Howland’s Waverly Axes
1918 – 1940s*
Toronto, Ontario
(Made in St. Catherines)
Howland’s Waverly Brand was an affordable entry-level line of tools sold by the Toronto-based hardware wholesaler H. S. Howland, Sons & Company. Waverly was launched following the success of their premium “Howland’s Samson” brand.
Made of extra refined crucible tool steel; hand hammered and tempered; carefully tempered, ground and sharpened; polished bit; head painted blue; excellently made and finished throughout.
Catalog No.40 – 1923
The Waverly brand started with common farm and household tools and was extended to axes sometime in the late 1910s or early 1920s. The exact timeline isn’t clear, but the brand was shorter-lived than its premium quality counterpart.
The Waverly brand was likely phased out in the 30s or 40s as the axe market shrank and the company consolidated their efforts behind the more successful Samson Brand. This might have been sped up because in 1931 the Howland company was bought out and then operated by D.H. Howden.
These axes had paint and paper labels, and sadly, no known examples of a Waverly axe exist.
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Did I get something wrong? Do you have one of these axes? Please share any pictures, information, or insights to help fill the archive. You can email: museum@axeandtool.com
Sources
- Thomas Fischer Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
- Biography of Henry Stark Howland – biography.ca
- H. S. Howland, Sons & Co. General Catalog No.23, May 1923
- British North America Philatelic Society – Illustrated Advertising Postal Stationery cards of Canada, Chris Ellis