WW2 pick/mattock head + ash handle

[Greenbeard]

Picked this WW2 pick/mattock head up from an army surplus shop, unused with original paint. It's difficult to see from the picture but it's stamped 1935.

Just needed a handle, so I split down an ash log into a billet roughly the right size and shaped it. It's a rough and ready tool so no fancy handle.

Finished product, it's a bit dirty as I used it on Monday, it performed well and comfortable in the hand.

Here it is broken down for transport, the head gets wrapped in the rag as the point is quite sharp!
I'm hoping to use this tool to build a hangi pit at some point.

 

[lou1661]

Picked this WW2 pick/mattock head up from an army surplus shop, unused with original paint. It's difficult to see from the picture but it's stamped 1935.
View attachment 50321
Just needed a handle, so I split down an ash log into a billet roughly the right size and shaped it. It's a rough and ready tool so no fancy handle.
View attachment 50322
Finished product, it's a bit dirty as I used it on Monday, it performed well and comfortable in the hand.
View attachment 50324
Here it is broken down for transport, the head gets wrapped in the rag as the point is quite sharp!
I'm hoping to use this tool to build a hangi pit at some point.

Great bit of work, hope that you get plenty of use from it!

 

[Billy-o]

There are few things handier for turning nothing in particular into a garden ... well, apart from a Pulaski, perhaps.

Really nicely done.

 

[Janne]

Yep, a good job he did!
It would be interesting to know how that piece of equipment has escaped being used, or melted down and recycled, over the years since it was made!
Plus, not only saved, but saved in pristine condition!

 

[Greenbeard]

I believe they came from a surplus dealer in the Czech republic, been sat in various warehouses and kicked about Europe. It was probably surplus from WW2 and then sold shortly after as it escaped many American wars that followed. Bought at auction then sent to a small surplus shop where I stumbled upon it. I might be wrong, but none the less if this tool could talk I'm sure it would be an interesting tale.

 

[Madriverrob]

Good pick .......

 

[Janne]

The US armed forces did oust out the Germans from large parts of todays Czech Republic, before they had to move out and give the area to the Soviets.

I imagine it could have been forgotten in a military warehouse. Had they known about it, it would have been recycled. Recycling resources was a big thing on the other side of the Iron Border.

Another interesting and puzzling thing is that it is supposedly made in 1938. The US had a tiny, tiny army then. So not much equipment. Yet it is unused.
If only the pick could talk!