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Sorby Tools There have been several queries over the past year about Sorby tools of one sort or another. I usually refer them to the Hawley Collection who probably knows more about them than most, if not all, of our members. The latest concerned an axe head. The query came from Stewart Simpson in Australia and was as follows. "I recently purchased an old axe-head from the U.K. I would like to find out how old this item might be. The axe-head was sold to me as a " Deputy Pit Miners Axe Head / Scottish Pattern / Robert Sorby. It has a hammer head on the front, a round body that receives the handle, and an axe blade at the back. The Axe has the following inscription. *ROBT SORBY* (* With flared pointers)" Dr Joan Unwin has replied "I am afraid that I can only help you so much. In a 1908 catalogue for Robert Sorby, there are items listed as "steel polled Scotch pit use axes’ in a variety of weights. Those illustrated do not have the precise series of marks which you describe." Following a photograph of the axe-head from Australia a second e-mail was sent. "According to the Sorby catalogue c.1907, it is described as a shingling hatchet. I attach an image of the page which includes the pit use axe." Overlapping with this exchange was another query, this time from Matthew O’Brien in the USA, which I also forwarded. "I am trying to find the date of manufacture and information on a pair of Sorby Sheep Shears. While hiking in the Navajo Indian reservation area of Arizona, United States, I came upon one half of a pair of Sorby sheep shears lying on sandstone rock in a remote area. Looking on the internet, I have been able to determine that they were made by Robert Sorby. This area is lightly visited; the shears may have laid there for perhaps a hundred years, if not more. The markings on the blade are distinctive. They are:
"B 24" Joan copied her reply to me and this is the relevant extract "There is unfortunately not a lot that I can tell you – styles of sheep shears are practically undatable. Our earliest catalogue for Robert Sorby is 1908 and while there are images of shears, none has the precise set of marks which you have. The phrase "Cast Steel" would probably date them to around the turn of the century or possibly earlier. The B24 is probably the catalogue/warehouse number for that design. The catalogues we have do not have a "B" series of numbers. If possible, could you send me an image of the whole blade, together with an indication of it length. The style of handle and the length may make identification a little clearer.I am intrigued by the circumstance in which you found it. We recently had an enquiry from someone in the U>S about the sale of butcher and so-called "scalping knives" by Sheffield firms to the American market in the 1830’s. We were unable to help him, since as far as I know, records of exports of specific items do not exist for that date. Your find has made me think that a pair of sheep shears would make two knives quite easily (not necessarily for scalping!!)."
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