Three-quarter axe comparison; Hytest vs Elwell

I love my three-quarter axes and half axes (also referred to as ‘boy’s axes’). As I’ve come to understand things, a three-quarter axe is not so much a pattern of axe as a size of axe. In Australia, even if they have been manufactured overseas, most of the vintage three-quarter axes we see are between 2¼ and 2¾ lbs, typically on a 24–28” (600–700 mm) handle. Modern ‘camp axes’ and ‘forest axes’ are also sometimes referred to as to three-quarter axes.

The size and weight of a three-quarter axe makes it a versatile choice for light-duty cutting when a full-size felling axe feels like overkill. If you’re not felling huge trees and just need to do a bit of limbing or bucking of smaller stuff, or maybe want to go out and about to ‘forage’ for some timber to carve with, a three-quarter axe is probably what you’re after.

Two of my favourite three-quarter axes to use are both a bit ‘overweight’, tipping the scales at 3 and a bit lbs. The first is a ‘2¾’ lb Hytest Challenger. It’s pretty much a mini-Tasmanian pattern and comes from the stamped Forester-Craftsman-Challenger era (1957–mid-‘60s). The second is a ‘2¾’ lb Elwell. Elwell catalogues from late ‘50s and early ‘60s list axes like this as simply a ‘three-quarter axe’. The shape of the head looks like a miniature version of the Elwell Tasmanian pattern from same era. I’ve noticed a lot of people often refer to axes like this as a ‘Yankee’ or a ‘Dayton’ pattern. It seems that each company had their own take on this style and size of axe. I’ve hung both of them on a 700 mm (27.5”) slimmed down Cattle Dog spotted gum handle. The bit on each is ground to around 20° with a little microbevel.

Here I give each of them a run on some smallish grey gum logs. I know they don’t look like much, but grey gum starts to get pretty hard (10–11 on the Junka scale) as it dries so I thought these logs were a good test.