Thread: Tasmania Pattern Axes

Luke, if you haven't already seen it, rssr's thread "axe talk" will give you some information on axes in Aus. & some starting-points for further reading....

My father (a Taswegian by birth) favoured Kellys, and his favourite was a five-pounder! I have it, & although it is well-worn and probably less than 4 1/2 lb now, it's still a lot of axe. My favourite was a Plumb owned by an uncle, which I think was a "tasmanian pattern", but not sure, because I haven't seen it for 40 years or more. Someone else snaffled it before I could get my hands on it.......

Cheers,

The other source of info would be the ‘axe mans hall of fame’ which is in Latrobe Tasmania. I think that Dave is still there, he’s an Australian/World champion axeman. If anyone could help it’d be him.

Local academic Miles Lewis has a wealth of docs on early Australian building (amongst a range of other stuff).
Miles Lewis - Internet Location
This includes a detailed history of timber processing and the development of the local axe. A fascinating read.
5.02 timber processing pdf

Very interesting read there...

It's interesting to reflect in hindsight that probably the reason the British did not have success with axes like they did with tools like chisels, saws, and knives is that they weren't really felling any quantity of trees for lumber in The Iles... The "Frontier" in The Iles was basically gone by what a 500AD... And any "forests" were more or less estates owned by nobility....

The vast bulk of their raw timber came from The Continent (and later The New World). British axes of the time were primarily hachets used domestically for working small green wood for bent wood furniture or flat sided single bevel hand axes for shaping dry lumber for furniture and carpentry work... And for that duty - they seem to work well enough...

So all the testing and use of actual felling axes ended up being done either in The New World or in Australia... Because that's where the trees being cut for lumber were.... But since there was really no point of reference for that sort of work on The Iles - they didn't really have a good way to sort out designs besides sending them 2,000 miles over the ocean for somebody else to test out and then get a report 2 or 3 years later of "Nope... Not good either"

It's intersting to consider that on the other hand - the flat sided single bevel hand axe really never caught on in The States like it did in the UK and The Continent... You can find all sorts of Youtube videos of Americans "Restoring" them and then trying (and generally failing) to fell and limb trees with them... No! No! It's not for that.... Wrong tool buddy!

Originally Posted by truckjohn

It's intersting to consider that on the other hand - the flat sided single bevel hand axe really never caught on in The States like it did in the UK and The Continent... You can find all sorts of Youtube videos of Americans "Restoring" them and then trying (and generally failing) to fell and limb trees with them... No! No! It's not for that.... Wrong tool buddy!

Ah yes, the "broad" axe was not a tool for dumb ladies .

Luke

The States is a superb arena for"collecting" axes as they seem to abound on the like of Ebay, which by association mean there thousands luing around in garage sales and other flea markets. There is also hug amounts of information both in catalogues and advertisements. Ian's reference to rssr's thread is an excellent place to begin as much has already been covered there in a more general sense, although not specifically on a "Tasmanian" pattern. I found it interesting that the American manufacturers produced tools specifically for the Australian market. Aside from axes, they also produced crosscut saws with a tooth pattern particularly for Australia and this was identified in the catalogues.

Regards
Paul

Thanks everyone. The .pdf, especially, was helpful. Seems like the Tasmanian pattern was something which developed both out of necessity and for competition purposes. I've also seen them called "racing" axes in the past.

Lol. I suppose like anything else - tool availability is a regional thing...

I can go to any one of a number of "Antique" mall sort of places and see no less than 50 old axes... They are just very common in this area.... In fact - I keep looking at an old wrought iron broad (?) axe with forge welded steel cutting edge and hammer whatever it's called end.... It's old and it's not particularly expensive.... And I wondered at the giant He-Man size 6 1/2 lb felling axe head laying in a dusty pile - who would want to swing that thing all day....

But there are *NO* wood chisels to be had. Perhaps I may come across an old 1/2" long Nub of an old cast steel chisel or a horribly pitted socket Stanley 720 tent peg... Or the occasional rusted Chinese Aldi chisel being sold for $12 each marked "Vintage chisel".... But no actual vintage chisels of any quality...

So... Find me a decent looking set of good hard Titan, Ward, or Moulson firmers and I will find you some axes... .

Interestingly enough, Tasmanian Pattern axes are still a thing. Here are a few different examples:
https://helko.co.uk/products/tasmania-timber-sport-axe
https://www.chevpac.co.nz/catalogue/...tern_GAR500000
https://www.knifeshopaustralia.com.a...lling-axe-2.00

It's worth noting that 19th Century catalogues in the US featured many Australian product for the local market.
The 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog has references to 100's of Australian made products - mostly woollen clothing (already considered best quality) but also books, cattle whips and heart tonic!
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno11200sear

I have seen those plenty of times here in the US.... In fact - my wife's sister has one of those...

I am pretty sure that if an axe pattern was a good one - they sold them in the USA... Because the timber industry was (and still is) a very good one....

Originally Posted by hiroller

The 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog ...
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno11200sear

That catalog was fascinating. I spent ages going through that. It might be a bit later than 1897 as the bank's references/recomendations are dated 1901. And the sample order form is 1902.

Hi Tony,

You are right on both counts. It is truly fascinating and the date is incorrect.
There doesn’t see to be an index for these but I found a cover of edition 111 from 1902,
So I think we can safely assume that this edition 112 is from 1903.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

.....One that really interests me, which I guess is my affinity for Australian tools shining through, is the Tasmania Pattern Axe. From what I can tell, this is very similar to a Connecticut pattern, American axe, but the poll is rounded and is also very thin, and they tend to be quite heavy, at 4 1/2 lb. To me, this translates to maximum force into the edge, with minimal balance. When thinking in terms of felling Tasmanian Oak or Karri (which I know grow in WA) trees, which are the size of our Redwoods and about five times as hard, I suppose this makes sense.....

Hi Luke

In Tasmania "Tas Oak", actually a commercial mixture of eucalypts, is regarded as a medium hardness timber. Besides cutting "oak" the axes were required to cut a range of timbers up to Tasmanian blue gum, Eucalyptus globulus. To put the hardness in perspective, using data from the standard reference: Keith Bootle, Wood in Australia, second edition - NB: He uses metric janka, not American imperial:

• California redwood - Sequoia sempervirons - Janka 2.1
• Hard Maple (USA) - Acer saccharum - Janka 6.4
• Karri - E diversicolour - Janka 9
• Celery top pine - Phyllocladus asplenifolia - Janka 5.0.
• Mountain ash - E regnans - main component of "Tas oak" - Janka 4.9 kN.
• Spotted gum - e maculata - Janka 11.
• Tasmanian blue gum - E globulus - Janka 12.

Besides commercial wood cutting there was also an extremely competitive sport of chopping - still is - and competition axes were really refined.

The Latrobe Council (like an American county council) in north-west Tasmania owns the Axe Man's Hall of Fame at Latrobe - a museum dedicated to the industry and sport of chopping. They have an incredible collection of axes and may be a source of information.
Latrobe Council - Tasmania

As an aside, the preferred timber for axe handles was horizontal - Anodopetalum biglandulosum - and in the south of the state the major supplier for 100+ years was the Bluett family. The big-box retailers killed off these suppliers and there are now no commercial sources of horizontal - one of my favourite timbers.


Cheers

Graeme

PS: The Dave that Johnredl refers to is David Foster, but I believe that he has moved on from Latrobe.

Graeme

Thanks for the reference to Horizontal. I had never heard of it before and a brief search of the net revealed only very sketchy information. Disappointingly there was no reference, that I could find, for it's use or properties and nothing to show what the timber looked like: Lots of pix on the plant and the fact that it tends to fall over and grow horizontally but little for the woodworker. Perhaps you have some examples of the timber or objects made.

In searching images on the net for Horizontal (scrub) I did come up with a useful thread started by DSEL back in 2014. I thought to myself "this looks interesting."

As the subject of handles will almost certainly will come up, particularly as so many axes on Ebay will be bought minus the handle, this link may be of use. I have waded in part way though as somebody was kind enough to do a review of "AWR" issue No.84 with an article on timber handles by Professor Illic (#35)

Best local timbers for handling hammers?

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul

Horizontal is a truly weird tree that literally grows horizontally rather than vertically like all other trees. Its not a vine, but because trees interweave with each other it creates extremely dense and complex thickets. Impossible to move through - the bushwalkers curse - and difficult to harvest. It has never been available as a commercial timber, although Island Speciality Timbers, Geeveston, occasionally has very small amounts.

Bootles says the timber has a density of 700 kg/m3, provisionally S5, SD6 and used for handles and decorative turning. Most of it comes from trunks less than 150 mm diameter, the largest in my stash is 220 mm and I have never seen any over 300 mm. The wood is light coloured pinkish brown, extremely fine grained and usually extremely straight grained and with the very unusual property that the bark stays intact - you can turn it and the bark just stays there forever. It is very springy, steams really well, turns brilliantly, and is very hard but as far as I can find out no one has yet formally measured its specifications - no janka, elasticity, crushing, rupture or other measure exist - I've been looking for 10+ years.

Back in the days when there were general stores with boots hanging from the rafters, small hardware stores in every town and suburb and many stock & station agencies, virtually all commercial handles in Tasmania were made from horizontal - from tack hammers to pick handles and I remember the lustrous patina on my great uncles scythe handle. The Bluetts harvested the wood, made the handles and supplied the south of the state. Two other families did like-wise in the north and north-west.

When farmers and tradesment made there own handles the preferred timber was spotted gum as it was suitable and readily available commercially and horizontal was not. (Sheoak was also used). The Bluetts only harvested what they needed - it was truly hard work - and they used all they cut.

Now virtually all handles are retailed by big-box retaillers and they are unable to import horizontal from China! The local handle industry has died or been killed.

A small quantity of horizontal is harvested by craft makers for making specialty furniture such as this chair by David Ralp in the permanent collection of Design Tasmania in Launceston.
https://designtasmania.com.au/bush-chair/

It is also used for hand crafted products such as turned pepper grinders and bowls.



That bark will stay intact and can be turned, shaped, planed, etc.



Cheers

Graeme

PS: Sorry for the poor image quality but I could not work out how to shrink it.