hatchet ident/background?

[NWCS]

hey all, i was given this hatchet years back from my dad, he got it from his dad.. its supposedly hand forged and has a stamp of J W Mcclure on it. anybody know the background on this marking or any quality about them?
what it could be worth?

 

[Wade1224]

that kinda looks like a shake / shingle hammer to me ???

 

[TimberMcPherson]

On Ebay, 30 bucks

In a room full of lawyers. Priceless

 

[SawTroll]

Joke aside, it looks like some sort of carpenter tool to me.
I have a similar one - army surplus i think.

 

[desdawg]

Looks similar to a modern day drywall hammer. A modern day roofing hatchet has holes in the blade opposite the nail pulling notch and a knurled nut and bolt that works as a gauge to set your shingle overlap. The drywall hammer has a convex face on the nail driving head to create a dimple in the sheetrock when you set the nail. Drywall mud fills the dimple when taping to create a smooth finish. Being old as that is I would go with the shake shingle theory, the blade being used to split shakes into less than full width when called for.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

I always called them camping hatchets. Dad had one when I was a kid and it was one of the most useful camping tools we always took. Drive in the tent spikes and chop up the fire wood, not to mention a decent weapon.

 

[klickitatsacket]

shingle hatchet. the cut at the bottom of the blade is for pulling nails. This is a slightly differant pattern and seems to be ealier. I would have to have it in my hands to tell you much more.

 

[046]

that hatchet has a hand forged look to it. as already noted can't tell until in person.

but since you have a verified history of hatchet. to me that's worth more than anything else.

here's a pic of circa 1830's lathing hatchet used in ship construction hanging on my wall.