Historic Canadian Axe Brands

One of the few Canadian axes with a large etched design

A line of mid-size axes made to accomodate the shifting needs of the lumber industry.

The high-end private label brand of Toronto-based hardware wholesaler H. S. Howland, Sons & Company.

Howland’s affordable entry-level line of tools that followed the success of the premium “Samson” brand.

A brand made by Welland Vale in the 1930s-1940s for an unknown Canadian hardware retailer.

A private-label axe brand created by one of Canada’s most long-lasting hardware businesses.

A “company” created to cleverly bypass foreign tariffs and conquer foreign axe markets.

Ashdown’s Hardware earned its founder the nickname “the Merchant Prince of Winnipeg”.

This small firm only existed for 5 years but it started one of the most influential axe factories in Canadian History.

A short lived company that produced a wide range of lumbering tools out of the old Warnock plant in Galt.

A prominent hardware wholesale & retail business founded in London, Ontario with top-tier axes.

Garant axes are well-known in Canada. But, it might surprise you that they never made axe heads in Canada.

Strikemaster Canada was manufacturer of striking tools including axes. They were likely imported from overseas.

The Canada Axe & Harvest Tool Co. was founded in 1892 by William Chaplin, the owner of the Welland Vale Manufacturing Company.

A private label brand introduced in 1910 by a Montreal-based hardware wholesaler. These uncommon axes often get misidentified as Walters today.

The “National” axe was briefly produced by the National Farming Machinery Limited out of Montmagny, Quebec.

Oximex operated out of Toronto Importing goods (including axes) from Asia. The axes would have been made from 1994 to the early 2000s.

MasterCraft axes were produced for Canadian Tire by the Mann Edge Tool Company in Lewistown, Pennsylvania between the 1970s and early 2000s.

Founded in Ottawa in 1945 by Gerald Burgess, this axe producer operated until the 1970’s.

The True Temper Lion was the final iteration of an iconic Canadian axe line produced out of St. Catherines Ontario.