The Axe Man’s collection preserves Oakland’s toolmaking history

Maine’s Axe Historian Keeps Oakley’s Heritage Alive

For 60 years, Howard Hardy has turned his love of old tools into a living museum. The 65‑year‑old collector, who grew up in Farmington, first became fascinated with axes when, at 12, he watched his father cut firewood with a brand‑new “Cock of the Woods” axe stamped Emerson & Stevens Co., Oakland, Maine. “I saw the new axe and the rooster decal, and it stuck with me,” Hardy said.

His passion was rekindled a decade later. In 1978, Hardy helped his elderly cousin Arthur split wood in Oakland’s family woodlot. Arthur explained that Oakland’s factories had once produced thousands of axes every year. “Seeing Arthur’s axe just grabbed my attention,” Hardy recalled. “That was the day collecting axes really became my passion.”

From that moment, Hardy began a systematic hunt for Oakland‑made axes. He scoured antique shops, the classified‑ad magazine Uncle Henry’s, and later the online marketplaces eBay and Craigslist. Word spread that the “axe man” was on the lookout for hidden treasures in basements, sheds, garages, and barns. “These axes are phenomenal pieces of craftsmanship — each one a true work of art,” he says.

Among the hundreds he now owns, one axe in particular has a story of its own. It came from China, Maine, bearing the inscription “Emerson & Stevens, West Waterville, Maine.” Hardy added that the mark meant the axe was made before West Waterville became the town of Oakland in 1883. “I had to have it because etched on the head were the words ‘Emerson & Stevens, West Waterville, Maine,’” he told a local history group. He arranged for the seller to mail the axe to the Oakland post office, the very site that once housed the Emerson & Stevens factory from 1870 to 1967, so he could pick it up in the place where it was born.

Hardy’s interest is intertwined with Oakley’s long‑standing axe‑making heritage. The industry began in 1842, when 18 factories – including Emerson & Stevens, Spiller and Dunn Edge Tool – sprang up along the banks of Messalonskee Stream. Using the stream’s water power, they forged dozens of axe types, from the “Cock of the Woods” to the “Lumberman’s Pride,” “Forest King,” “Chopper’s Choice,” “Pioneer” and “Maine Easy Cut.” From 1900 to the end of World War II in 1945, Oakland produced more axes, scythes and edge tools than any other community in the world.

The boom ended after the war. Chainsaws and inexpensive imports eroded the market, and the 1967 closure of North Wayne Tool Company – which had absorbed Dunn Edge Tool – marked the end of Oakland’s prominence.

Hardy’s collection reflects that rich history. It includes massive felling axes for tall white pines, broad broadaxes for squaring logs, stubby “sleeper” axes that railroad crews used to create ties, and ice hatchets for trimming logs destined for icehouses. Among the most prized is the “Presidential Axe,” a custom 1902 gift for President Theodore Roosevelt.

John King, a local axe maker, fashioned the 2‑pound axe head onto a hollow oak handle that concealed a 14‑inch black‑walnut‑handled hunting knife with dual nail‑pulling claws. When Roosevelt visited Waterville in August 1902, William T. Haines presented the multi‑purpose tool to the president at the train station. The Lewiston Journal Illustrated Magazine reported that Roosevelt said, “Only last week I had written to Canada for a Hudson Bay Co.’s axe and that I hardly expected to find just the implement I desired in the State of Maine.” The Pittsburgh Press called it “the finest…ever turned out in America,” a gift from “the best axe maker in Maine.” Roosevelt accepted the present with a smile, waving the axe triumphantly as the train pulled away.

The Presidential Axe remains a highly prized rarity among collectors.

Hardy’s collection also includes a 19th‑century axe from a widow in Oakland. After her husband died, she asked Hardy’s group to help clear her barn and garage. Hardy purchased an axe bearing raised initials BFD – “Berst‑Forster‑Dixfield,” the company where the widow’s late husband had worked for four decades before it was bought by Diamond Match in 1946. “It’s a log‑marking axe,” Hardy explained. “The raised letters stamped the company’s initials into the end of each log, identifying its timber during river drives.”

Through public talks and displays, Hardy keeps Oakland’s legacy alive. “I love showing people these tools,” he says. “It’s a window into a time when America’s finest axes were hammered out along the banks of Messal