Legitimus Shingling Hatchet

[Mike H]

Puchased this hatchet Sat (3-15-2014) with 3 other pieces:
1 3/8" Paddle Bit Speedor USA Made
5/16" Nut Driver No Name
Craftsman Open End Combo Wrench (9/16" & 1/2")
Total $2

In cleaning up the hatchet, finally found a small Legitimus stamp
with something else above it that ends in RAN
A little Inet search tells me that the hatchet belongs to the Collins family
and that the Legitimus was dropped around WWII

The edge on the hatchet had some decent dings so I reground it freehand and
touched it up with a couple grits of sandpaper ending only for now with 150 grit
I cut about <2" off the end of the handle and shimmed the head up
and even managed to use my shaving horse to work on the handle
Another site had a number of pics of Collins trademarks and various brand
markings but I didn't see any that would tie what I have down
The LEGITIMUS is faint and what comes before the RAN above LEGITIMUS is non-existant

[Nolatoolguy]

Looks like a great handle.

[rusty]

>The LEGITIMUS is faint and what comes before the RAN above LEGITIMUS is non-existant

Probably warRANted

Very nice, just need a square of shingles and a barn ...;P

[DM11]

Legitimus was a trade mark of the Collins CO.

[Mike H]

According to the family members at the sale the fellow who owned the hatchet
worked in the 40s-50s. I'm just curious; would this time frame be pre-asphalt based shingles?
Would a roofer have used a hatchet to score/cut the type of shingles MOL we know today?
Sort of a re-purpose holdover from earlier days?
I have put down some shingles but when you got to the roof edge out came the utility knife.
They still sell roofer hatchets; often kinda wondered if new hatchets are used only on shakes
which now days probably are siding.

[Bill Houghton]

According to the family members at the sale the fellow who owned the hatchet
worked in the 40s-50s. I'm just curious; would this time frame be pre-asphalt based shingles?
Would a roofer have used a hatchet to score/cut the type of shingles MOL we know today?
Sort of a re-purpose holdover from earlier days?
I have put down some shingles but when you got to the roof edge out came the utility knife.
They still sell roofer hatchets; often kinda wondered if new hatchets are used only on shakes
which now days probably are siding.

Composition ("asphalt") shingles date back to 1901: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphalt_shingle.

I've never done much with wood shingles, but, for composition, it's hard to beat the shingling hatchet, particularly the gauging variety, which allows you to maintain straight courses without striking chalk lines all the time.  When our son and I redid the entire back roof of our house, we did rent a roofing nailer, but the hatchet was nice to have to keep moving when the other person had the nailer.  The gauging shingling hatchet is an almost-all-in-one tool for composition shingles.