View source for Adze

{{Short description|Woodworking tool with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle}}
{{redirect|Adz|other uses|ADZ (disambiguation)|and|Ad (disambiguation)}}
{{for-multi|the folkloric being of Ghana and Togo|adze (folklore)|the village in Bosnia-Herzegovina|Adže}}
[[File:Adz (PSF).png|thumb|Adze]]

An '''adze''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|d|z}}) or '''adz''' is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an [[axe]] but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the [[Stone Age]]. They are used for smoothing or carving [[wood]] in hand [[woodworking]], and as a [[Hoe (tool)|hoe]] for [[agriculture]] and [[horticulture]]. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze (short hoe)—a short-handled tool swung with one hand—and the foot adze (hoe)—a long-handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. A similar tool is called a [[mattock]], which differs by having two blades, one perpendicular to the handle and one parallel.

== History ==
=== Africa ===
The adze is depicted in ancient Egyptian art from the [[Old Kingdom]] onward.<ref>{{cite book   |quote=A statue of the third dynasty boat builder Ankhwah is showing him holding an adze   |author =Rice M |title=Who's who in ancient Egypt |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York |year=1999 |pages=25 |isbn=0-415-15448-0 
}}</ref> Originally the adze blades were made of stone, but already in the [[Predynastic Egypt|Predynastic Period]] copper adzes had all but replaced those made of flint.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors =Shubert SB, Bard KA |title=Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt |url =https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaarch00bard |url-access =limited |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaarch00bard/page/n510 458] |isbn=0-415-18589-0 }}</ref> Stone blades were fastened to the handle by tying and early bronze blades continued this simple construction. It was not until the later Bronze Age that the handle passes through an eye at the top of the blade. Examples of Egyptian adzes can be found in museums and on the Petrie Museum website.

{{Hiero|Adze-on-Block|<hiero>U21</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
A [[adze-on-block (hieroglyph)|depiction of an adze]] was also used as a [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]], representing the consonants ''stp'', "chosen", and used as: ''...Pharaoh XX, chosen of God/Goddess YY...''

The ''ahnetjer'' ([[Manuel de Codage]] transliteration: ''aH-nTr'') depicted as an adze-like instrument,<ref>{{cite book |title=Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache [Dictionary of the Egyptian language] |vauthors =Erman A, Grapow H |year=1926 |publisher=[[J.C. Hinrichs]] |location=Leipzig |volume=1 |pages=214.24 }}</ref> was used in the [[Opening of the mouth ceremony|Opening of the Mouth ceremony]], intended to convey power over their senses to statues and mummies. It was apparently the [[foreleg of ox|foreleg]] of a freshly sacrificed bull or cow with which the mouth was touched.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors =Schwabe CW, Gordon A |title=The quick and the dead: biomedical theory in ancient Egypt |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |location=Leiden |year=2004 |pages=76 |isbn=90-04-12391-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author =Eyre C |title=The cannibal hymn: a cultural and literary study |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |location=Liverpool |year=2002 |pages=54 |isbn=0-85323-706-9 }}</ref>

As [[Iron Age]] technology moved south into [[Africa]] with migrating ancient Egyptians,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Oliver|first1=Roland Anthony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5qYNSRjqacC|title=Africa in the Iron Age: C. 500 BC–1400 AD|last2=Oliver|first2=Roland|last3=Fagan|first3=Brian M|date=1975-10-29|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-09900-4|language=en}}</ref> they carried their technology with them, including adzes. To this day, iron adzes are used all over rural Africa for various purposes—from digging pit latrines, and chopping firewood, to tilling crop fields—whether they are of maize (corn), coffee, tea, pyrethrum, beans, millet, yams, or a plethora of other cash and subsistence [[crop]]s.

=== New Zealand ===
Prehistoric [[Māori culture|Māori]] adzes from [[New Zealand]] were for [[wood carving]], typically made from [[pounamu]] sourced from the South Island.<ref name="Kneebone">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1002/arco.5193| issn = 1834-4453| volume = 54| issue = 3| pages = 163–172| last1 = Kneebone| first1 = Brendan| last2 = Mcalister| first2 = Andrew| title = Addressing models of Maori interaction and regional variation in New Zealand: an analysis of stone adzes from the Auckland (Tamaki) region| journal =[[Archaeology in Oceania]]| access-date = 2021-01-14| date = 2019| s2cid = 210315410| url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/arco.5193| url-access = subscription}}</ref> During the [[Māori history|Māori Archaic period]] found on the North Island were commonly made from [[greywacke]] from [[Motutapu Island]] or [[basalt]] from Opito Bay in the [[Coromandel Peninsula|Coromandel]], similar to adzes constructed on other Pacific Islands.<ref name="Kneebone"/> Early period notched adzes found in [[Northland Region|Northland]] were primarily made of [[argillite]] quarried from locations around the [[Marlborough Region|Marlborough]] and [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] regions.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q58629011}}</ref> At the same time on [[Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)|Henderson Island]], a small coral island in eastern [[Polynesia]] lacking any rock other than [[limestone]], native populations may have fashioned giant clamshells into adzes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Diamond|first=Jared |title=Guns, Germs, and Steel |publisher=[[Norton (publisher)|Norton]] |location=New York |year=1997 |page=67 |isbn=0-393-31755-2}}</ref>

=== Northwest Coastal America ===
[[File: Native Alaskan boat builder.jpg|thumb|Native Alaskan boat builder using an adze]]
American Northwest coast native peoples traditionally used adzes for both functional construction (from bowls to canoes) and art (from masks to totem poles).  Northwest coast adzes take two forms: hafted and D-handle.  The hafted form is similar in form to a European adze with the haft constructed from a natural crooked branch which approximately forms a 60% angle.  The thin end is used as the handle and the thick end is flattened and notched such that an adze iron can be lashed to it. Modern hafts are sometimes constructed from a sawed blank with a dowel added for strength at the crook.  The second form is the D-handle adze which is basically an adze iron with a directly attached handle.  The D-handle, therefore, provides no mechanical leverage.  Northwest coast adzes are often classified by size and iron shape vs. role.  As with European adzes, iron shapes include straight, gutter and lipped.  Where larger Northwest adzes are similar in size to their European counterparts, the smaller sizes are typically much lighter such that they can be used for the detailed smoothing, shaping and surface texturing required for figure carving.  Final surfacing is sometimes performed with a [[crooked knife]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

===New Guinea and Melanesia ===
[[File:Adzes from New Guinea.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Contemporary stone adzes from New Guinea]]
Ground stone adzes used to be produced by a variety of people in [[Western New Guinea]] (Indonesia), [[Papua New Guinea]] and some of the smaller Islands of [[Melanesia]] and [[Micronesia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Virginia Drew |date=1995 |title=Simple and Significant: Stone Tool Production in Highland New Guinea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23273167 |journal=Lithic Technology |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=89–99 |jstor=23273167 |issn=0197-7261}}</ref> The hardstone would have been ground on a riverine rock with the help of water until the desired shape was obtained. It was then fixed to a natural grown angled wood with resin and plant fibers. A variety of minerals were used. Imported steel axes or [[machete]]s have now entirely replaced these tools for decades in even the remotest parts of New Guinea.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lemonnier |first=Pierre |date=June 2004 |title=The hunt for authenticity: Stone Age Stories Out of Context |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223340410001684868 |journal=[[The Journal of Pacific History]] |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=79–98 |doi=10.1080/00223340410001684868 |issn=0022-3344|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Indeed, even before the first foreign missionaries or colonial officials arrived in the New Guinea Highlands, inhabitants had already obtained steel tools through trade with their neighbors.<ref name=":0" /> Stone tools are sometimes manufactured to be sold as curios to tourists.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dundon |first=Alison |date=July 2013 |title=Gogodala Canoe Festivals, Customary Ways and Cultural Tourism in Papua New Guinea |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ocea.5011 |journal=[[Oceania (journal)|Oceania]] |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=88–101 |doi=10.1002/ocea.5011 |issn=0029-8077|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:19th century knowledge woodworking adze and axe.jpg|19th century knowledge woodworking adze and axe
File:Making paddle with adze, Tobi, Western Caroline Islands, Micronesia.jpg|Micronesian of [[Tobi (island)|Tobi]], [[Palau]], making a paddle for his ''[[Wa (watercraft)|wa]]'' with an adze
File:WLA brooklynmuseum Boat Building Scene 2.jpg|Egyptian boatbuilding relief, featuring a workman using an adze
File:Adzes, Marshall and Yap Islands - Pacific collection - Peabody Museum, Harvard University - DSC05732.JPG|Adzes, Marshall and Yap Islands – Pacific collection – [[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology|Peabody Museum]], Harvard University
File:19th century knowledge carpentry and woodworking japanese adze.jpg|Japanese adze
File:Rye Shipyard- the Construction of Motor Fishing Vessels, Rye, Sussex, England, UK, 1944 D22783.jpg|Rye Shipyard – the construction of motor fishing vessels, Rye, Sussex, England, UK, 1944
File:SainteMarieAmongTheHuronsAdze.jpg|A craftsman uses an adze to square beams, and to recreate 17th-century colonial life
File:PolynesianAdze.jpg|Polynesian adze (replica), bought 2019 in [[Yap]]
</gallery>

== Modern adzes ==
Modern adzes are made from [[steel]] with wooden [[:wikt:Handle#Noun|handles]], and enjoy limited use: occasionally in semi-industrial areas, but particularly by "revivalists" such as those at the [[Colonial Williamsburg]] cultural center in [[Virginia]], United States. However, the traditional adze has largely been replaced by the [[sawmill]] and the powered [[plane (tool)|plane]], at least in industrialised cultures. It remains in use for some specialist crafts, for example by [[Cooper (profession)|coopers]]. Adzes are also in current use by artists such as [[Northwest Indians|Northwest Coast American]] and [[Canadian Indians|Canadian Indigenous]] sculptors doing [[totem pole]] carving, as well as [[tribal mask|masks]] and bowls.

===Foot adze===
"Adzes are used for removing heavy waste, leveling, shaping, or trimming the surfaces of timber"<ref name="Salaman 23">[[Raphael Salaman|Salaman, R. A.]] ''Dictionary of tools used in the woodworking and allied trades, c. 1700–1970''. New York: [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]], 1975. 23.</ref> and boards. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards between his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind.

Foot adzes are most commonly known as shipbuilder's or carpenter's adzes. They range in size from 00 to 5 being {{convert|3+1//4|to(-)|4+3//4|lb}} with the cutting edge {{convert|3|to(-)|4+1//2|inch|round=5}} wide.<ref name="Salaman 23"/> On the modern, steel adze the cutting edge may be flat for smoothing work to very rounded for hollowing work such as bowls, gutters and canoes. The shoulders or sides of an adze may be curved called a ''lipped adze'', used for notching. The end away from the cutting edge is called the pole and be of different shapes, generally flat or a ''pin pole''.

* Carpenter's adze {{endash}} A heavy adze, often with very steep curves, and a very heavy, blunt pole. The weight of this adze makes it unsuitable for sustained overhead adzing.
** Railroad adze {{endash}} A carpenter's adze which had its bit extended in an effort to limit the breaking of handles when shaping railroad ties (railway sleepers). Early examples in New England began showing up approximately in the 1840s–1850s. The initial prototypes clearly showed a weld where the extension was attached.
* Shipwright's adze {{endash}} A lighter, and more versatile adze than the carpenter's adze. This was designed to be used in a variety of positions, including overhead, as well as in front on waist and chest level.
** Lipped shipwright's adze {{endash}} A variation of the shipwright's adze. It features a wider than normal bit, whose outside edges are sharply turned up, so that when gazing directly down the adze, from bit to eye, the cutting edge resembles an extremely wide and often very flat U. This adze was mainly used for shaping cross grain, such as for joining planks.
* Another group of adzes can be differentiated by the handles; the D-handled adzes have a handle where the hand can be wrapped around the D, close to the bit. These adzes closely follow traditional forms in that the bit or tooth is not wrapped around the handle as a head.
* The head of an [[ice axe]] typically possesses an adze for chopping rough steps in ice.
* A firefighter tool called the [[Halligan bar]] has a dull adze on one end of the bar. This bar is a multipurpose tool for forcible entry of a structure and demolition with a forked pry-bar on one end and an adze and spike on the other, called the adze-end.
*Demolition adze {{endash}} A demolition adze has a dull edge and is used for separating materials in the demolition or salvage of old buildings.

===Hand adze===
[[Image:Cooperadze.jpg|right|thumb|Cooper's adze]]
There are a number of specialist, short-handled adzes used by [[Cooper (profession)|coopers]], [[Wainwright (occupation)|wainwright]]s, and chair makers, and in bowl and trough making. Many of these have shorter handles for control and more curve in the head to allow better clearance for shorter cuts.

=== Bulgarian adze ===
During the communist period of Bulgaria, a new multi-use woodworking adze, called {{lang|bg|Теслà}} ({{transliteration|bg|Teslà}}), emerged. It has a sharpened edge perpendicular to the handle, resembling an adze, but it is also used like a carpenter's hammer. On the back of the head is a textured poll for driving nails, and on the front is a V-shaped hole used for prying, to extract the bent nails.

There is a popular Bulgarian folk song called "На теслата дръжката" (eng: The tesla's handle) about a craftsman and the masculinity of his tool.

==See also==
* [[Adze-on-block (hieroglyph)]]
* [[Mauna Kea Adz Quarry]], used by prehistoric Hawaiians to obtain basalt stone for adzes and other tools
* [[Pulaski (tool)|Pulaski]]
* [[Tranchet axe]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{cite journal |first=Leo |last=Verhart |url=https://jalc.nl/cgi/t/text/text-idxef89.html |title=Contact in stone: adzes, ''Keile'' and ''Spitzhauen'' in the Lower Rhine Basin |journal=Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=5–35 |date=2012 |issn=1877-7023 }}

; Attribution

* The section about types of adzes is based on a [[Quicksilver Wiki]] article at [https://web.archive.org/web/20040329231809/http://www.metaweb.com/wiki/wiki.phtml?title=A_Glossary_of_Terms_For_Traditional_Timber_Framing_(Timberbee) A Glossary of Terms For Traditional Timber Framing (Timberbee)] under the terms of the [[Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License]], last accessible 25 July 2006.

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{wiktionary-inline}}

{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Garden tools}}
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[[Category:Types of archaeological artefact]]
[[Category:Egyptian artefact types]]
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