Used for planned burning operationsPressurised Bering burner wand, with pump and pressure gauge Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner Bering Engineering Ltd we’re originally based at Doman road, Camberley in Surrey, UKforests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsPressurised burner wand, with pump and pressure gauge Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner X300forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsBurner wand - propane gas Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner Not used Hot Devilforests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsBurner wand - propane gas Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner Not used forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsBurner wand - propane gas Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner Not used AirFlow Hot Rod MkIV forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsAdaption of a commercial garden weed burner Plastic backback with burner wand and hoseREGA forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsKerosene pump forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsAdaption of garden weed sprayer Pump action packpack Long handle, burner wick with control valveREGA 10909forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsAdaption of garden weed burner Heavy galvanised iron wand Gravity feed to burner wick with control valve and handleforests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsKerosene burning wand with long wooden handle and wick Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsVehicle mounter flame thrower. Developed at Altona workshopsforests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsIncendiary Launcher in boxOtwaysforests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used for planned burning operationsBurner wand. Adaption of a commercial garden weed burner forests commission victoria (fcv), planned burning, bushfire, hand tools

Used with long wooden handle to roll logsCant Hooksforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used in FCV foundryforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used in FCV foundryforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

forests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used to clear scrub and undergrowth Large Fern Hook or Brush hookGardenmasterforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Tool used to thread pipesforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used to clear scrub and undergrowth. Straight blade was useful when clearing road embankmentsHeavy Brush cutter Colour on handle indicates FCV district ownershipforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used to clear scrub and undergrowth.Heavy Brush cutterforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used to clear scrub and undergrowth.Fern Hookforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Used to plant seedlings in pine and hardwood plantationsMetal planting spadeforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Metal Hand Shearsforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Continuous cutting chain was patented in 1905 by Samuel Bens of San Francisco, while the first portable chainsaw was developed and patented in 1918 by Canadian millwright James Shand. But the main advancements of modern petrol chainsaws occurred in Europe in the 1920s and 30s where Andreas Stihl is often hailed as the "father of the chainsaw" After the second world war lighter materials, metal alloys and improved engine designs revolutionised the logging and timber industry. This Wright Reciprocating Saw was made in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, between 1960 and 1962. Its a Rare GS-5020A model. It has a 7.06 cu. in. (115.7 cc), two-stroke motor, which weighed 25 lbs. (11.3 kg) complete. The blade doesn't stop reciprocating when the saw is running because it's attached directly to the crankshaft. There is no clutch system.Reciprocating Saw.forests commission victoria (fcv), forest harvesting, hand tools

Black powder splitting guns were commonly used to split large logs into more manageable pieces before the advent of excavators and front-end loaders in bush logging operations. A typical splitting gun used in Victorian forests was a piece of high-grade steel about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 16 inches long, and slightly tapered at one end. They had a ¾ inch hole drilled about 9 inches deep into the centre of the shaft with a small pilot hole drilled from the outside to load the fuse. The tube was carefully loaded with an amount of black gunpowder using a funnel and spoon. Experience being the guide on how much powder to use, which depended on log size, species and difficulty of splitting the wood. The hole was stopped with a piece of wadded paper and the gun positioned at the end of a length of the log to be split. The splitting gun was then belted into the log with a large wooden maul or even the back of an axe to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches. There were often markings as a guide. This also had the effect of tamping the black powder inside the gun. Preferably the gun was backed up by another large log to absorb the recoil shock and avoid it flying off in the bush somewhere. I have seen guns where a length of string and coloured flag could be attached to help find them. A length of fuse was then inserted in the small hole and lit. Kaboom !!!! Needless to say, the splitting gun was a dangerous implement.Log Splitting gun (large 50cm)forests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Black powder splitting guns were commonly used to split large logs into more manageable pieces before the advent of excavators and front-end loaders in bush logging operations. A typical splitting gun used in Victorian forests was a piece of high-grade steel about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 16 inches long, and slightly tapered at one end. They had a ¾ inch hole drilled about 9 inches deep into the centre of the shaft with a small pilot hole drilled from the outside to load the fuse. The tube was carefully loaded with an amount of black gunpowder using a funnel and spoon. Experience being the guide on how much powder to use, which depended on log size, species and difficulty of splitting the wood. The hole was stopped with a piece of wadded paper and the gun positioned at the end of a length of the log to be split. The splitting gun was then belted into the log with a large wooden maul or even the back of an axe to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches. There were often markings as a guide. This also had the effect of tamping the black powder inside the gun. Preferably the gun was backed up by another large log to absorb the recoil shock and avoid it flying off in the bush somewhere. I have seen guns where a length of string and coloured flag could be attached to help find them. A length of fuse was then inserted in the small hole and lit. Kaboom !!!! Needless to say, the splitting gun was a dangerous implement.Log Splitting gun (large 45cm)forests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools

Bushfire perimeter rather than bushfire area is the main control problem for firefighters on the ground. A conundrum rapidly compounded by spot fires. A small 5 ha fire can be nearly 1 km around the perimeter. That's a long way to build a control line by hand in rough bush. Dry firefighting techniques by hand were mostly confined to “knocking down” or “beating out” the flames, as well as "digging out". Digging or raking a “mineral earth” trail down to bare dirt proved most effective in forest fuels which, unlike grass, tend to retain heat and smoulder. Early tools were whatever happened to be close at hand. They were simple and primitive and included shovels, slashers, axes, hoes, beaters and rakes. A cut branch to beat the flames was often the only thing available. Farming and logging tools, developed over centuries of manual labour, and readily available at local hardware stores came into use, but little thought was given to size, weight, and balance. For years foresters experimented with combination tools. In about 1952 fire beaters and other implements were being replaced with Rakuts. However, its believed the now common Rakehoe is an Australian variation of the American McLeod Tool which was developed in 1905 by forest ranger Malcolm McLeod of the Sierra National Forest. The late Athol Hodgson advised that predecessors, Reg Torbet who had been the Chief Fire Officer for the Forests Commission from 1948-1956, along with his QLD counterpart Clive Price, went in late 1951 as Australian delegates on a 10 week fire study tour of Nth America organised by the United Nations. They came back with a couple of McLeod tools from Canada. Cam MacLeod (different spelling) had been the Head of Fire Research for the Canadian Forest Service at the time and had supplied them. The tools were ideal for deciduous forests in the eastern provinces and Clive arranged to have them manufactured in QLD. The Rakho, as it was then spelled, was first issued to FCV crews 65 years ago in 1955-56. The American Pulaski had been trialled, but never found favour with Australian firefighters.Rakhoeforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools, forest harvesting, bushfire

Metal branding hammers were the most common way to control the sale and movement of hardwood timber produce like logs, railway sleepers, fence posts, and poles from Victorian State forests. Royalty was also paid on this basis. Hammers most commonly had a crown stamp on one end with a unique number in the middle which identified its owner, and a crows foot or broad arrow on the other. The broad arrow was a symbol traditionally used in Britain and its colonies to mark government property. Other local configurations were used by sawmillers, post cutters and pulpwood contactors. Forest regulations state that an authorised officer may use the crown mark to identify produce which has been sold and may be removed from the forest, whereas the broad arrow can be used to brand and mark trees which are not to be felled, or to indicate forest produce which has been seized. Hammers were traditionally only ever issued to forest officers and were an important, and closely guarded tool-of-trade. They were not transferred between staff and lending hammers was not permitted. But it was an onerous task for staff to hammer and tally hundreds of logs, or thousands of fence posts each week, so in about 1990 a system was introduced whereby hammers were allocated to logging contractors to grade logs and tally them instead. But there was still spot checking by authorised officers. A register was kept, and contractors paid a substantial deposit to make sure they didn't lose them, but they occasionally turn up by fossickers with metal detectors. While branding hammers are still used in some smaller locations, plastic tags and barcodes are now more common.Log Grading hammersforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools, forest harvesting

Metal Pinch Barforests commission victoria (fcv), hand tools