Hatchet find

[Bingy man]

Recently while digging a hole for a new fence post I pulled out what looked like a flat brick . Turns out it was a axe ( hatchet) head that had at some point been buried . Handle was long gone apart from the rotted bit within the axe head and some type of grey acrylic which I drilled out . The head was also painted green as remnants of this was still visible, apart from a notch for pulling nails there were no makers marks . Just wondering how it’s not completely rusted away given the fact the house owner does not do diy or gardening and his dad ( previous owner) passed away many years ago . Was old steel really this good or is it likely to be not that old . It was about 10 “ down in between a couple of shrubs .. I’m currently cleaning it up and hope to restore it to a useable condition. Thanks for reading .

 

[scockram]

How strange. Do you think it was intentionally buried? From what you say about the owners it sounds like it's old, but the remnants of paint and especially the acrylic would seem to contradict that. I've never seen that on old axes, and I've got a few and looked at far more at sales.

Based on all the old edge tools, billhooks and axes/hatchets, that I've got I'd say that the old steel really was that good, it takes and keeps an edge really well. I read somewhere once that that was due to the higher carbon content of old steel. That might explain why it's so well preserved. Additionally, the fact that it was 10" down probably helped: not much oxygen available down there.

It'll be interesting to see how it cleans up.