Anyone know what maker this is ?

[bigbear]

Am restoring this axe, does anyone recognise the makers mark, if thats what it is ?
thanks
Bb

 

[scruff]

It's a Spearwell.

Sent from my Armor X7 using Tapatalk

 

[British Red]

Spot on. Staffordshire based firm formed in 1915. Part of "Spear" as in "Spear & Jackson". Eventually swallowed Brades, Elwell & many other historic tool companies.

 

[bigbear]

Thanks folks, Im pleased its A nice old UK firm.

 

[Broch]

Spot on. Staffordshire based firm formed in 1915. Part of "Spear" as in "Spear & Jackson". Eventually swallowed Brades, Elwell & many other historic tool companies.

Forgive me, I'm not disagreeing with you just trying to clarify my own knowledge (especially as you have given me guidance in the past), but I thought Spearwell was the combination of Brades etc. and Elwell etc. in 1967; I didn't think a company called Spearwell existed before that.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Some clarification here.

Spearwell Tools - Graces Guide

 

[British Red]

Forgive me, I'm not disagreeing with you just trying to clarify my own knowledge (especially as you have given me guidance in the past), but I thought Spearwell was the combination of Brades etc. and Elwell etc. in 1967; I didn't think a company called Spearwell existed before that.

View attachment 65530

I believe it existed before this point but the name was used again. There's documents at the MERL that would confirm (we follow each other on Twitter so I could ask them to take a look). This reference in the National Archive might help

SPEARWELL TOOLS LTD | The National Archives

The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk

 

[British Red]

Trouble is a lot of these things are not always clear-cut. Firms grow by acquisition and names go dormant but the ltd. company name is still owned & may be used (I worked for a large firm at one point who owned hundreds of companies - the majority dormant). Brand names and trade marks are worse!

I am far from certain on the exact timing of the Spearwell exact dates - and certainly the two records indicate different things.

 

[Broch]

In the end it doesn't really matter - a good axe from a time when we made decent steel and good tools in the UK (still do in some quarters).