Thread: Tuatahi Bearded Axe - the Tuatahi Trapper

So a few years back there was a thread here about small axes, and the idea was someone was looking for a smaller axe, like a boys axe, with a head that was bearded so you could choke up on it and use it like a knife for carving if need be, but was one hell of a chopper, not too heavy, and could be used in an emergency to quickly cater firewood and build a simple shelter if a hunter had the misfortune to fall into the wet and was cold and needed a fire FAST, as well it could be used as a general axe.
Tuatahi was suggested as someone who might make an axe for us kiwis and the idea was that they were going to be approached to see if they were interested in making one.

I am not sure if that ever happened.

I decided to go a step further as I already had this

and had a had a few conversations with Su, their foreman.

I asked him directly if he would do that, make a smaller bearded axe, he said no as they already had made a camp Axe, and due to covid they were behind in production.

And so the idea went up in smoke...or so I thought, so you can imagine my surprise last year in May when Stu called me up and said was I still interested in the smaller Tuatahi?
Well I told him does a possum poo in the woods and a few days later I had this in my hands

, packed in their normal expert way.

It was shiny once.


It is smaller than the Race Axe or the Camp Axe with ahead that you can choke up on.


And comes with a nice Mask to protect anything that blade may come into contact with, oh and it is hair popping sharp!


They make two models, both with the same custom hand made heads made in NZ with their propriety blend of steel, one is like mine 60 cm lone and another one is a bit shorter, the handles are their excellent grained American hickory.

So I have used it a fair bit and love it, its light enough that you can carry it with you on your pack, it chops way better than it should with its small size, its not a Felling Axe but as a limber its terrific and I have used it to fell a small tree, it works fine, just takes more swings - but the race axe is way better at felling, its just not a carry axe.

I don't work for Tuatahi but you can buy them and I have no regrets about getting mine, in fact my Kelly and my Plumb now hang on my wall in the dinning room, replaced forever with my Tuatahi.
If you get one, and you should, you will notice that they have a serial number, mine I believe is a pre-production model and does not have one, and I love that about it!
Anyway there may be a few YouTube videos of them in use, but I'm sure Stu will answer any questions you may have, they really are great axes!

Cheers
Shelley