How to get hold of a vintage mattock?

I really want to get my hands on one as they are so useful.

Most of the tools I have now have been given to me by my mum who, as a post ww2 child hoarder, keeps nearly everything and in turn would have gotten most of them from her father, my grandfather.

I just like the feel and build of old wooden hand tools.

I have seen there are new mattocks for sale but I would prefer a vintage one.

I don't use ebay so that rules out the main source to pick something like this up.

Had a look on a few vintage tool online shops and didn't see them.

Having spoken to a neighbour I saw using a good vintage looking one he told me he got it at an auction and regaled how useful they are but how hard they are to pick up.

I see many people use them and also where I used to volunteer, no longer in contact, had mostly old hand tools, including a mattock but I am not sure where they get them.

Any suggestions other than keep looking on the sites like freegle/gumtree and such?

I can be patient but it is really useful and want to be using one asap. I wonder whether to 'cave' and buy a new one. I am managing for most tasks without. For ditches and weeding roots getting by with pruning saw and spade.

So not terribly desperate so might just hold out for the 'real mccoy' of a classic one.

Looking at the market it seems i could get a new wooden handled one which looks fairly classic looking for only £25 or so but the real vintage ones seem to go for £50-75. So it seems a bit silly to pay that much for the latter just for the sake of it being vintage unless there was some exceptional reason for it, like tremendously better build quality.

 

I suspect an old one would be better quality as long as its handle is in good condition.
Boot fairs are the kinds of places a lot of this stuff ends up, or markets maybe.

There is something about the feel of used tools that makes them more sort after, I think.

 

Car boot sales are a good bet. I picked mine up 40 years ago from a junk stall at a town market. Not so much vintage tool stalls as they tend to be overpriced and don't often haggle.
Mine has a pick on one side and a blade on the other, tends to work via brute force and ignorance, it's now on it's third ash handle, downside it's heavy.
I wouldn't spend more than £25 for what is basically a forging and a handle that you going to use and abuse for years.

 

How many new heads has it had.

It the kind of thing that turns up in house clearances when somebody dies.

 

Yes vintage would be better all things being equal however I wanna get going.

Ok I am not allowed to post a link but there is a wooden one new that looks pretty much like a vintage one and doubt I would be able to tell the difference if it were sufficiently worn/used.

 

This is almost like having a new one anyway then isn't it.

 

Also surprised at this. You do not seem a day over 42!

 

This is a very long shot as you don’t say where you live, but there is a charity called Tools for Self Reliance that both collects, refurbishes and exports tools to the third world and also sells the same items in their British shop and online. We have got rid of a lot of “antique”, but still useable, things to them. Here is a link.

Shop - Tools For Self Reliance

 

Still on the original head, the top of the handle takes a bit of pounding where it comes out the head.
I'd be inclined to get a new head and buy a handle from an Agricultural Merchant where you can select a good quality one to suit you. Ash or hickory treat with linseed oil, raw or boiled, before you start. It will soon look older than you.
How many yards of ditch have you got. I find it very good for removing tree stumps breaking up compacted ground and rocks.

 

https://bulldoghandtools.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=mattock
All these lack is experience !

 

They learn quickly though.
Mine is like this Bulldog Pick Head & Chisel Point 7lb - PA5.

 

If you do buy online, or happen to be in Wales, look out for people selling a "caib". It's Welsh for mattock and there are different styles/shapes from different parts of the country. There's a big agricultural/boot sale in Pembrokeshire where you frequently see them - unfortunately often at silly prices as ornaments

 

Yes the one I looked at on another site looks very much like those listed there.

I think I would favour bulldog since it is a very old and established company, one of my hand me down scythe type tools is bulldog, probably from 1950s, over the no name chinese ones I had been looking at. The bulldog even a couple of quid cheaper.

What do you guys/gals think, one with a pickaxe end on the other side or a flat, but vertical one. I mean in additional to the expected horizontal flat one of the 'main' mattock side.

I am tending towards the pick type as, from memory, these are good to smash through rocks too. What is the flat vertical side used for? Just more dirt at a different angle?

 

Well yes, again it sounds like the case of the vintage ones I looked at already. Paying for the age like a fine wine.

Seems a bog standard contemporary one will do the job, since the design looks pretty much the same. I am not keen on the look of the fibre glass ones but the wooden new ones look fine.

 

Btw I have a tool that is kind of like a mattock, where you swing it overhead, at least that is how I presumed it is used and have been using it, having had no instruction on what it is, but it has 3 prongs on the end at a right angle and also a curved shaft at the other end.

What is this tool called?

I find it really good for swinging into grass and lighter weeds to pull up big sods, probably better at removing the top layer than a mattock. However when it gets to thick rooty clumps that is where the mattock would shine as you are no longer able to 'rip' up the turf if there is too much root mass using this tool.

I actually nearly broke it, along with a fork on the same day, before I got used to it as I just tried to lever when I 'bit off more than I could chew' and heard a *crack*. Been delicate with it since and used it for a few months and not broken *touch wood*. Did the exact same thing with the fork. Doh!

Both will have some fracturing but seem to be fine now I know not to overdo it with how much I try to lever up.