Aroostook Wedge

The word “Aroostook” is derived from the word of the native peoples known as the Mi’kmaq (Micmac) meaning “clear (or beautiful) water”. The Mi’kmaq tribe historically inhabited the area that we now know as Maine, and the northern most county of the state is now known as Aroostook County. Along with the Aroostook River and the town of Aroostook (Canada), the region was noted by the name as far back as the time of the involvement of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the area in the late 17th century.

The Aroostook Wedge has been noted as both a pattern and a line manufactured by numerous companies, including B. Kelley and Company of Belfast, Maine; the Damon Brothers, the North Wayne Tool Company, the Dunn Edge Tool Company, all of Oakland, Maine; the Hubbard and Blake Manufacturing Company, also of Oakland, Maine; and the Underhill Edge Tool Company of Nashua, New Hampshire. The latter two listed were also members of the American Axe and Tool Company, pulling the name into the conglomerate company’s lines, and from there pulling it once again into the Kelly companies after the formation of the Kelly Axe and Tool Company in 1924. Despite being noted in most instances as a pattern, the 1931 catalog of the Kelly Axe and Tool Works noted the Aroostook Wedge as a line or brand controlled by that company, though there is no evidence that the company ever produced a line by that name. The pattern or patterns earlier noted as an Aroostook Wedge pattern were noted in the catalog as a Wedge or Half Wedge pattern, and no pattern noted with the Aroostook name was shown in a Kelly catalog from there on out.