Blount Turpentine Tool Company

   Edward Blount was born in the Goldsboro area of NC to William Carr Blount and his wife Mary in 1867. Raised on a farm, Edward left home around the age of 20 and resettled in south western Georgia, an area that was rich with Turpentine Plantations, in the early 1890s. In 1895 he joined HA McEachern, JR Young, and AC McLeod in forming the Blount Turpentine Tool Company of Quitman, Georgia. The company would be based on the sale of numerous designs by Blount, including a turpentine hack with easily removable blades and a unique barrel lid that was easily opened and that included an eye bolt for easy lifting.

    In February of 1903, Blount added to his designs a boxing axe with a blade that was offset to the eye. The change from the traditional design was meant to allow for a “box” (the cut in a Pine where sap was to flow to be collected for making turpentine) that was just as deep as usual but that stayed closer to the outer layers of the trunk. As broken trees during storms was a hazard of turpentine farming, this would be seen as a beneficial change. by decreasing the weakening of the trunk. Unfortunately for Blount, he died of an illness in September of that same year, 3 months prior to the registration of his patent.