Alex Koch uses an ax from the North Wayne Tool Company that dates back to the mid-1900s to chop wood outside of his mother's home in Scarborough. Koch, whose day job is a teacher, is a collector who buys and sells antique axes.

Alex Koch holds a Hubbard & Blake silver steel embossed ax from circa 1862-1883. The ax is from what at the time was West Waterville and it is the only type of embossed ax ever made in Maine.

Steve Ferguson works on the handle of an ax he is restoring at his workshop in Portland. His company, Brant & Cochran, restores old axes and also sells axes that have been restored. He and his partners are meeting with blacksmiths and hoping to soon produce a Maine-made ax.

A Snow & Nealley double-bit Maine wedge ax is being restored at Steve Ferguson's workshop in Portland.

Steve Ferguson holds an ax that he has restored outside of his workshop in Portland. His company, Brant & Cochran, restores and sells axes. “Some of these take you 20 minutes. Some take you two hours,” he said.

From left, a Noah Boothby ax from circa 1850-1883 and a Hubbard & Blake silver steel embossed ax from circa 1862-1883. Both axes are from the Waterville area, and the Hubbard & Blake is the only embossed ax ever made in Maine.

A North Wayne Tool Company ax that dates back to the mid-1900s is stuck in a log outside ax collector Alex Koch's mother's home in Scarborough.

The Dunn Edge Tool Co. was part of Maine's thriving ax industry and was tied to the state's robust lumber industry.

Ax heads await handles at Emerson Stevens.

An ax head is tempered at Emerson Stevens. As many as 18 ax manufacturers operated in Maine in in about a 100-year period in the 1800s and early 1900s.

To take care of an ax, keep it sharpened and sheathed.

When shopping for a vintage ax, make sure the eye is not split and nothing is cracked.

It's important to keep an ax sharp because a dull ax can glance off the chopping surface, potentially causing injury.