Kelly Tasmanian pattern

M

mddevries

Joined
Dec 16, 2023
Messages
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Hello all. I am brand new here besides reading a lot of convos about axes over the past year or so. I am an axe collector/enthusiast and have gotten a lot of info from all of you here. I recently nabbed an awesom axe from Australia and I’m wondering if anybody has any info on it, including its age. It’s a Kelly world’s finest Tasmanian pattern, 2 kg. Not sure how to post a pic on here otherwise I would.
 
mddevries said:
Hello all. I am brand new here besides reading a lot of convos about axes over the past year or so. I am an axe collector/enthusiast and have gotten a lot of info from all of you here. I recently nabbed an awesom axe from Australia and I’m wondering if anybody has any info on it, including its age. It’s a Kelly world’s finest Tasmanian pattern, 2 kg. Not sure how to post a pic on here otherwise I would.
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Hey,

I like to use imagebb: https://imgbb.com/upload

Then once they have uploaded, select the drop down box where it says embed codes and choose the bb code full linked option. Then just copy the links in the box below and paste into your comment on here.
 
mddevries said:
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That is a beautiful axe, even in Australia they are very much sought after, especially with the original red paint. Have a look on eBay and you will see the.goimg for several hundred AUD in some instances.
Great steel and blade geometry too. The wide v shaped bits are designed for chopping/throwing large chips from the very dense Australian timbers e.g. gum, Ironbark, wattle. Being used on softer European/ American timber, it would make an ideal splitter and possibly felling axe.
Congratulations!
 
Steve Tall said:
"Some axes with Kelly markings were also made in Australia and marked accordingly. One such marking included the imprint “Kelly, World's Finest, Dandenong.” Today a suburb by the name of Dandenong is located approximately 20 miles southeast of Melbourne. It is believed that the brand was actually associated with the Dandenong Range where a significant amount of the wood was obtained and used for construction in and around Melbourne. The actual fabrication of the Australian made Kelly axes was done by Cyclone Forgings Pty, Ltd. but at this time not much else is known about that Australian/True Temper arrangements.
Other axes have also been observed with the name Dandenong along with Kelly Worlds Finest, Made In Canada. Those axes were made primarily for export to Australia prior to True Temper entering into the contract with Cyclone Forgings Pty, Ltd. Arrangements to have goods made within certain countries either under contract with domestic companies or by subsidiaries of a parent company were advantageous as the cost on import duties was significant as a result of many International Trade Agreements."
http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/American Fork & Hoe Co..html
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See above for some more detailed history.
 
Also for reference why they had to create a Tasmanian pattern axe;

Density of Grey iron bark timber is around 1100kg/m3.
Density of many Australian Eucalyptus timbers is around or greater than 1000kg/m3. They are very heavy, hard timbers often with interlocked grain.

Density of American oak is around 750kg/m3 for reference.

Here is a video of a poor bloke trying to split half a round with a maul:
 
mddevries said:
Awesome! Thanks for the info! Any idea of the age?
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Have a read of pages 3 to 4 of this: AFHS Newsletter No. 05 1990 - Australian Forest History Society https://www.foresthistory.org.au/newsletter/afhsnewsletter05.pdf

Page 4 talks about Kelly being produced originally in America in the 1920's then at some point in time between then and this article (1990), the brand was taken over by cyclone tools. Cyclone tools are still in production today and also produced lines such as Hytests and Fern (I think?) axes.
 
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