With steel polls, good axes cost in this country: for the light size, about 8d. to 9d. per lb.; medium size, from 7d. to 8d. per lb.; and heavy size, from 63d. to 7d. per lb. Solid steel axes cost about 6d. per lb. extra.

Best solid steel 61b. axes, with good helves complete, are sold by some ironmongers at 8s. 9d. each.

Sham-polled iron axes can be bought for 5d. per lb., but they are almost worthless to miners. Hatchets and axes are often made at the mine, and some miners think them stronger and more serviceable than those supplied by ironmongers; but they cost more than ready-made ones. Mine smiths are not, as a rule, much accustomed to making them.

Usually they form the eye by doubling over a piece of iron to make a loop for afterwards drifting to shape. The doubled part is then welded and spread to form the blade-a piece of steel having been put between to form the cutting edge. After the head is shaped as desired, and the poll faced with steel, the edge is hardened and tempered straw colour, and the poll about purple.

Axe-heads which have much "outlying," as is represented in Fig. 108, are liable to quiver in use, and to produce a tremor through the helve when the cutting comes on the outer part of the

edge. They are not generally considered to fall so effectively as "inlying" axe-heads, indicated by Fig. 112.*

As may be expected, foreign miners have a great variety of chopping tools for timbering. They are oftenest single-hand, and rather light tools.

Figs. 115 and 116 are hatchets used in Saxony, and Fig. 117 shows one used in Hungary, with an outer and inner keen edge on the blade.

The adze known as the railway adze (the head of which is seen in Fig. 118), or the platelayer's adze, Fig. 119, is very useful where much flat surfacing or "dubbing" work has to be done. Both have steeled polls.

Adze-heads vary in weight, like hatchets and axes, and cost about the same, or often 1d. or 2d. per lb. extra. A convenient weight is 5lbs.

The edge of an adze stands square across the helve, as it is used underhand for cutting surfaces parallel to the soles of the user's feet.

As a rule, miners are not adepts at using an adze, but now and then they find it a very useful tool.

* The relative positions of the centres of gravity and of percussion are more favourable for the prevention of jarring in inlying than outlying axes.

For block-chopping stone axe, see Miscellaneous Tools, Fig. 169.

SAWS.

AN attempt to divide thick timber with an are will soon show that, in order to give the axe room to work, the cut must be a gash of considerable width; and the deeper it is required, the wider it must be at the top. This involves great waste of timber and physical effort; and, after all, the cut is not, at the best of times, very even or regular. Timber can be divided in a neat and comparatively easy manner by the saw.*

The saw consists essentially of a thin platebest of steel-having a line of small chisels or teeth, formed in succession on one of its edges, and furnished with means for moving it in the direction of the teeth while they are pressed against the material to be sawn.

Each tooth, one after the other, cuts away a shaving or chip; and as all the teeth follow in

The saw is of great antiquity, and is said to be represented on Egyptian monuments, owing its origin to the use of a snake's jaw-bone for dividing small pieces of wood.

line, they form a narrow slit, or "kerf," of the same width as the teeth occupy.

While the motion is continued, the kerf is prolonged, or deepened, and the plate or blade, as it is usually termed, passes into the kerf to allow the teeth to follow their work.

Saws are used for cutting various substances, but it will be our business to consider them mainly as applied to cutting timber for underground work.

The best saw-blades are made of cast-steel. Shear-steel makes fair blades. They should be thin, and as stiff as possible, with sufficient elasticity to regain their truth after bending. The blade is made as thin as possible, consistent with giving it the necessary stiffness, in order to secure a narrow kerf, thereby to save timber and useless expenditure of power in sawing.

Fig. 120 represents a "hand saw," which is frequently a very useful tool to miners. 26 to 28 inches is a convenient length for the blade. The cost of such a saw, of the best cast-steel quality, is from 4s. 6d. to 5s. at ironmongers' shops. Fig. 121 is a sketch of the "crosscut saw." This is a very serviceable tool for dealing with heavy timber. Two persons are required to use it. A blade of from 4 to 5 feet in length is a useful size, and when made of good cast-steel, the

cost may be taken as ranging from 10s. to 138. each.

Fig. 122 shows the blade of a "pit saw." This saw is of great utility in converting large quantities of rough timber into true pieces, planks, or boards. It is used by two persons—one standing above the other. The top sawyer's handle, called the "tiller," is illustrated by Fig. 123; and the "pit saw box," the bottom sawyer's handle, which is made entirely of wood, by Fig. 124. For the latter purpose, Fig. 125 shows one which is made partly of iron.

Although the pit saw is seldom used by mine timber men, it is advantageous if they are able to work with it in some cases of emergency. In cases of rareness it finds its way underground, and a capital saw-pit can be made by stoping out the floor of a level.

A pit saw blade about 7 feet long is a useful size, and if made of best cast-steel, it would cost about 17s. to 20s

Saws of an inferior quality, known as German steel, can be bought for about one-sixth less.

As much as possible of the sawing required at mines is best done at the surface by men specially accustomed to the work; but often a miner's calling demands that he should be able to saw for himself, underground as well as above.