Adze --Which One? How Much?

[chuckt]

I've found a Barton adze and a Collins Adze head (no handle) for sale. I'm guessing I can get the Barton for around $70 or less and the head for $45 or less. Is that reasonable? Both appear to be in excellent condition.

If I get the Collins head, I'll be asking one of you guys to send me a pattern for the handle.

[SMARTINSEN]

I have kind of been looking for one myself.

I grew up a few miles away from the old Collins Company, and they were just winding down their operations along the Farmington River in (you guessed it) Collinsville, CT, when I was a kid, and would choose that one for just sentimental reasons alone. I am sure that the steel in either one is very good, and able to take and keep a keen edge.

Handles are readily available, for about $10.

Here is a discussion from the ever-curmudgeonly Cleek, and other regulars including Dave Fleming from a while ago:

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...-Source-wanted

[chuckt]

That's an old thread but useful. Thanks. Where would one get one of those curved handles?

Steve--Shall I direct you to the one I don't buy? From what I have read, both of these are pretty good quality.

[Mrleft8]

That's an old thread but useful. Thanks. Where would one get one of those curved handles?

Steve--Shall I direct you to the one I don't buy? From what I have read, both of these are pretty good quality.

One could make one of those curved handles in about a half an hour.... Or you could practice your bent lamination skills and spend an hour and a half (Plus drying time) making one that will out live you......

[SMARTINSEN]

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=998010942

Among others.

There is, or was, at least a seller on eBay that made and sold wood handles for tools, a while ago, but I will try to find them. They were in Tennessee, I think.

Sure, let me know about the other, though I have seen lipped adzes with handles in the $40 range (at the Hulls Cove Tool Barn . Too far for me to travel now, being here in MD, and even more so for you!)

[Michael D. Storey]

I rarely see adze heads, but when I do, they are generally $5 or $10. A hardware store, like ACE, often has a catalogue of stuff; there is a purveyor of All that Stuff we like. They can order it. I got a boy's axe handle last year that way. I did notice adze handles listed.

[chuckt]

To repeat some of the major points from the old thread, one wants an adze with lipped ends to prevent splintering. You can find new curved adzes but not (as far as I have been able to discover) a shipwright's adze. So people look for used ones made by Collins, Barton. Campbell, LIJ or White. I gather that these stopped being made 50 or so years ago.

[Bob Cleek]

Since those old posts eight years ago we've lost Dave Fleming (sigh...) and I've acquired a Collins lipped adze. Collins is still in business, (I think it's the same Collins company.) http://www.collinstool.com/base.php?page=home.htm They make a nifty aftermarket rounded shoe for sabre saws that permits cutting rolling bevels. I forget if I got my Collins lipped adze off of eBay or somebody tipped me off to it, but it was "new old stock" and still in the original packaging, never used. I got just the head, of course, and bought a handle. You could easily make your own if you had a nice piece of the proper wood with the grain running correctly, but I found one in a WoodCraft store and snagged it for a very reasonable price. http://www.woodcraft.com/ Truth be told, I've yet to hang it as I haven't had need to use it since. An adze is a nice thing to have if you are a tool collecting wonk, but you probably won't get a lot of use out of one. Most of the work that used to be done with them has been replaced by powered hand planers.

Here's the three adzes I have, the (black) Collins and the Woodcraft handle are shown. Note that theer isn't a lot of curve to the Woodcraft handle, but I suppose it will be serviceable if ever I get around to using it.





If you want to see what even a carpenter's adze can do in the hands of an accomplished boatbuilder, check out this great video starting at 2:46.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLOgr_9FhxY

[chuckt]

I have to make this (the sternpost part-not the horn timber). I was wanting an adze because the power planer may not be able to get this shape. This one looks like it has flat faces but my stern post faces are curved. Maybe the planer can do it. I'll take a closer look when I get home.

[wizbang 13]

hatchet n grinder

[Mrleft8]

Dremel Moto-tool with a rotary burr....... And about 10 years....

[chuckt]

Didn't think about grinder. That would do the job. I haven't used one to remove such a large amount. My rough lumber will be about 24" x 6" by 6'--a big chunk of white oak!

[Jim Ledger]

This is my adze, not a proper shipwrights aze, but it belonged to Gil Smiths son, Asa. Five dollars. The handle is my own.

jjj

Some keel work. You're looking at adze work, slick, planes and chisels. Used properly, the adze will make a fairly flat or evenly curved surface, as it tends to hit the high spots like a plane. The swing is very controlled and the chips removed are thin, which does not mean that a high rate of speed can be achieved, it takes a lot of practice though. Much like learning a musical instrument you should aim for precision and control and let the speed come naturally as confidence grows.



Here's a little clip of the adze in use. It's cold, first thing in the morning and a critical piece of work, so there's some hesitancy to the stroke. You never want to bury the blade to the point where it has to be pried loose because the rhythm of the movement is lost. Lots of light strokes chipping out thin flakes is what you want. Each flake might have three or four strokes to completely shave it off. The back hand keeps its elbow tucked into your side and acts as a pivot, hardly moving at all. The front hand supplies the motion, so the blade always swings in the same arc and each cut lands in the same place as the previous.

[Peerie Maa]

To repeat some of the major points from the old thread, one wants an adze with lipped ends to prevent splintering. You can find new curved adzes but not (as far as I have been able to discover) a shipwright's adze. So people look for used ones made by Collins, Barton. Campbell, LIJ or White. I gather that these stopped being made 50 or so years ago.

Lips are an American thing. British shipwrights manage without. I don't know why we manage and Americans don't.

[wizbang 13]

Americans do not actually USE them, might have something to do with it.

[Farfalla]

A very well used British style adze, no curved lips. Made by Sorby in Sheffield. The poll is not a sharp spike either but it's not blunt and square like a carpenter's adze.

[JayInOz]

Farfalla I have several in that style. A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were cruising on the Harley and stopped to check out a market in the park of a small town- they were just packing everything away but we grabbed some nice bits and pieces from a few stalls. One old feller had heaps of tools and I was saying to him that one Australian company used to make a small, curved gutter adze, none of which were sold locally- all were exported to various Pacific Islands for making dugout canoes. I've wanted one for ever. He rummaged around and pulled a brand spanking new one out of a pile of stuff and handed it to me- he said "Here ya go- I bought eight boxes of them- you owe me five bucks"
I used to do a lot of broadaxe work in my younger days and my neighbour preferred the adze- we often discussed the merits of the tools. One morning when my neighbours elderly mother was staying with them, he was lying in bed listening to this repetitive ka- ching, ka-ching noise and got up to investigate- his mother was chipping weeds out of the stone path with the "really sharp mattock" she found in the shed. He had a major meltdown that I really would have liked to watch JayInOz

[willin woodworks]

Traditional Woodworker sells a couple of different adzes. They sell handles as well.

Great tool in the hands of someone who really knows what they're doing; like Ledger.

[wizbang 13]

Y'see Svaap cutting the rabbet in his new project? Using a tool he calls a "bile" . I would call it a hatchet. Watching West Indian chippies, they use a hatchet 10 to 1 over an adze.

[chuckt]

I did notice that. Interesting.

In ended up buying an L, I & J for $100. It doesn't even look like it was used. The ones I was looking at on Ebay got away from me. They went for less than $100 but I forgot to raise my bids before the auctions ended.