C with broad arrow branding irons

[Ed Landstrom]

Still sorting stuff. I found a pair of electric branding irons with the Canadian Forces broad arrow inside the letter C. Both logos are about 1" in diameter but the lines in one are very fine, the other has heavier lines.

Any idea what they were used for? I don't remember ever seeing a gun stock, equipment chest or other wooden object branded. Did the Canadian Forces ever brand tires? Too small for branding cattle.

[David Dunlop]

Wooden battery boxes come to mind.

Not sure these irons would have been Army issue. Perhaps further back up the manufacturing line where final inspections/approval of products were made. Part of a civil, government unit?

David

[rob love]

Yes, the CF branded tires, and potentially still did until the 90s. There was a branding iron available in the Canadian System for DND.

David: remember that the C/l\ along with the crowfoot was a property mark and not an inspection mark. In the 50s, the new stamp was an inspection mark so would have been applied at the inspection level.

[Alex van de Wetering]

What about the wooden handles for the standard CMP shovel and pick...were these branded with the broad arrow?

Alex

[Ian Fawbert]

Hi,
Documents show that at some levels of maintenance, tyres were to be branded with D^D here in Australia to stop theft/ID stolen tyres (using an electric branding iron). This continued into the 50's60's at least on tyres id seen. I would love to find a D^D one!

I wonder if what you have is something similar for a similar purpose?

Ian.

[David Dunlop]

Ed. Can you post some photos of the irons?

Curious if they look like they can have interchangeable heads, and who made them. Might be others lurking in shops if we know what we are looking for.

David

[Ed Landstrom]

I did take pictures, but apparently the camera wouldn't focus close enough. I'll try again, but I may have to settle for smaller pictures (taken from further away). I'll have another look, to see if they look like the heads are interchangeable, and also to see if they have a maker's name.

[Ed Landstrom]

As with most things I try to do, getting better pictures took a lot longer than it should have.

The faces of the branding irons are attached with screws, 2 for the smaller one and 4 for the larger, so it would appear that they're replaceable.

I can't find a name on the larger one, but the smaller is stamped "ARGO" and "patent pending".

They both have RCEME tags describing them as "branding iron arrow in 'C' ". Both were declared serviceable in 1965. The smaller one has a DND number 5120-21-108-8434. This number on the larger one has gotten wet, but the last 4 digits are also 8434. The workshop order numbers are 5105682 for the smaller and 5105464 for the larger.

[Mike Cecil]

Ed,



Very interesting items and very similar to the 'Iron, Tyre Branding' used in Australia with two sized bits: a 1 inch (the Aust No.1 bit) and a 1/2 inch sized bit (the Aust No.2 bit) with the brand D (arrow) D. Branding was to be carried out by assembly contractors, and came into use in early 1943.

Prior to the 400 watt electric iron becoming available, a branding iron heated by blowtorch was issued to AEME units for branding tyres. It had its problems: too hot and too much pressure ruined/weakened the side wall, too little did not prevent buffing off the brand by unscrupulous third parties. In un-practiced hands, it was said to ruin more tyres than it saved from thieves.

In 1945, another iron bit became available, manufactured to Army drawings by E A Machin & Co. It was an (arrow) S (arrow) either horizontal, or vertical with the arrow heads facing the top and bottom of the 'S'. This was for branding unserviceable tyres prior to disposal, to show they had been legally disposed of. It was also available as a hand stamp for smaller items such as rifles.

An unusual and nice item of militaria.

Mike