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
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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
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, packed in their normal expert way.

It was shiny once.
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It is smaller than the Race Axe or the Camp Axe with ahead that you can choke up on.
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And comes with a nice Mask to protect anything that blade may come into contact with, oh and it is hair popping sharp!
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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

@Shelley that’s a sweet looking axe. I might have to pay them a visit. Quite a bit of coin though!

Yeah, it ain’t cheap, and if you don’t need an axe then it’s hard to justify, I do love mine though, quality is not cheap!

Awesome review, has twisted my arm.
I'm going to grab one next time i'm over in Masterton, i have put it off as they aren't cheap & was waiting for a review etc...

sweet looking but way too expensive for this tight old bastard, might wait till i see one sitting in a hut lol

$385 for the short handle, $395 for the longer one. To be fair, for a quality forged and sharpened axe that is not as bad as I was expecting - equivalent quality and finish imported is going to cost you more. That includes the cover I see too...

Unless you lose it or use it to bludgeon steel or rocks you aren't going to wear the thing out and boots cost more for one.

They currently have a sale on to :thumbsup:

I was looking at the "China" axe heads they have on their site for $130 I think... They look really interesting as a project type head for doing a bit of reshaping and profiling and turning into a custom head. I was contemplating grinding the wings out on one, then washboarding the center section like the old Keesteel heads to really put it on a diet. I dunno, probably more work than it's worth. But if the heads are any good in terms of steel etc, they are almost a better deal than an older kelly or plumb head.

The china heads are exactly as they say, made in China, nobody knows exactly what the steel is, and they make and ship them over, the Tuatuhi is European steel, made to Tuatuhi's specifications, then hand made via power hammers at Tuatahi's forge into heads and then heat treated in house.
There is a reason they are used to win competitions.