OldTools Archive
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256042 | Dwight Beebe <dwb1124@g...> | 2015‑08‑30 | New, old tools |
Gracious Galoots, Well, my shop lives in a new abode. What a mess! Found things I'd forgotten I had and lost some things I knew I had. In a box somewhere. Anyway, MLW came home today with even more things for me: a broad axe, a froe, and what I think is a cooper's adze with a very interesting handles. The axe and the froe look blacksmith-made. The exchange involves cleaning the rust off of a very old, double-barrel shotgun for the previous owner of the tools. Been a long time since I handled a long gun. It's a very lovely piece. I have no real idea how to approach that problem without doing anything hurtful, but I think this is a question for a different group. Pictures of the edge tools are here: http://bit.ly/1PEUyKY I think the froe is delaminating or something similar. I have found no maker's marks, but have not done a really thorough inspection. Is the adze a cooper's adze? Regards, Dwight |
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256047 | Michael Blair <branson2@s...> | 2015‑08‑30 | Re: New, old tools |
Dwight, The froe is definitely blacksmith made. The adz is certainly a cooper's adz. This is a standard for English coopering and coopering traditions that derive from English practices. The style appears to have been derived from a less common French form used specifically for trussing up. Sometimes it is called a "trussing adz" in fact. The earliest image I have of this style comes from an 18th Century book, Utensiles de Tonnelerie XVIIIe. Here's a photo of the trussing adz at work: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/barrel-maker-royalty-free- image/182892921">http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/barrel-maker-royalty- free-image/182892921 I have two other images that show trussing adzes that have no sharp edge at all. Mike in Sacto |
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256055 | Brian Rytel <brian.rytel@g...> | 2015‑08‑31 | Re: FS: E.C. Stearns bench stops |
On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 11:16 PM, Don Schwartz |
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256058 | Thomas Conroy | 2015‑08‑31 | Re: New, old tools |
Dwight Beebe wrote: "Pictures of the edge tools are here: http://bit.ly/1PEUyKY Is the adze a cooper's adze?" Wonderful haul. The adze does look like Salaman's pictures of cooper's adzes, except that the hammer end isn't scooped out. Maybe its an early one. The bevel should be on the side toward the hand; it looks like the bevel has gone missing, but if the blade is laminated you may be able to make out the steel on the other side. Tom Conroy |
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256061 | Christopher Swingley <cswingle@s...> | 2015‑08‑31 | Re: FS: E.C. Stearns bench stops |
GGs, On Sun, Aug 30, 2015 at 10:16 PM, Don Schwartz |
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256062 | Michael Blair <branson2@s...> | 2015‑08‑31 | Re: New, old tools |
> The adze does look like Salaman's pictures of cooper's > adzes, except that the hammer end isn't scooped out. That's what we think of as a cooper's adz. I'm not sure just what the date may be for the earliest of these, but the two we have at Sutter's Fort, along with another that I have, are marked D.R. Barton in the cartouche that dates from the 1870s -- '73 IIRC. This design has undergone more changes. The current coopers adz as made by Haldane can be seen here, on page 24: http://www.stevenson- reeves.co.uk/reeves/ReevesCatalogue.pdf">http://www.stevenson- reeves.co.uk/reeves/ReevesCatalogue.pdf I've seen earlier examples of the Haldanes pattern, but not reeellly old. But the thing is, these adzes are only common to English coopering and the coopering traditions that derive from England. German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese cooper's adzes have no hammer head behind the blade commonly. These adzes have a blade width of between four and six inches -- very wide. People often mistake them for bowl adzes. As I mentioned earlier. the English style adz seems to have evolved from the French trussing adz, a tool mostly used in starting down the hoops, one which can be used with a hoop driver. But it's for starting the process. Driving down the hoops hard was done with a hammer of four to eight pounds. As a trussing tool, there is no need for a sharp blade. Though uncommon, the Typical English adze was also made without an edge. Rather, the "edge" was usually about 1/4 inch and perfectly flat. No need for the sharp edge since chamfering the ends of the barrel came to be done with a heavy cooper's chamfer knife. > Maybe its an early one. Likely so, in my opinion. There are numerous examples of transitional cooper's adzes with a variety of hammer heads as part of their construction. > The bevel should be on the side toward the hand; it looks > like the bevel has gone missing, but if the blade is laminated you may > be able to make out the steel on the other side. Could have gone missing, but it could have never been there. Before one thinks of putting an edge on this adz, one needs to be certain that an edge ever existed. Mike in Sacto |
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