrease in the number of patterns available from mas manufacturers. The first causative agent for this drastic decline was the Great Depression. As jobs became fewer, and money became extremely scarce, consumers were more inclined to purchase the cheaper patterns of axes and sales of the more expensive to produce patterns (Rafting, Rockaways, Hoosiers, etc.) decreased significantly, causing manufacturers to scale back on these patterns. As the Depression came to a close with the start of World War II, another killing blow was dealt to pattern diversity in the form of the War Production Board Limitation Orders. These temporary war-time laws prohibited certain manufacturing processes in order to conserve resources within the United States for fear that the conflict with Europe would lead to a “War of Attrition”. As of the summer of 1942, the only single bit patterns permitted to be manufactured were Daytons, Michigans, Jerseys, Connecticuts, Kentuckies, and Dock Axes (technically Daytons and Kentuckies with hardened polls), though Rafting patterns were allowed toward the end of the war. Double bits were limited to Michigan, Western, Reversible, Falling, and Swamping patterns. For more than 3 years of an economic boom, pattern production and sale was limited to a fraction of what had been seen less than 20 years prior.

Though the War Board Limitation Orders would disappear with the end of World War II, both consumers and manufacturers had realized that they could live without the variety of patterns. As the post war economy stabilized, most manufacturers continued to offer only the limited patterns allowed by the previous orders, though many would offer older patterns as special orders. The 1950s would see relatively steady pattern production, but the 1960s, with a popularization of the portable chain saw and non-wood based home heating, saw the condensation of patterns even further, with patterns such as the Connecticut and Tasmanian condensing into one, and redundant patterns such as the Kentucky and the Jersey, losing one for the popularity of the other. By the 1980s, Michigans, Daytons, and Jersey dominated the popular single bit patterns, and Michigan and Western patterns being most of what was left when it came to double bits.

The peaking and then regression of patterns occurred over a mere 100 years, from roughly 1880 until 1980, though the sheer number of produced individual axes left millions of examples of older patterns to be found by modern collectors. However, use and age can hide the specifics of the less drastically differing patterns to the point of confusion. For example, the difference between a California Yankee, a west coast lumberman pattern, and a standard Yankee, a more typically exported pattern, is simply a rounding of the poll and a rounding of the toe and heel. This rounding can occur from use, so determining the true historic pattern can be almost impossible after moderate use. Caution should be taken when taking a firm stand on what a pattern is after the individual has seen use. Due to the, the preservation of unused axes, especially those of less frequently encountered patterns, should be an important part of modern collecting.

Overall, axe patterns are an interesting and sometimes misunderstood part of modern axe collecting. They serve as a wonderful reminder of the dynamics of past industry, economics, and marketing. The diversity of antique axe patterns is a kaleidoscope of shapes and forms, all aimed at differing from original patterns that evolved, melded, diverged, captivated, sold, and then died along with the evolution of the United States.