Adz handles

[J. Dillon]

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/2374/adz3.jpg

Thought I'd pass this along to fellow fourmites. Just in case you pick up one without a handle like I did recently.

JD

[Jim Ledger]

Thanks, Jack.:)

[reddog]

Thanks,that may come in handy come time to rehandle.

Earl

[Bob Cleek]

Great bit of information, but still somewhat unenlightening. I have three adzes. None of which I claim to have any skill in using! My Collins lipped shipwright's adze is brand new (quite a score!) and came without a handle. I picked up an adze handle for it at WoodCraft, but it's a POS. I've made a bit of a hobby of trying to find old written instructions for hanging adze handles, but they are far and few between. Chapelle, IIRC, has about the best in either "Boatbuilding" or "Yacht Design." Now that we know what the point on the back end of the head is called, a "pindle," and perhaps what it is for, measuring the right angle with the handle when laid on a flat, as pictured, THEN we still have to figure out the adjusted angle which, as far as I've been able to find out, depends on the user's physical characteristics and "swing." It's sort of a chicken and egg problem. You have to be an experienced user to know just how YOUR individual adze needs to be set. This article suggests a variance in the range of 3 degrees, which is quite helpful as a starting place. (The wedge between the handle and the head is what adjusts the variance from 90 degrees... I actually saw a adze in a used tool store that had a metal wedge driven into the middle of the handle end, like a hammer or axe!)

So far, I have no scars on my shins, but I doubt I'll ever be able to use a lipped adze as a finishing tool! (Or for much else, for that matter, but remember, "He who dies with the most tools, wins!)

[Peerie Maa]

A working shipwright at the yard here in Barrow, disagreed with this advice. The shipwrights here hang the head so the distance between the end of the handle and cutting edge is the same as that from the handle end to the tip of the pindle, not less as shown here.

[James McMullen]

Nice find! I might use that as a guide to make a new handle for the one I've never much liked. Getting the fit "just so" is a trial and error process for me--mostly error, so far. :rolleyes:

[John Meachen]

Pete Culler gave another method in his book,using a rule.

[J P]

A working shipwright at the yard here in Barrow, disagreed with this advice. The shipwrights here hang the head so the distance between the end of the handle and cutting edge is the same as that from the handle end to the tip of the pindle, not less as shown here.

Do they align the end of the handle to the cutting edge?
Sort of like this:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/ADZE.jpg

[Peerie Maa]

Yep, that I what I meant. They would just put the handle end at a mark on a bench or piece of timber, let the blade make a mark, then flip the adze over and see where the pindle came to.
You have not captured the curves just so. Have less curve at the handle end, more near the head. Move both curves nearer to the adze head.