Trappers Tools

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

These used to be as commonly available as Estwings. But that was in the says when a professional Rabbit Trapper was as normal a job description as Factory Worker. Now ye'll be bloody lucky to find one in uk ~ though they Do turn up, in the odd second hand tool shop. I find they're bloody useless for driving in nails. But I wouldn't be without mine when I'm out setting traps.

 

Trappers also had two other tools which were considered the norm. A small spade and a small seive. One for cutting out a smart bed for the trap. The other for covering that trap in fine earth. I have no spade and so use the Hoe of my hammer for raking out the bed. I then use my home made seive the cover, when I feel that need. Here's my own kit then:

 

 

 

Trappers Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Produced, back in the day, by such iron fabricator firms as Samuel Lewis, William Hunt and Eliza Tinsley. Such tools were, untill comparatively recent years, still retailed to us by outlets such as Gilbertson & Page and S. Young & Sons. Now, like the once huge land army of Trappers who used them, they've followed the rabbits of old. Thus items such as my hammer are considered desirable items of curio by the Collector market in uk.

 

In Australia however, with the memory of the rabbit plagues being that much fresher and possibly even more men having then been focussed on the job of their control, such hammers (or Hoes, as they call them) are still relatively common. I simply asked a friend to pick me one up and he did. As I remember, it cost me less than £20, air mail included. Just about what a working man would expect to pay for a decent tool today. And mine bears the stamp of " Braids ". Making it of William Hunt manufacture. One of the most common brands still to be found in Oz, thus worthless to Collectors who, out there, concentrate on the brand name rather than the tool.

 

Ye'll notice the small cleft in the side of my ones hoe end? That's there by design. Idea is that ye can catch a link of chain in it and so aid in drawing the peg which ye earlier drove home with the hammer end, having hacked out a bed with the hoe. A few such elaborations are to be found on these hammers. Little refinements which people liked for various aspects of the job.

 

 

So much for the Hammer then. Seives came, again, came in a small variety. Size and shape being the main features. Though materials varied and there was at least one Folding Seive available which one could fold up and carry in a pocket. I've never yet come across an original and very much doubt I'd put it back to work if I did. I simply made my own one, according to my own requirements. Scrap of expanded brass mesh, rescued there and then from my neighbours dustbin. Few scraps of timber. Some screws and several coats of wood stain varnish I happened to have to hand. It'll out last me for sure.

 

My one's not best suited to rabbit holes. But then I don't trap rabbits. Why not make one of your own. To your own requirements?

 

Here's mine:

 

 

 

My Seive

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't own a Trappers Spade, so I can't show ye one. But a browse of the old iron wear and Trappers supplies catalogues show a small variety. Were I in a position to have one tailer made for me today? I'd probably opt for much as they used to like them; A small, strong, sharp spade. Square, or slightly longer, perhaps? Only I'd prefer a shorter handle than most exhibited. I tend to work on my knees and so a full shaft would only be an encumberance.

 

Anyway; There ye go

[Rolfe 2]

Very interesting Ditch as always mate.......!

I have a very old "Spud Thistle" that has been cut down that i use as a mole spade.....it is Spear & Jackson made and it is a very useful bit of kit when used for setting Fenns when rabbit or mink trapping. See Pictures.

 

Rolfe.

Edited January 26, 2008 by john b
removal of repeated pics

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Green with envy, Rolfe! That's an absolute Beauty!

 

I Want One!

[OldTrapCollector 376]

Here's a couple of my own tools - no longer used but on display in my trap room ~

 

Here's a genuine trapper's spade which are like hen's teeth to find these days, short handle, sharp cutting edge and cut outs on top of the flat part of the face for trap chain pulling.

 

 

These are two of my mole spades, both used by real mole catchers in days gone by.

 

 

And these are a couple of my trap hoes or setters as they are sometimes known.

 

 

OTC

[Rolfe 2]

Lovely collection OTC.....i have been after a genuine mole spade for a few years now.........and only recently just missed a beauty, some bugger beat me to it.

I have a few trap dealers keeping their eyes peeled for one........and hopefully they will come up with the goods.

 

Regards

 

Rolfe.

[Guest tawny]

ditch the nearest thing you can get to the estwing trappers hammer today is the estwing brick hammer

but some of the boys i worked with over the years being bricklayers,have owned the trapper type hammer

come brick hammer,with the wide cutting edge as shown on your pic.

one thing i can say is they all came from australia and sent over as new tools so they are still

being made and even got the little nick cut out but often sold as bricklayers hammers

[Netter 0]

How long is the head on a trapping hammer? and how wide is the "hoe" part?

[Caravan Monster 323]

I reckon these trapper' s hoes look a lot like adzes...

(12" rule for scale)

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Sorry, Netter. I was dead beat when I last came across this one. I now have my own hammer with me, plus my Stanley Tape.

 

Back end of hoe to face of hammer head = 7 1/2". Length of hoe, from back to shaft head = 4 1/2". Width of hoe, at business end = 3 1/8". Narrows down to c. 1 1/16 at the shaft head. Hammer face = c. 1 1/16"

 

My handle (Original) measures 13" long. Some cut them down, but I like it this way; for leverage when I have to shift the local, large stones

[Netter 0]

Cheers Ditch

Edited February 2, 2008 by Netter

[comanche 2,799]

Cheers Ditch

Lovely old tools ,full of character and history (Maybe not the modern adzes).My own trapping hammer's not so steeped in the sweat of long departed rustic hands.S'just a 50p boot-sale jobby with the claws cut off,a slot cut crossways with an angle- grinder and a wedge shaped blade (cut from an old S+J N.o3 ) welded into the slot.Same spade also provided a strip of steel to make ,with the addition of a big file handle and some sharpening, a crude but sturdy turf- knife for mole -catching.The remains of the spade with its' cut down handle and 3 !/2"wide blade is usefull too.It lives in the van and a bit like Swiss Army knife doubles for the tools that I should'nt have left at home...Like the mole knife and trapping hammer!

[Neal 1,788]

I have a vintage spade, bought in Lewes, advertised as a mole-catchers' spade. It has a blunted metal point at one end; does anybody know what that end is used for? Thanks!

[OldTrapCollector 376]

Locating the mole runs under the soil so you know where to place your traps??

 

OTC

[Guest little_lloyd]

stabing moles

 

 

Great input,, Best addtion to the thread yet

[stig 2]

Great post ditch.Sorry if this a stupid question but whats the sieve used for in the trapping world.

Cheers