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Barco Industries is reported to have been established in 1983. In 1987 they purchased the Kelly Axe Making division from the Ludlum Corporation. The transaction provided Barco with the patents, trade marks and patterns previously owned by the Kelly Axe Co. which had become a division of the True Temper Corporation after the American Fork & Hoe Co. had completely adopted the True Temper name in 1946. A number of the brands previously used by other companies were reportedly made by Barco but that has not been corroborated nor is the extent of the brand use been determined.
Ludlum Corp. had purchased True Temper, along with the axe making division, and all the assets in 1960.
Sometime after that AMES purchased the True Temper line and in 1983 divested themselves of the axe making division. Barco Industries, Inc. became a member the Phoenix Forge Group sometime in the early 2000s. A significant proportion of the striking tools they make are forged at Phoenix Forging in Pennsylvania. Addition processing such as heat treated, finishing and final assembly is done at Barco Industries facilities.
Barco continued to make axes bearing the brand Kelly Perfect® and Kelly Woodslasher® in a variety of head styles and weights into the new millennium but nowhere near as many as were produced 100 years previously when The Kelly Axe M’f’g Co. was making axes. Barco is also known to have been a major supplier of Pulaski tools supplied to the United States Forest Service around the same time, the turn of the millennium.
Barco Industries, Inc., is a now a member of the Phoenix Forge Group. Most of the product line are now forged at Phoenix Forging in Pennsylvania, then heat treated, finished, and assembled at Barco Industries.
BARCO branded tools should not be confused with tools labeled BAHCO, which is the name of a European company that included some axes in their product line.
READING, PENNSYLVANIA 1983-2009+
By Tom Lamond ©
Marking printed on some handles in conjunction with the Kelly Perfect Axe head.
The letter B was stamped into the underside of the hoe end of some Pulaski Tools. It is presumed that the letter represented BARCO.
Markings used on some Pulaski Tools made by the BARCO INDUSTRIES of Pennsylvania.
Stampings used on various Pulaski Tools. FSS stands for Forest Service Supply.
B
Marking used on axe heads made by BARCO Industries.
The numbers in this marking and below refer to specification numbers provided by the FSS.
The letters ALT are believed to have been required at one time by the FSS but as yet the meaning is unknown.