Hytest Info???

[Robbie03]

I recently found an old axe head while digging around an old store and I am planning on restoring it and after doing a bit if googling I learned that Hytest is a pretty historic company and I would love to try and keep the axe historically accurate. Any tips/tricks or extra knowledge on the brand would be much appreciated.

• The axe is 4 1/2
• One side is stamped Hytest axe & tool pty Ltd
• The other side is stamped 4 1/2 Forged Hytest tools 4 1/2

 

[Robbie03]

 

[wanganui axe]

Australian axe.There were three axes made,the Forester (painted Red),the Craftsman (painted green)and the Challenger (painted blue).Yours is probably made about the 50's maybe.The 3 afore mentioned were maybe in the 60's 70's a bit of googling should dig up up some more reliable info.This is all from memory.There was also a Kauri model maybe for New Zealands harder wood or maybe a competition axe.
There is also another thread on here called HYTEST AXES post yours which may shed some light.

 

[Uuill]

The brand is now called Trojan Hytest but before being rebranded they made those three models which

W wanganui axe​

mentioned. The first production axe was the 'Craftsman' (In Green) which was made by bending heated steel in half and then inserting a hardenable carbon steel between them. Then the two different steels were forge welded together and tempered. then they moved over to drop forging and introduced two more axes, the 'Challenger' (in Blue) and the 'Forester' (in red), as well as releasing the 'Craftsman' with the other models nationwide.