bczygan
Well-known member
I have a head for a broad axe but would like to have an adze so I can hew some logs.
What's good, where to get them?
Show us yours!
What's good, where to get them?
Show us yours!
Hewing Tools - Adzes and Broad Axes
- Thread starter bczygan
- Start date
rlitman
Well-known member
Are you digging out a canoe?
Do you enjoy having 10 toes?
Do you enjoy having 10 toes?
We have lots of old trees here in Detroit, and many of them fall down in the street because the city and private property owners don't take them down when they die.
So there is an available supply, especially on CL, of free logs.
Would just like to play around with it. Good exercise, I suspect.
Just finished sharpening and using a hatchet to debark some small logs. Changed to a draw knife halfway through.
10 toes are way more than needed. I can't count that high anyway.
Broad ax used for hewing logs square. The user straddled the log, or stood on it if it was large enough, and trimmed the log square on one side, then turned it and worked on another side, until square. The broad ax handle was bent to be a little offset to make trimming easier, or so is my understanding. The adze might be used for this purpose or to cut notches in logs. AFIK railroads still use adzes to trim notches in crossties to fit the rails in, as part of the rail laying or repairing process to get the rails to lay flat from one tie to the next. Rail workers can correct me on this.
KEH
KEH
I used to be a log builder in the 70's - 80's so was big into these types of tools.
That's me working with my gas powered adze
Here's some adzes, left is a lipped adze or a dish adze that would be a ship builder's adze with the spike on the back and the other 2 are regular carpenter's adzes with a hammering pad on the back end. After you cut the timber and flipped it into place you could whack it with the back of the adze to seat it into place. The one on the right is what we called a scoop adze and was great for scooping out wood when you weren't trying to make a flat surface. It took clean bites like the lipped adze that cuts the chips off at the sides and doesn't create splintering along the sides.:
This photo has a new small scoop adze made recently and another carpenter's adze with a square peg on the rear. The spike on the back was used for driving square pegs into round holes.
That's me working with my gas powered adze
Here's some adzes, left is a lipped adze or a dish adze that would be a ship builder's adze with the spike on the back and the other 2 are regular carpenter's adzes with a hammering pad on the back end. After you cut the timber and flipped it into place you could whack it with the back of the adze to seat it into place. The one on the right is what we called a scoop adze and was great for scooping out wood when you weren't trying to make a flat surface. It took clean bites like the lipped adze that cuts the chips off at the sides and doesn't create splintering along the sides.:
This photo has a new small scoop adze made recently and another carpenter's adze with a square peg on the rear. The spike on the back was used for driving square pegs into round holes.
RivennHewn
Well-known member
I tend to like the vintage ones by names like L & I J White, D R Barton, Douglass MFG.
Sold them all on ebay to a guy in Ireland.
Shipping cost were crazy.
Sold them all on ebay to a guy in Ireland.
Shipping cost were crazy.
Dave455
Well-known member
There's a reasonable selection here in the U.K.
The most prolific maker of recent years was Record, but ever since their takeover by Irwin All that stuff has been dropped. If you see old stock they are worth acquiring.
I see similar tools, all Sheffield marked but with various names on, available new, but the quality is variable! I suspect that one firm is making the basic forgings, while others are finishing and grinding them to differing standards, and at differing prices! You generally get what you pay for, but I wouldn't buy any of these without seeing it first!
The best new adze I've seen in recent years was by Henry Taylor Tools (also Sheffield). This was entirely their own design and very nicely done, but the one I saw was a short handle design for use with one hand rather than two!
I've also seen new Adzes that were Austrian made (Stubai I think) which were also nice!
Unfortunately, you only know what you've really got when you've owned it, sharpened it and used it for a while!
If I found any old (up to say 50's) adze head around it would probably be worth cleaning it up and fitting a handle!
The most prolific maker of recent years was Record, but ever since their takeover by Irwin All that stuff has been dropped. If you see old stock they are worth acquiring.
I see similar tools, all Sheffield marked but with various names on, available new, but the quality is variable! I suspect that one firm is making the basic forgings, while others are finishing and grinding them to differing standards, and at differing prices! You generally get what you pay for, but I wouldn't buy any of these without seeing it first!
The best new adze I've seen in recent years was by Henry Taylor Tools (also Sheffield). This was entirely their own design and very nicely done, but the one I saw was a short handle design for use with one hand rather than two!
I've also seen new Adzes that were Austrian made (Stubai I think) which were also nice!
Unfortunately, you only know what you've really got when you've owned it, sharpened it and used it for a while!
If I found any old (up to say 50's) adze head around it would probably be worth cleaning it up and fitting a handle!
Here are some broad axes. You can see the off-set of the handles when the heads are laying flat. The handles stick upwards. In the photo you can see I have one left and one right handed axe (one for each hand. The off-set was to protect your hands from scraping against the log when the slab split off and the axe followed through.
You would get the log up at a comfortable height and secure it with log dogs to hold it solidly. Measure 5" left and right of centre and top and bottom on both ends of the log. Then use a level to mark the square on both ends (in this case a 10" square). Next take a chalk line and snap a guide line along the log where the lines come to the edge of the log on both sides only, top and bottom. Now you're ready to score the log into slab sections. On cedar you can make long slabs 5' long but on knotty wood you need to make them short. Once you've scored the log down to the lines with your chopping axe you can start knocking the slabs off with the broad axe.
There are many types of broad axes. All of mine are the flat sided type but some broad axes are built on centre like a regular axe.
A canadian pattern broad axe (left) has a peak in the centre to help deflect the slab and prevent binding. I can't remember the actual term for this but you can see it in the photos.
. The off-set was to protect your hands from scraping against the log when the slab split off and the axe followed through.
You would get the log up at a comfortable height and secure it with log dogs to hold it solidly. Measure 5" left and right of centre and top and bottom on both ends of the log. Then use a level to mark the square on both ends (in this case a 10" square). Next take a chalk line and snap a guide line along the log where the lines come to the edge of the log on both sides only, top and bottom. Now you're ready to score the log into slab sections. On cedar you can make long slabs 5' long but on knotty wood you need to make them short. Once you've scored the log down to the lines with your chopping axe you can start knocking the slabs off with the broad axe.
There are many types of broad axes. All of mine are the flat sided type but some broad axes are built on centre like a regular axe.
A canadian pattern broad axe (left) has a peak in the centre to help deflect the slab and prevent binding. I can't remember the actual term for this but you can see it in the photos.
After participating in this thread and seeing the condition of some of my old tools I decided to clean a few up before putting them away again. The 2 broad axes in post #9 without handles were in very rough shape. I don't even remember where I got them. The rust and pitting was so bad I photographed them with one side sanded down to show the difference.
The flat side is the most important because that is always the leading edge of the blade. I need to get all the pock marks out of that surface or they will deform the cutting edge. I didn't bother derusting them as I knew I had extensive grinding to do. My goal is to get them close to complete only. Eventually I'll hand file them before use.
A broad ax starts out as a flat piece of steel the blacksmith cuts to a butterfly shape then welds a 1" - 1 1/2" strip of tool steel to one end. He then folds it over near the middle to form the handle pocket and then forges the top layer into the bottom section merging the 2 ends of the flat steel together for the blade. You will see these 2 layers in some of the photos.
The broad ax on the left revealed the origin of the ax after some cleaning. It was made in Sweden which surprised me because this pattern is known in North America as a Canadian Pattern with the peak in the centre of the blade. Some one at some time also squared off one end of the blade, I'm not sure why.
I started sanding with a 120 grit disc on my 7” angle grinder but moved to a 40 grit before long. I’m not going to worry about grinding out the deep pock holes all the way out, just the ones around the cutting edge, then this baby will split wood again. As far as the overall surface goes I’m happy with what the right side looks like now and will do the left side to match.
This one has worse pitting than the Swede Ax. I’ve done one side ahead of the other on this one too.
On the back corner I’ve found a spot where the 2 layers have separated and rust has entered. After gringing into the area I found the rust is about 1” deep from the corner. Since I can’t leave well enough alone I’ll grind it out and weld in the top surface again.
I made a block of ice in the freezer and laid the tool steel cutting edge in the ice, then welded beads across the ground out area cooling and grinding until I got the area built up with weld, then ground it down flat. It looks all good now.
I’m going to sandblast them and do a black oxide treatment next. That should be about a week away.
The flat side is the most important because that is always the leading edge of the blade. I need to get all the pock marks out of that surface or they will deform the cutting edge. I didn't bother derusting them as I knew I had extensive grinding to do. My goal is to get them close to complete only. Eventually I'll hand file them before use.
A broad ax starts out as a flat piece of steel the blacksmith cuts to a butterfly shape then welds a 1" - 1 1/2" strip of tool steel to one end. He then folds it over near the middle to form the handle pocket and then forges the top layer into the bottom section merging the 2 ends of the flat steel together for the blade. You will see these 2 layers in some of the photos.
The broad ax on the left revealed the origin of the ax after some cleaning. It was made in Sweden which surprised me because this pattern is known in North America as a Canadian Pattern with the peak in the centre of the blade. Some one at some time also squared off one end of the blade, I'm not sure why.
I started sanding with a 120 grit disc on my 7” angle grinder but moved to a 40 grit before long. I’m not going to worry about grinding out the deep pock holes all the way out, just the ones around the cutting edge, then this baby will split wood again. As far as the overall surface goes I’m happy with what the right side looks like now and will do the left side to match.
This one has worse pitting than the Swede Ax. I’ve done one side ahead of the other on this one too.
On the back corner I’ve found a spot where the 2 layers have separated and rust has entered. After gringing into the area I found the rust is about 1” deep from the corner. Since I can’t leave well enough alone I’ll grind it out and weld in the top surface again.
I made a block of ice in the freezer and laid the tool steel cutting edge in the ice, then welded beads across the ground out area cooling and grinding until I got the area built up with weld, then ground it down flat. It looks all good now.
I’m going to sandblast them and do a black oxide treatment next. That should be about a week away.
sasquatch12
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 403
thanks for the interesting photo and info tour.
Canoe50
Well-known member
+1 Great posts 2oolhound.
Thanks for the comps guys, I'll try to keep em coming (albeit at a trickle). I'm not sure if I can get handles anytime soon. Hickory is expensive in these parts and handles are rare. Now when I think of all the times I ran across handles cheap and didn't buy them.