Ax History · A Catalog Reference

Axe head patterns

The named shapes of the American axe — one labeled plate per pattern, with what each was for

Researched & written by Ethan Trex, an axe collector & restorer. · Reviewed August 2026

Walk into a hardware store in 1910 and ask for “an axe,” and the counterman’s first question was which pattern — the name of the head’s shape. A pattern fixed the profile: how wide the bit, how deep the beard, whether lugs gripped the handle, how much steel sat in the poll. None of it was cosmetic. Wood decided: frozen Great Lakes pine wants rounded corners that won’t chip; dense Chesapeake oak wants a lugged eye that won’t work loose; a turpentine crew wants reach. Patterns took the names of the regions and trades that worked them, and by about 1920 the makers had thinned hundreds of local shapes down to a few dozen standards^EAH — in 1942 the U.S. government even issued a standard list.^NBS

The plates are original line drawings for this guide, checked against the Kelly Axe & Tool 1925 “Standard Patterns” chart and the U.S. Forest Service’s standard-set charts^U; weight ranges are those charts’ own. Regional names beyond the government lists follow the period trade chart.^KL

✓ Primary — read directly ~ Corroborated — reliable secondary

Single-bit patterns

One bit and a poll. The everyday axe — and the shape that varied most, because everyone from Maine to Georgia had an opinion.

Plain & square

The oldest idea: a head that is mostly wedge. Simple to forge, simple to hang — the everyday axes of the northern camps and the farm woodlot.

Labeled line drawing of the Wedge axe head pattern

Wedge3–5 lb

Straight sides and a deep, splitting bite. In clean northern wood a plain wedge profile pops its chip free without binding — no flare needed.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Half Wedge axe head pattern

Half Wedge3–5 lb

A wedge with just a hint of heel — the first step from the plain wedge toward the flared patterns.^U

Maine

New England’s own wedge form — narrow, square, and frugal, built for spruce and fir. Maine held onto it long after the flared patterns took the catalogs.^KL^BC

Labeled line drawing of the Yankee axe head pattern

Yankee3–8 lb

The old New England standard — Underhill’s 1886 catalogue sold the “Yankee Pattern” in light, medium and heavy weights. Plain and square: an all-round head for farm and woodlot.^UN^U

Labeled line drawing of the New England axe head pattern

New England2½–6 lb

Kelly’s chart lists it as “New England or Improved Wisconsin” — square shoulders, modest flare, an everyday chopper for mixed hardwood.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Long Island axe head pattern

Long Island2½–3½ lb

The lightest of the named regionals — a small coastal pattern for firewood and farm work rather than big timber.^U

The flared all-rounders

As the trade moved into serious felling, the bit grew wider than the eye — more edge in the cut, corners shaped to the local wood. These are the patterns the big catalogs sold by the carload.

Labeled line drawing of the Dayton axe head pattern

Dayton3–8 lb

The default American axe of the catalog era: enough flare to fell fast, flat cheeks that split well, a flat poll that drives wedges. When in doubt, the hardware store stocked Dayton.^U^TT^AM

Labeled line drawing of the Delaware axe head pattern

Delaware3–5 lb

Sold as “Delaware or Wide Bit Dayton” — the same plain lines with a taller bit, for choppers who wanted more edge in the cut.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Ohio axe head pattern

Ohio3½–5 lb

Dayton lines with more crown; the charts pair the name with “Western Crown,” and Warren stamped one. A rounded, all-purpose midwestern head.^U^WA

Labeled line drawing of the Michigan axe head pattern

Michigan3–8 lb

The Great Lakes felling pattern, in catalogs by 1864: rounded corners that resist chipping in frozen winter pine, convex cheeks that pop big chips from softwood.^AM^CO

Narrow Michigan

The Michigan slimmed for lighter work — the same rounded lines with less steel to carry.^KL

Labeled line drawing of the Hoosier axe head pattern

Hoosier3–5 lb

Indiana’s pattern, also sold as the “Zeek” — a high toe and a full, rounded bit for the hardwood belt.^U^KL

Labeled line drawing of the Connecticut axe head pattern

Connecticut2½–5 lb

Short in the body and very wide in the bit — speed of cut over depth — and lugless, the quick tell from a Jersey.^U^AM

California Yankee

The Yankee grown for the western trade — a bigger bit and bigger flare on the plain square body.^KL

Regular Wisconsin

The northwoods pattern in single-bit form — moderate flare and rounded corners, sized for pine.^KL

Mann’s Wisconsin

A maker’s variant of the Wisconsin that earned its own line on the trade charts — fuller in the flare, with a rounded beard.^KL

Falling (single bit)

The West Coast faller’s single bit — trim and narrow for controlled work in big timber, kin to the double-bit falling axes below.^KL

The lugged family

On the underside of these heads, little flanges — lugs, or ears — drop down each side of the eye to grip more of the handle. A tighter hang for the dense, jarring hardwood of the East and South.

Labeled line drawing of the Jersey axe head pattern

Jersey2½–6 lb

The classic eared pattern: lugs grip more handle for a tighter head in oak and hickory. A staple of the True Temper and Mann lines, and still made today.^U^AM^TT^MN

Labeled line drawing of the Baltimore Jersey axe head pattern

Baltimore Jersey3–6 lb

A Jersey of the Chesapeake trade — wide flare on the same lugged eye. Warren’s 1937 catalog still carried the name.^U^WA

Labeled line drawing of the Phila-Jersey axe head pattern

Phila-Jersey3–6 lb

Philadelphia’s Jersey — flared at both corners, lugged at the eye.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Kentucky axe head pattern

Kentucky3–7 lb

Collins was striking Kentucky heads by 1829. A lugged feller with a near-straight top line and a deep beard — the southern hardwood standard.^KF^U^EAH

Southern Kentucky

The Kentucky stretched — longer in the bit, deeper in the beard. Collins plated a “Southern Kentucky” in its 1926 centennial book.^CO

Labeled line drawing of the Baltimore Kentucky axe head pattern

Baltimore Kentucky3–7 lb

The Chesapeake’s Kentucky — high toe, generous flare, lugs at the eye.^U

Labeled line drawing of the North Carolina axe head pattern

North Carolina3–7 lb

A southern longbit with lugs at the eye; the deep beard lets a hand choke up under the head for close work.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Rockaway axe head pattern

Rockaway3–6 lb

Named for the McKinnon works at Rockaway, N.J. — the fanciest of the eared heads, with an upswept toe and a deep curved beard. Labor-intensive lines that faded in the Depression.^EAH^U

Trade & regional specialties

Some shapes answered a particular trade or a particular woods — reach for the turpentine crew, a striking poll for the raftsman, featherweight portability for the canoe country.

Virginia

One of the southern longbits — shallow in the body, long in the blade, for the pine and mixed hardwood of the coastal South.^KL

Georgia

A southern pattern with easy flare and a modest beard — a longbit for pine country.^KL

Labeled line drawing of the Turpentine axe head pattern

Turpentine3–7 lb

The chipping axe of the southern turpentine pines, listed as “Turpentine / Boxing” — long bit, deep beard, swung low to box the trees for resin. The shape is all reach and edge.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Rafting axe head pattern

Rafting3–8 lb

Built around a long, hardened poll: raftsmen drove the iron fasteners that pinned log rafts together — one of the few axe polls meant to strike steel.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Hudson Bay axe head pattern

Hudson Bay1½–3½ lb

Descended from the French trade axe: a wide, thin bit and almost no poll. The lightest common pattern — the camp and canoe axe of the fur-trade country.^U

Double-bit patterns

The double bit is “uniquely American,” built for felling, and took hold around the 1840s^U — no poll, two edges, and a shape argument all its own.

The falling axes

The double bit is the specialist feller: two edges, so one stays keen for clean wood while the other is kept stunt for knots — rotate, and keep chopping.

Labeled line drawing of the Falling axe head pattern

Falling3½–5 lb

The western faller’s standard — full bits, one keen and one stunt, swapped without stopping to hone.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Puget Sound Falling axe head pattern

Puget Sound Falling4–5 lb

Long, lean, narrow bits for reach and accuracy — deep undercuts in old-growth timber, swung from a springboard high on the trunk. Warren listed it by name in 1937.^U^MNW^WA

Labeled line drawing of the Humboldt axe head pattern

Humboldt3–5 lb

The charts call it “Redwood or Humboldt” — a California falling pattern, trim bits on an easy body for the redwood coast.^U

Camp & crew

Around the fallers worked the rest of the crew — swampers limbing out the downed logs, peelers taking bark — each with a double bit shaped to the job.

Labeled line drawing of the Swamping axe head pattern

Swamping3–5 lb

The swamper’s axe — lighter, with wide thin bits for limbing downed logs and clearing the skid trails.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Narrow (Swamping) axe head pattern

Narrow (Swamping)3½–4½ lb

The narrow form of the swamper — less steel to swing all day on limbing work.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Reversible axe head pattern

Reversible3–6 lb

One broad peeling bit and one narrow chopping bit — the charts also call it the “Half Peeling”: two tools on one eye.^U

Labeled line drawing of the California (Peeling) axe head pattern

California (Peeling)3–5 lb

Kelly’s “Full Peeling” — wide, thin bits kept as much for peeling tanbark and pulpwood as for chopping.^U

The northwoods doubles

The pine states swung the double bit hardest, and named their own balances of bit and body.

Regular Wisconsin3–4 lb

The classic northwoods double bit — even bits and a gentle waist, sized for pine.^U

Mann’s Wisconsin

The Wisconsin under a maker’s name — fuller bits and a deeper waist.^KL

Labeled line drawing of the Michigan (Crown) axe head pattern

Michigan (Crown)2½–7 lb

The most-produced double bit of all; Warren sold it as the “Michigan or Crown.” Rounded corners and well-curved edges — the generalist.^U^WA

Narrow Michigan3–4 lb

The Michigan double slimmed down — rounded corners on slim bits, for lighter felling and limbing.^U

Straight & heavy

And at the plain end of the double-bit rack: straight edges and full weight.

Wedge3–4 lb

Two straight bits on a barely-waisted body — the wedge idea, doubled; a splitter’s profile.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Pennsylvania axe head pattern

Pennsylvania3–7 lb

Kelly’s chart lists it as “Western or Pennsylvania” — full bits on an easy waist, the heavy generalist of the eastern camps.^U

Labeled line drawing of the Western Lippincott axe head pattern

Western Lippincott3–4½ lb

A western pattern wearing an old Pennsylvania maker’s name — pinched waist and sweeping bits.^U

Sources

primary · U.S. government manual · public domainpublic domain
Bernie Weisgerber. An Ax to Grind: A Practical Ax Manual. USDA Forest Service, Missoula Technology & Development Center, 1999 (9923‑2823P‑MTDC). Fig. 9 — the Kelly Axe & Tool Works 1925 “Standard Patterns” chart — and the Figs. 5‑1 / 5‑6 standard-set charts with weight ranges. Weight ranges quoted on this page are these charts’ own; the plates are original drawings checked against them. source →
primary · manufacturer catalog
American Fork & Hoe Co. True Temper Striking Tools Catalog A57, n.d. [c. late 1930s], p. 4 — single- and double-bit pattern chart (Dayton, Michigan, Connecticut, Jersey, Kentucky; Michigan, Western, Reversible, Swamping). Read directly.
primary · company historypublic domain
The Collins Company. One Hundred Years, 1826–1926 (Collinsville, Conn., 1926), p. 56 — plate of Collins patterns (Michigan, Michigan Phantom Bevel, De Tumba, Southern Kentucky, &c.). source →
primary · manufacturer catalog
Mann Edge Tool Co. catalogue (Lewistown, Pa., 1949), p. 6 — men’s axes “furnished in Dayton, Michigan, Kentucky, Connecticut, Baltimore, Jersey … patterns.”
primary · manufacturer catalog
Underhill Edge Tool Co. Illustrated Catalogue (Nashua, N.H., 1886), p. 432 — the “Yankee Pattern,” priced by weight.
primary · manufacturer catalog
Warren Axe & Tool Co. Axes and Logging Tools, Catalog No. 14 (Warren, Pa., 1937) — pattern plates incl. “Baltimore Jersey,” “Puget Sound Falling,” “Western Crown,” “Michigan or Crown.” source →
primary · U.S. government standard
U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Simplified Practice Recommendation R158‑42, Axes (1942) — the industry standardization of axe patterns and weights. Identifier confirmed in NBS Letter Circular LC895 (1948).
corroborated · collector reference
Allan Klenman. Axe Makers of North America (1990) — the widely reproduced “Various patterns of axes” trade chart; used here for regional pattern names (Virginia, Georgia, Maine, California Yankee, Mann’s Wisconsin, and others) beyond the government lists.
corroborated · reference
The Axe & Tool Museum — pattern characteristics (Michigan, Dayton, Connecticut, the lugged families). source →
corroborated · research site
Exploring Axe History — pattern origins (Rockaway/McKinnon, the Jersey and Kentucky families) and the c. 1920 consolidation of “hundreds” of patterns down to a few dozen. source →
corroborated · maker / research
Brant & Cochran, “The Chop” — Maine patterns (the Maine wedge, via the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum) and lugs. source →
corroborated · journalism
Feliks Banel, “The axe that almost made Puget Sound famous.” MyNorthwest, 2020 — the Puget Sound falling axe. source →
secondary · lead
Henry J. Kauffman, American Axes (1972) — collector reference (e.g. the 1829 Collins “Kentucky” date); a lead, not read directly here.

See the patterns in the makers’ own catalogs: Collins · True Temper · Plumb · American Axe & Tool · Mann · Warren / Sager · Douglas · Underhill · Emerson & Stevens · Snow & Nealley · Historic Axe Prices

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Brand and product names (Collins, Plumb, True Temper, Sager, Mann, Warren, and others) are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification and historical reference only. Pattern names are generic descriptors of head shape. This guide is a reference project of PhotoOpAI, Inc. and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any current rights-holder.