As a Aussie axe collector I know the Tasmanian pattern very well and you got it spot on. It’s funny how the Aussie axes are so sort over in the USA and we love a lot off the North America axes. You have so many cool patterns. Good Work.

The original Tassie Pattern was by Plumb USA - made for the Australian market. Kelly followed up with the Dandenong. Arguably the first American axe for Australia was the "Sandover's Special", made to spec from a design from a Western Australian hardware store - it's a bit skinnier, more American-styled, but does have the convex cheeks. Now, here's where it gets confusing. Hytest used to be called "Plumb (Aust)" - completely unrelated to Plumb USA, and in 1946 Plumb (Aust) was ordered to cease using the name Plumb as a retail name, and so became Hytest. (I'm guessing some nosy GI who worked for Plumb in civvie life noticed...)

Very helpful to a new person trying to understand what to look for

Nice overview. I live in Australia and the Tassie is the iconic pattern as you point out. I have a reasonable collection of Hytest. I believe they were colour coded by model. Our trees are pretty tough being hardwood so the weight was essential. Nice collection by the way.

WOW Buddy ... you got a Black Raven !! Unbelievable! Your videos are just awesome ... i subscribed. Cheers, Erik

Great information. Well researched.

Very Useful video. My grandad, who spent 8 years in Canada and a decade in Australia said 'if it slices and sticks in it's a Connie. If it's got some smash and an air of brutality about it is a Tazzi' one of my enduring memories of him when I was a kid was he'd chop all his kindling one handed with a 4 1/2lb Tazzi. My takeaway from this video is "why the heck dont I have one?!?" Here in UK I can get the Helko and the Hults Bruks. Any preference over your two please? Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for this awesome video! I absolutely LOVE your videos, so informative! I came to you from Buckin's channel and have picked up restoring my own axes because of you two! You guys are amazing, and keep the videos coming!!! Thanks from Oregon :) :) :)

Beautiful axes and good information thanks 🙏

Where the stainless steel section was forged onto the steel looks like a weave you do when welding. And the other amazing thing is after all this time there is no sign of the 2 metals failing. No sign of any cracks. Also the stainless quantity is unseen today. I had the axe sitting in a corner of the garage for years, When I picked it up she was a bit rusty, mainly surfaces rust… the stainless was basically untouched by the rust , wipe with a rag and good as new. The forging technique my father did to achieve this quality is unheard of today . To be able to forge two different metals together without it failing and to be still perfect 70/80 years later in a credit to the man he was.

Wonderful video and info. Thankyou!

That is a collection to be proud of right there found your page actually shopping for both a vintage Tassie and a vintage Connie currently. So that I can choose from to make a pattern that I will be forging in small batch numbered axes and I also say i restore axes for resale. However I have not experienced the reselling of any of the vintage axes I purchased with restoration and reselling in mind the restoration takes place and then I custon haft them on different types of wood from honey locust to apple and then use them once and its a done deal they become a part of my personal collection. I also must say that you have a few different axes that i only dream of finding in such quality, one being your black raven which is absolutely amazing

Great video! I really like those two patterns and have been wanting to compare a Connecticut and Tasmanian. I have a Vintage Kelly Dandenong 4 1/2lb Axe Made In Australia on the way and plan to get a Connecticut pattern next.

Great info! Thanks!

Thank you for everything, best axepert on KZfaq. Why did you stop making videos? So sad

Funny where KZfaq takes you. I happened upon this and wondered about Dads axes I inherited that are sitting rusty my Melbourne backyard shed. Stuck them in the vice and got to them with a nylon abrasive wheel on a drill. Turns out I have a Hytest Forged 4 tools, a Brades 1571 Made in England, a Kelly Axe & Tool.co Charleston W.VA made in USA 4 1/2 lb, and a smaller one that simply says Sweden . The best 'Barn find' is in your own Barn aye!

Wondering when you realised that the helko featured is actually their 2000g yankee pattern and not their 1800g Tasmanian pattern 😉

That black raven axe is sweeeeet....

Well done video .thanks.

And the internet responds! Yes, I have been informed by great sages that 3lb Hytests exist, and some believe that Plumb made a 2.5lb Tassie as well. Although the later is so small that others argue it can't count as a Tassie just by virtue of its size! Thank you all for your contributions.

Please do a video showing that black Raven closer if you ever get a chance, good Lord where do people find those lol, amazing axes

Your axe collection is absolutely drool worthy. I have multiple Hytest challenger and Forester. I think Hytest was originally Plumb Australia then fern then became Hytest but could be incorrect regarding that. I do know the Hytest line of Tassies came in 4 & 4& 1/2 pound axes. My Plumb Tassies are a 4.2 & 4.5 so with Haft is 5.2ib & 5.4ib. I do have other Tassies which are all 4&1/2 pounds. Brades 4&1/2 Tassie pattern axes is one of my personal favorites in my collection. What are your thoughts regarding the Kelly Worlds Finest Dandenong? I have two and while I am able to get straight razor shaving worthy edge on them but still think the Brades is my favorite

What do you think of the cyclone? They are still in production. 2kg head on a spotted gum handle. All bad reviews on line about loose head and handle snapping. Really want one because its not a arm and leg even if I just buy it for the head and re haft it. Thanks

have you ever had any English axes? We have loads of 5-7lb felling axes with various patterns.

I'd like to see a test of the Tuatahi China Taz head. Works out to about $60 American, no handle. It's not ground, either. 5.8#! They market it for learning or training. My Plumb is just over 4#, very thin profile, put it on a 36" fawnsfoot. Mercy, how it chops! I think it's a Dayton, however it has a very thin profile.

Very nice info I learnt a lot from that. I have a Hy Test axe 4.5lbs that my father and uncle did something amazing too. They customise it to balance the axe for chopping in the shows .. they cut a inch off the blade then took out another 1” then they forged a inch section of stainless steel Back onto the axe and then did the same with the blade .. So what you have is a very beautiful balanced axe. With this piece of stainless steel holding the original blade onto the axe. This axe at a guess is about 70 to 80 years old.

Is the Tassie a good choice for splitting oak and cherry? I’m over the mauls looking to find a good splitting head.

How do i send you a pic of a very possible 3 1/2 lb pumb tassie

Some swing action on some cellulose to show the pros & cons??

I like an axe for limbing a tree after felling. Never used a single bit axe much. Any info on a double bit axe?

Heya thanks for that just found a 4.5 hytest. Would you you know where I could find info on them. It's a bit spotty on the internet

What's your guys opinion on laminated handles? I have a laminated bow & its amazing haha, but yep thought it was a good idea so thought Id ask around

After watching I'm starting to question a recently hung head of mine. I didn't thing about weighing just the head but I'm sure its not 4lb, more around 3.5lb. But it has thick cheeks and the more I look at it, it looks more like a Tassie over a connie. It's not marked at all.

Been looking for a Connecticut pattern for a while. Any tips on where I can find one?

What work was done on the plumb right in the middle?

Tazzies are thicker, more wedge shaped denser with a more pronounced crescent bit. Connies are thinner, and have a less pronounced crescent bit.

Did you mention the Hultafors arvika?

Big axes for Big Australian men

When you're from Connecticut you say Connecticut, not connie. When you find yourself born in Tasmania I suppose you say just any old thing. Note how unimaginative the Connecticut axe head is. We call that sort of plainness Yankee and build, if ploddingly with it. Me thinks the Tasmanian are a far more colorful people than we witch burners, a people who might say an axe is Tassie. All of the famous hardwoods grow here in Connie. Slocum found his keelson, planks and decking growing between the granite boulders and sailed Connie woods around the world. In truth there are but few Connecticanners who yet wield an axe. Most of them sit at computers and write useless bullshit on useless You Tube channels while drinking in the daytime. So sorry. My Dad, while he was around, gave me an old dull axe and told me it was a training axe. It wasn't until a long time afterwards, mother's boyfriends and Boy Scouts that I learned steel can be sharpened. From broken home I dropped out of High School and took up carpentry, where edges are important. My beard has turned white and I/we bought our way into the woods, preparing for SHTF. I know about steel and own $100s in water stones. I now suppose that $50 Dollars, a file and a set of stones is equal to some Swedish axe I cannot afford. If you can't get enough of steel reduced to an atomic edge, take up shaving with a straight razor - I did, it has solved all my problems. To actually hear good steel dulling itself on recalcitrant copper-like beard hair, yours - is almost as good as picking scabs. After taking care of a straight razor you'll relax your vigil on edges to concentrate on the important things in life; happy wife, informed children, cold beer.