View source for Broadaxe

{{Short description|Type of axe with a large head that is primarily used as a tool}}
{{about|the woodworking tool|the weapon sometimes referred to as a broad axe|Dane axe}}
[[File:Broadaxe.jpg|thumb|300px|A very large, single-bevel broadaxe]]

A '''broadaxe''' is a large broad-headed [[axe]]. There are two categories of cutting edge on broadaxes, both are used for shaping logs into beams by [[hewing]]. On one type, one side is flat, and the other side beveled, a basilled edge, also called a side axe,<ref>[[Raphael Salaman|Salaman, R. A.]] Dictionary of tools used in the woodworking and allied trades, c. 1700-1970. New York: Scribner, 1975. {{ISBN|0684145359}}</ref> single bevel, or chisle-edged axe.<ref>Mercer, Henry Chapman. Ancient carpenters' tools: together with lumbermen's, joiners' and cabinet makers' tools in use in the eighteenth century. 5th ed. Doylestown, Pa.: Horizon Press, published for the Bucks County Historical Society, 1975. 81.</ref> On the other type, both sides are beveled, sometimes called a double bevel axe, which produces a scalloped cut.
[[File:Jeffersontown Museum Woodworking Tools.jpg|thumb|American broadaxe circa 1800]]
On the basilled broadaxe the handle may curve away from the flat side to allow an optimal stance by the hewer in relation to the hewn surface, and to allow clearance for the hewer's hands. The flat blade is to make the surface flat but can only be worked from one direction and is right-handed or left-handed. The double bevel axe has a straight handle and can be swung with either side against the wood. A double-beveled broad axe can be used for chopping or notching as well as hewing. When used for hewing, notches are chopped in the side of the log down to a marked line, a process called scoring. The pieces of wood between these notches are removed with an axe, a process called joggling,<ref>Foxfire - Volume 19 - Page 246. /books?id=u0bYAAAAMAAJ</ref> and then the remaining wood is hewn to the line.

== History ==
Broad axes have been used since ancient times until the end of the 19th century in Europe and North America. Broadaxes were commonly used in manufacture of square timbers for wooden [[shipbuilding]], [[log building]], [[timber framing]], and railroad ties sometimes called [[axe ties]].<ref>Railway age - Volume 110 - Page 982 axe ties</ref><ref>Richard M. Van Gaasbeek. Wooden Boat and Ship Building 2010 edition, reprint. 196</ref> Some broad axes are of a shape where part of the axe is called a [[Axe#Parts of the axe|beard]] so the axe is called a [[long-bearded axe]].

== Modern uses ==
Since the introduction of [[sawmill]]s and modern [[power tool]]s, the use of this tool is now uncommon in manufacturing but still used in restoration carpentry or undeveloped regions.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File: Miki City Hardware Museum08s3872.jpg|Traditional Japanese axes in the Miki City Hardware Museum
File:Axe of iron from Swedish Iron Age, found at Gotland, Sweden.jpg|Axe of iron from Swedish Iron Age, found at Gotland, Sweden
File: Old axes.jpg|Several types and sizes of axes, broad axes and a broad hatchet in lower right corner
File:06 Timmerbilor.jpg|Broad axes in Sweden
File:Haches.jpg|Several shapes of French axes and hatchets
File:Rundholz bebeilen mit dem Breitbeil.jpg | Hewing timber with a broadaxe in Germany
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Broadaxes}}
* [[Battle axe]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Forestry tools}}

[[Category:Axes]]
[[Category:Green woodworking tools]]
[[Category:Timber preparation]]
[[Category:Woodworking hand tools]]