Can any one give a good breakdown of
What size and style Adze would be good for
hewing beams.
I have been doing some web surfing and keep
getting confusing opinions.
I want to start experimenting and learning but
don’t know where to start.
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Replies
H,
One consideration is: where will you do the hewing? Will the beams be in situ, perhaps above your head; or will you prepare them before installing them, at a bench or on the floor? If the former, then a short handled adz of lighter weight might be best. If the latter, a long-handled adz can be swung between the legs as you stand on or over the beam(which takes more skill). If the beam is on a bench or trestle, you will still probably be best-off with a short handle.
Another question is: what degree of scalloping do you want, quite deep or just a shallow, shaping cut? That would determine the radius of the adz blade.
Also, have you considered using another tool, such as a drawknife and/or a carving axe, instead of or in conjunction with the adz? The hewing might go best with different tools at different stages, especially if you're starting with a log.
This still doesn't tell you the right adz to get but might help whittle down the choices a bit.....?
Lataxe
The situation is, I just bought 48acres of wooded hillside.
Seams to be a steady cycle of blow down that I'd like to use for firewood mainly.
But also I'd like to start trying my hand at post and beam const.
The terrain is rugged and there is little to no budget for my insanity.
So armed with a chainsaw an old CJ5 and persistence I think
some sort of carpenters Adz would be my preferred method.
Roughing out the beams on sight
some smaller carving type projects
Seams like a smaller carpenters Adz would do most things.
Edited 3/8/2008 2:30 pm ET by Henley
H,
I haven't any personal experience of hewing whole logs into beams, although there is a tentative plan to go on a course, held by the local coppicing association, all about timber framing. In anticipation, I bought a fine book called "Oak Framed Buildings" by Rupert Newman.
http://www.amazon.com/Oak-Framed-Buildings-Rupert-Newman/dp/1861083793/ref=sr_1_1/102-6197638-5717752?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205012559&sr=1-1
In it he writes (I paraphrase):
The common method of hewing to convert a round log into a boxed-heart beam.
The rippled textture is often mistakenly said to have an adzed finish when in fact adzes were never used to convert logs but were employed in shaping and finishing smaller timbers......
The usual way to hew a log is to begin by securing it at the required working height by using two large metal dogs, drawing the dimensions of the required beam on the log ends, then using snapped chalk lines lines to make guides, to achieve level and plumb during the hewing.
Then a felling axe is used to remove the bulk of waste timber up to the lines by, first, scoring up to two lines with vertical cuts, then removing wedges leaving vertical notches called joggles, if there is a lot of waste. Then the rest of the waste is simply split off, leaving a rough flat face.
This face is dressed and smoothed with a braod axe, slicing down across the grain of the timber. This slicing leaves a surface that is often mistaken for adz marks.
****
So, you may need two axes! Lee Valley have some good uns, including both domestic and the very nice Swedish Granfors. I have a crving axe and a gutter adz oftheirs. They are very well made but a bit costly.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=3&p=20129&cat=1,41131,43408&ap=1
Thanks for the link. I keep running into conflicting info about this.
From my Gooogling it seams the broad axe was widely used for this
purpose. That's based on some accounts I've found on the railroad const.
While all over the world for eons the adz was used.
Again not disagreeing just confused.
H,
You're quite right about there being conflicting accounts of how to square a log. Your post has got me ferreting in my many WW books so I dug out another: Old Ways of Working Wood by Alex Bealer. This was first published in 1980 and Mr B has done a lot of detailed research of the American forest traditions, amongst others within WW.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000TBGWPM/ref=dp_olp_3/103-7798629-3929465?ie=UTF8&qid=1205017920&sr=1-4
So, I looks up "hewing" and find the broad axe technique decribed previously. But Alex follows on with another section all about adzing logs into beams! An adz termed a "foot adz" was used, with the adzer standing on the log, starting to flatten the upward-facing round about 2 feet from one end and working backwards down the log. Then the ends are done "off-log" and the log turned for another face to be done.
Here is the alarming bit:
"In order to become proficient, an adzman should be certain that the handle of his tool fits his height. A miscalculation of only a quarter of an inch in the depth of cut can cripple a man for life and the length of the handle is an important factor in controlling the depth of succesive cuts....."
I recommend the Alex Bealer book. It relates many anecdotal tales to illustrate the tools and their use. It isn't a how-to book like the timber framing one; but is an exceptionally entertaining but also educative read.
Of course, you will end up even more confused about which tools to get, as there seems to be at least 3 ways to do everything! :-)
Lataxe
We do it in our timber shop.
http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/product_info.php/products_id/1646
This is one our more popular modern style adzes. Each guy likes the handle set differently. Lots of practice required and try and copy old timber. Also a broad axe for side work. You can get industrial shin guards or shin guards for catchers at a sporting store. Flea markets can also be a source but some adzes are ust junk, heavy, cracked or just don't hold an edge.
Could you explain setting the head differently to me?
It looks like a friction fit on the tapered shaft, do you mean
people shim it to different lengths? what do you think of these ?-
http://www.rockisland.com/~kestrel/adze.html
The handle is a slip fit on the head but each handle from each manufacturer will be at slightly different angles. I personally don't do it but I talk the the guys doing it and get their take on it. 'What works for one person may not be comfortable for another. Our adzing is done standing over the timbers. We would never use a Kestrel adze. We are typically duplicating antique timbers. What exactly are you trying to do?? Decorative effects. Matching antique timbers. You are going to have to buy some tools and just try going at it. FWW is furniture and probably not the best place to learn this. Any old historical villages near you?? http://www.osv.org/
Colonial Williamsburg?
There's not a lot of info out there. Our guys didn't go to adzing school.
Well I'm not trying to replicate anything.
I have some small structures I'd like to put together up on the
hill.
Mostly I'd like to learn. Seams like the best way to go about it
is start trying (carefully).
Also some carving would probably be thrown in. The Kestral ?
Not made well or not pertinent to what you do?
The Kestral is too small for our application. In timbers, the adzer straddles the timber. A Kestral would be like using a spoon. Plus we are duplicating an older look so it doesn't matter what tool so much as the results. Typical adze width for us is 4 to 4-1/2". You can power adze with a Festoolplaner and a special head or we have a Makita power planer with modified curved knives. Whatever works is fair game. Unfortunately Granfors Bruks biggest is a 3-1/2" and is real pricey. Just buy something and start practicing.
Henley
You're putting one tool in front of the other and it probably will lead you back to the beginning at a cost. If you want to have hand hewn beams-- you need a broadaxe way before you need any adze. I have both. I use the foot adze for leveling the tops of beams to lay flooring planks and working chair seats.
To square beams to the snap line, you chink with your axe. Next step is to go down the length of the beam and chop with your broadaxe. Man this is work with capital letters. Note(my second barn frame was cut with a woodmizer)
Do some reading and research on the broadaxe. The English had one style and the Germans had another. They both work but... they are different.
For some good reading, flip thru the older Roy Underhill books. He starts from the "I haven't done this before" level and explains things very well.
Last Word: Learn to sharpen that axe and be careful. Its a bunch of steel coming down towards your legs. Also, bend your handle for a lefty or a righty- it will save your knuckles. Hickory makes a nice handle wood for bending. You can ignore this suggestion in your haste but... you'll be back.
Good Luck
H,I am not the ar -Tist type and I use my Oxhead adze and their carpenters axe to clean up logs that we drop on my place in Tenn. before I call the sawyer. The adze also rough shapes chair seats nicely. Highlandwoodworking.com has the best prices that I have seen lately. Now mine cost about 40%+ less from back in the day but they are built like a brick out house, great finish and keep a great edge. If some one stole these I would replace them promptly. Paddy
Nobody else mentioned this ,,, there is an old picture of an adze-man walking down the surface of a beam , and he is wearing half kegs on his feet,, Little barrels with straps. I suppose the modern equivalent might be a section of tire instead.
Point is,,, these guys were ready when the adze would skip into their foot. It's going to happen as you get used to the tool. You'll want something more than leather.
Also,, regular adze is for working with the grain,, lipped adze for working cross grain.
Good luck!
Thanks All.
I really appreciate the feed back. Looks like I have some reading and practice ahead of me!
H,
In this FWW blog:
http://forums.taunton.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?nav=start&webtag=woodworkinglife
There's a small pic of a lady foot-adzing a stool seat flat. She wears straw-mat leggings in the hope of avoiding a blade in the shin. You must forgive her the incorrect stance, as she was just larnin'. :-)
Lataxe
I keep thinking - what about your ankles? I guess tall thick boots.
I'd start with Mel.. 6 thousand something name in here.. But I think he just make them wooden dishes with a recess you eat from!
Not for many years,, But long ago.. Made some 'shacks' from sort of fresh fallen trees.. I got a keg of beer and invited my old friends over to split logs.. You know, wedges and 12 pound malls! Some split like a rifle shot going off!..
Surface with a chain saw! Then Adze after a day or two of drying?
NO BEER until we were to tired to do more 'splitin!
Edited 3/9/2008 10:27 am by WillGeorge
I agree with the others. I think you are asking the wrong question. I don't think adzes were used for hewing beams. I think in colonial america, the chief use of the adz was removing material from the bottom of floor boards to get them to sit properly on the floor joists. This was cross grain work and the adz was a fairly fine paring tool (see picture), not a hewing tool.
BTW, people with nought but an axe and determination built small log homes, wattle and daub homes, homes with naturalistic elements, i.e. medieval homes. Pitsawn framing lumber can be found in 17th c american homes. The superiority of this method was clear early on. By the mid 18th c, many colonies had mill sawn lumber in them.
Adzes could have been used to perfect areas for joints or clean off railroad ties in the area where the track goes. And despite this being horrible work, performed by horribly treated and exploited workers, this is easier than hewing a log with an adz.
One of those ye olde woodworking books, don't know if it was Sloan or Bealer or someone else, was so fraught with errors I couldn't continue reading it. Some authors are so imbued with the romance of such stuff they forget to actually do the work. I would really recommend Underhill. He's really done it.
I find the adz to be the single most frightening tool in my shop. I think the safest way to use it is to stand directly behind it and swing for just under the sole of your shoe (see picture). Were I doing a lot of this, I would want a steel toed boot. This is my grandfather's ship adz and it is as sharp as kitchen knife (as it should be).
Wide bladed adzes can be difficult for beginners to control. The danger of an adz involves the thing skipping off a knot or something (so its important that it be sharp) or picking up a chip unbeknownst to the user. In either case, if the adze glances to either side when you are straddling a log, you loose use of a leg. I would start with the technique I describe and a narrow, very very sharp adz. Standing in barrels is silly and I doubt any one who did so could keep his job.
Adzes are fairly common in the second hand market. Were I to buy a new adz, I probably go with a gransfors. Those folks know what they are doing and make nice tools.
But the point is moot. From what I can tell, the adz is the wrong tool for what you want to do.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do
Adam
Interesting picture, Adam.
We rarely used an adze cross-grained like in the picture. Nearly always down the length of a log. The only portion we used them cross-grained was initally at one end. The ones I had were never lipped. But I can see one would be nice.
We always scored the log with axe cuts down the length, cross-grained at the beginning and then walked the log, walking on the flat. Small logs always were always secured with pinch dogs into another log as they are less likely to turn/roll.
Still, the curled toe of your leading boot is a necessity to catch the glancing blows. Perhaps I am recklass, but I never felt an adze was dangerous. Falling a 16' to 20' Cedar? Yep. That was always dicey to me. But not working small stuff on the ground.
Take care, Mike
To the OP,
See if you can get a copy of the book on Timber Framing by Jack Sobon. There is a section in it regarding hewing and dressing wood with an adze.
I thought lipped adzes were primarily used by shipwrights. I took a Timber framing class with Jack Sobon at the Hancock Shaker back in the early 1980's we did a bunch of hewing with a broadaxe and dressed the faces with a regular adze with a squared poll. We worked the beam diagonally so not really with or directly across the grain. We only stood on the beam if it was large enough to do so easily.
The bit has a very shallow hollow or sweep so thin shavings didn't split at the edges, but nothing as pronounced as a gutter adze. For all of their simplicity they are a very precise tool. Well sharpened and used carefully you could shave a 64th or less no problem and take a neat slice off of a pin knot, slicker 'n snot! Of course this was all done on green wood.
I later had to do a bunch of work on dry beams which was a good bit more difficult.
David C.
Edit: Clarified
Edited 3/10/2008 11:32 am ET by DCarr10760
Thanks for the post. First hand experience is exactly what I need. I checked out the Amazon listing for that book.
All the timber frame books seam to be full of
extraneous chapters on electrical,plumbing,design etc.
I'm a modern builder and don't really need that. Is there a book that focuses on traditional techniques
and joinery?
I am a railroader and have used an adze quite a bit in my career. We frame bridge timber and at least 75% of the time we cut across the grain. When using an adze I straddle the timber and cut between my feet. In the thousands of man hours I have done and seen this done I have seen one injury. Just my 2 cents worth. BTW, it is back breaking work. Regards!
Any suggestions on
a good Adze ?
Edited 3/10/2008 8:18 pm ET by Henley
O.K.
This is driving me crazy,
is it Adz or Adze?
Either/or. Adze is pretty standard in the UK now, but wasn't always. Webster's gives adz first, which indicates the favoured American spelling. If you want to be an antiquarian you could use ads or addis or one or two other variants.
Jim
Sorry I can't help you there. The one that I have was handed down to me from an old timer who bought it sometime in the 1920's. But from surfing on the web the one made in Germany looks very similar to the one I have. Can't remember the name of the company. Hope this helps.
Look on the traditional woodworker website. The adze made by Oxhead tool co. is the one I am talking about. If you deceide to go that way keep in mind you will need a good mill file to sharpen it. When somebody would show up with a new adze the first thing we would do is increase the angle of the cutting edge. Makes it a lot easier to "bite" the wood. I was taught to use the corner of the adze, across the grain to start my cut. This starts the wood to crack and open up. BTW, we only used oak. Regards!
Jack Sobon's book is still in print and goes into traditional joinery with hand tools. It's not a lot of money either.
http://www.amazon.com/Timber-Frame-Construction-About-Building/dp/0882663658
I think you'll find it worth a look.
David C.
Adam,
You are a chap that drives me nuts!
You make an excellent post, full of information and interesting sides. Then you do your "High-handed Cherubini" act with this nonsense:
"One of those ye olde woodworking books, don't know if it was Sloan or Bealer or someone else, was so fraught with errors I couldn't continue reading it".
How do you know they were errors - especially if you didn't continue reading the book, which you cannot even remember the title or author of? Does a little angel (or a divvil mayhap) whisper The Truth into your ear? I'm willing to bet that Alex Bealer did far more research and associated use of the tools in question than you give credit for.
Why oh why do you spoil yourself with this silly dissing of others with no evidence or reasons whatsoever to do so? Well, I coud posit all sorts of speculative and entirely made-up "reasons"; but then I would be "doing a Cherubini", would I not.
Headmaster Lataxe, who is thinking of sending you to off to see Matron, for a purge.
Edited 3/10/2008 6:49 am ET by Lataxe
I'm not writing a detailed book review for you. All I'm saying is: Reader Beware! If you are in search of knowledge about the use of an adz, don't believe everything you read from the Sloan generation of authors. Underhill has actually done the work. He'll be the first to tell you he's learned and contradicted a ton by actual doing.Adam
Bealer does have some oddities--but sorry David, I'm not going to pull out Bealer to find them right now. First off, I would have to move a project for my wife that has been languishing in order to get to the bookcase. That in turn would cause my wife to get her hopes up [bg].
I cannot remember any outright wrong practices in Bealer--but I am memory challenged. I prefer to look at Bealer (or others) as a difference in primary/secondary sources, or perhaps regional issues. Kind of like the Foxfire series I read in my log cabin up in the woods. I didn't know how wrong I was in various aspects when building that cabin until I read one of those books.
I'll have to pull out and dust off Bealer and Sloane to have a fresher walk through them. Sometime when my wife isn't looking...
Take care, Mike
Mike,
I'll have to pull out and dust off Bealer and Sloane to have a fresher walk through them. Sometime when my wife isn't looking...
But you need to get to a book for research for that languishing project, right?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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