Hartwell Brothers Grey Gorge Axe
Hartwell Brothers
Made by Warren Axe & Tool Co.
1928-1960s*
Thanks to Whiskey River Art & Trading Co. for sharing images from their vintage axe auctions with the Axe & Tool Museum.
The Hartwell Brothers created the Grey Gorge axe after a Texas customer asked for a new axe type in 1928. After replicating the customer’s design, the Grey Gorge (and cedar axe) was born. Hartwell (who made handles) had Warren Axe & Tool Co. make the heads, and would grow to include more axe patterns.
The Hartwell Brothers company was a long-standing tool handle company, starting in 1865. They sold axe handles of all varieties, but also handles for picks, hammers, shovels, rakes, files, and more – but not full tools like axes.
However, a persistent sales representative for the Harwell Brothers, who had a good rapport with his clients, saw an opportunity in Texas that would lead to the creation of an axe brand that would last for decades and the development of one of the last great American axe patterns – The Cedar Axe.
Details of the Grey Gorge Axe
The primary stamp found on Grey Gorge axes includes the Hartwell Brothers name and Memphis, Tenn. The Hartwell Brothers were actually founded and headquartered out of Chicago, but they had a large factory in Memphis built in 1920, and they quickly adopted the location for their marketing.
This likely would have helped market the Grey Gorge as well, largely being sold in the South (even though the heads were actually made in Pennsylvania).
There is a simplified stamp that is likely from the 50s or 60s. The exact end date of the line is not known to me.
The Original Cedar Axe
The Grey Gorge axe started exclusively as a Cedar Pattern axe line, designed with a light head and a wide, thin blade for clearing the shrubby cedars that covered the Texas plains. However, the design didn’t come from Hartwell – it was based on a one-of-a-kind axe made by a hardware store manager (Henry Weiss) and a blacksmith (Frank Krueger) out of Kerrville, Texas.
The name “Grey Gorge” was chosen by L.A. Copp of the Hartwell company, who compared the wide, deep chop of the new Cedar axe pattern to the wide, powerful bite of a grey wolf (despite initially promising to name the axe after Kerrville).
Popularity grew quickly, and the pattern became popular for campers and hunters as well, and spread beyond its initial markets. New sizes of cedar axe were made, and eventually, other axe patterns were added to the Grey Gorge lineup.
Production stopped during the Second World War (which happened for many brands), but resumed quickly after the war ended.
The Double-bit Cedar pattern was introduced in 1947 and was exclusive to Grey Gorge at the time (according to Hartwell). They also reported Double-bit Cedars were selling 2-to-1 over single-bits for actual Cedar choppers.
The Unlikely Creation of the Cedar & Grey Gorge Axe
This is the short version of the story – for the full origin story, see The History of the Cedar Axe.
The western side of South and Central Texas was covered in millions of acres of sprawling low cedar trees (in this region, they look more like a bush), which needed to be cleared to make room for grazing animals, agriculture, ranches, and expansion as more people moved to the area.
Lee Judd was a factory representative of the Hartwell Brothers company, working in Texas. As he spoke to his customers throughout the region, he continually heard complaints about the performance of the available axes for dealing with a vast number of shrubby Cedar trees.
On one routine trip to the hardware store in Kerrville, Texas, he got talking with the store manger Henry Weiss. Weiss shared that he had an axe design that he and his old blacksmith friend Frank Krueger, had fashioned out of a broken hatchet found on the side of the road.
This custom axe was apparently perfect for dealing with the Cedar trees, and Weiss wanted to know if the Hartwell Brothers could help produce more of them in numbers.
However, Weiss refused to even lend his axe for prototyping – and Krueger didn’t want to make another one. But after pleading from Weiss, Kruger eventually relented and made Judd an axe to take away for production.
The Kerrville men also wanted Judd to name the new axe “The Kerrville Cedar Axe”, so if the axe was successful, Kerrville would get the recognition it deserved. Judd promised it would be – but the sales rep didn’t get the final say on naming the axe.
The first shipment of Grey Gorge axes was apparently sent to Kerrville.
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Do you have a rare or unique axe? Did I get something wrong? Please share any pictures, information, or any insights to help improve the archive.
Email: museum@axeandtool.com
I have a salesman sample of the single blade axe with cedar handle 11 1/4 inches long. I found it at an estate sale in Memphis. It has the Harrell name on the head.
Clay college wrote an article about the little axe that could about the story of the axe history
That is very cool, I’d love to see a picture of it.