Forest hammer
A forest hammer , also known as a crime hammer , forest iron, painting beard or drawing ax, is a forestry work and marking tool.
A forest hammer has a head and handle similar to a normal hammer . As with a normal hammer, the handle is usually made of wood, the head is made of metal. One of the sides of the head is designed as a blade like an ax , the other side as a hammer. The handle of some forest hammers is also designed as a yardstick.
The forest hammer was widely used in forestry in the 16th century to instruct wood buyers in the forest about the trees to be felled. For this purpose, the hammer was hammered into the tree trunk close to the ground, so that it was easy to determine later on the stumps that had remained, whether only marked trees had been felled. The forest hammer was used as a marking device until the late 20th century, and the marking method described has been preserved in France to the present day.
For the forest staff there were strict regulations regarding the storage and use of the forest hammer. It was usually also common for the hammer to be provided with a stately coat of arms and the respective current year.
literature
- Karl-Heinz Söhner: The forest hammer - also known as a sacrificial hammer, forest iron, Malbarte or drawing ax . In: Kurpfälzer Winzerfestanzeiger. 2009, pp. 76-77.
