The Adze - My Favorite Farm Tool

The adze is of the earliest tools humans used to cut and shape wood, and to a great extent, dig in the ground. It has a blade which is perpendicular to the handle, and ought to be just as sharp as an axe. Also referred to as a “foot adze”, it’s swung toward your foot in stout, chopping motions and is mostly used for smoothing rough, hand-hewn wood like floor puncheons, benches, and even the surface of a shaving horse. On this edition of My Favorite Farm Tool, Pa Mac shows the use of the adze for the small farm or homestead, and explains several different types including the carpenter’s adze, the railroad adze, and the shipbuilder’s adze.

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[D-B-Cooper]

I’m a retired shipwright, still have a few adzes. All shipwright adzes have wings, the pointy thing is not for driving nails, you would never use it for that. Not only wouldn’t you do that to it but the handle is wrong. What it is for has been lost, probably for driving into a log so you could sharpen it easier with two hands. To use an adze to square a timber you would chop notches about every ft and then split them off in a big chunks to rough shape it. The handle is made for the user (be careful not to put it in backwards) . To smooth it you put a plank or log on either side, stand on them and standing upright strike it between your legs, not in front under your foot, and swing through so you scoop out chips and not have splinters and you will never cut yourself. This will give you that smooth, slightly wavy look. Do not bend your waist and use mostly your wrists . Railroad ties, when hand made, were made by flattening the sides of a standing tree with a broad axe and if it was up to spec then cut down with crosscut saw. I have seen trees in old tie hackers camps that were left standing because it wasn’t big enough. A lot of the adzes you find now are from WW II. They commissioned a lot for building mine sweepers but they are not very good because they are too heavy. The good ones are very light with incredible steel that you could shave with. You would never use it around nails or bolts because it would chip and be ruined.

[mikeevans]

If a beam was only smoothed on the showing side then the work was considered to be "half adzed". . A .sharp pointed spike was used for moving small timbers while the blunt spike was used for driving nails and metal spikes below the work. Shorter handles usually indicates the user straddled the timber while longer handles allowed for standing atop the work.

[LitoGeorge]

Pa Mac, that thing on the end is called a poll. And like the folks below have said, on a shipbuilders adze, that poll is used to knock in nails. Alternative uses were knocking out the knots/eyes in wood, when necessary. A typical name for the adze's with the curves on the side, are "gutter adzes" for good reason. They are also used for bowl carving (the smaller/ smaller handled ones of course) ps: the Japanese have traditionally and still frequently use the adze barefoot or with slippers on.

[IveysFamilyFactotum]

I do love the adze and enjoy making them. For the ship builders adze that spike is actually used for dowels...The process of drilling and installing dowels into the hull that part of the adze was used. I am not sure exactly how as I said I am not a ship builder but I do know that much.

[JacobvsRex]

I got into blacksmithing years ago because I wanted a decent adze and couldn’t find one. I still love mine

[kenthorsen]

I found a carpenter adze in a cornfield years ago, but in rough shape. I cleaned it up the best I could and made a hickory handle for it. It's kinda past the working wood life but it's used for grubbing out young mulberry and honeysuckle. I would love to come across a good one just to make a bench for sitting on.

[olddawgdreaming]

Great video Pa Mac, the adze is a real handy too to have around the farm. Also have a good whet stone so you can fix it up after the youngun's use it for a tater grubber. Thanks for sharing with us. Stay safe around there and keep up the good videos and sharing the fun you have around there. Fred.

[nicolem]

Every time I watch one of these videos, I end up spending excessive amounts of time looking on fb and C’slist for these old tools. 😂

[DonWarfield]

I think the bend in the handle puts both of your hands in line with the edge of the blade which affords more fine control of the cut -at least it seems that way on mine.
Another kind of adze you are missing is a curved or gutter adze for hollowing out a timber or log as in making a log canoe or a trough. The blade edge is arched and, like a gouge, come in various radii of curvature. -the right tool for the right job.
Another common name for that grub hoe is mattock -they typically have a handle that is not bent and is oval in cross-section.

[j_omega_t]

I have a carpenter's adze and love it. I bought a pair of ship adzes for my brother - one had a poll, and the other had wings. I use mine to rough out beams from logs. A broadaxe might be the correct tool for that, but I can't get any accuracy with one. I find the adze far easier to control, much faster, and it doesn't wear me out nearly as fast.

[jeffs]

I have always been told the spike on the ship builders adze was to drive spikes down below the woods surface. Preventing the blade of the adze from hitting the spike. Correct or not, I don't know, just what the old guys always told me.

[dlbuffmovie]

Good to know the difference between the carpenter and shipwright adz. Didn't know that, just got a gift of one last fall, going to have to go look at it real quick.

[Travecmo]

I would love and prefer to come to your store. Very cool

[cdantzer]

I like your farm tool section, your shop reminds me of mine, we could talk a spell. Enjoy your channel.

[EC-USA]

Hello from PA. I'm not a shipbuilder, but it sure looks like that pointy side fits in a hardy hole in a bench or anvil. It could be simple like for sharpening or to hold the tool and draw the work over for some operation

[Barbarra]

Here in Danmark they still make Viking ships with all the primitive tools. I'm not sure but I believe that point on a Ship Builder's Adze is for driving spikes or metal fasteners deeper than the surface of the wood which makes it easier and safer to further smooth the wood. Next time I'm at a place where they make the ships I'll see if I can find out.

[ServiceTrek]

Maybe talk about the handles ... they seem to have a bend in them and the head fit is unique as well.

[jeanlucchasse]

The adze with lips are ship construction adze, the regular adze are for smooting flooring board, or take a junk out behing, so the board sit well on the floor beam. The pin behind, with square tip is use to kill a knot, . Sure, someone could have used it to drive a spike deeper...but the primary is for killing knots.

[johnreno]

And boys, don't forget to clean up your chips into a good galvanized bucket. They make great kindling for the stove or fireplace.

[TheRedhawke]

I recently found one at an estate sale with the wings on the side of the blade. It still has traces of paint on it and appears to of never been sharpened. I need to make a handle for it. I had been looking for an adze for years, this one seems a bit too large for my intended purpose.