211 



TOOLS. 



The tools required by the selector on taking up his holding, 

 will comprise axes, wedges, maul, grub hoes, picks, spades, fork, 

 shovels, crosscut saws, files for sharpening same, tomahawk, steel 

 bar, grindstone, and a set of carpenter's tools. Collins's or Sharpens 

 axes are the best, and are sold at 6s. each. Wedges, of which 

 three or four will be required, are also sold at 5cl. per Ib. If the maul 

 rings are bought, the head and handle of the maul, which is used in 

 driving the wedges in splitting logs, can be made by the selector 

 from any tough wood, a i^-inch augur for boring the hole in the 

 head for the handle being"the only accessory tool required. The 

 augur may well be added to the outfit, as if dynamite is used in 

 clearing it will be ^gpj^ let, and the ac- 



found necessary. Jjj^&ip companying illus- 



Maul rings may r|jjT jljjjji tration shows how 



be bought in ||jjjijj|||!| the rings, which 



Perth for 2s. 3d. | are to prevent 



per pair. The IP ""'III the head splitting, 



maul is a large ' are put on. 



two-handled mal- 



Mattocks and grub hoes are used in clearing, for getting out 

 the earth from between the roots. Grub hoes are made without 

 the chopping arm, but mattocks, as shown in the illustration, are 

 most generally in use. Grub hoes cost in Perth about 43. each, 

 mattocks 43. 6d. each, and the handles is. each. A strip of leather 

 inserted between 

 the eye of the hoe 

 and the handle 

 will keep the head 



tight, as the handle _ 



is not wedged in like that of the axe. Grub hoes, mattocks, and 

 picks, when they have become blunt, and perhaps jagged, if the 

 ground is stoney, from continued use, are not ground, but " laid " ; 

 that is, they are put into the forge and given a new edge and 

 re-tempered. The cutting attachment may with advantage be 

 given a turn on the grindstone. 



One long-handled pick, costing 45. 6d., handles is. each, will 

 be sufficient in the settler's outfit of tools. This is chiefly useful in 

 particularly stiff ground, where the surface roots are so thick as to 

 necessitate its use in preference to the grub hoe. 



It will be found that if the handles of all the tools, so far 

 enumerated, are dipped for a few minutes in kerosene before they 

 are used, they will last much longer and be less liable to fracture. 

 This treatment toughens the wood considerably. It will have been 

 noticed, perhaps, that a strip of wood off a kerosene case that has 

 been saturated by the oil, will, if broken across the knee, not come 

 away in two clean parts, but will splinter longitudinally, and will re- 



