lipped adze

[bugeye]

I've got my great granddad's old lipped adze, and it's in pretty good shape, and I want to use it and become proficient with it. I'm having some trouble sharpening it. I'm good at sharpening chisels and plane irons, and passable with gouges, but I'm not really sure what to do with this. The way that it is currently ground, the "lips" are trailing the center span of the blade. In other words, they make their cut after the body of the blade has made its cut. Is this right? Or should it all make contact at the same time? Any tips on sharpening and use would be greatly appeciated. As it is, I use a power plane for dubbing, but there are times that I'm confident that my great granddad with his adze could have gotten the job done alot more quickly. What kind of self-respecting boatbuilder isn't skilled with an adze?

[Dave Fleming]

Photo of a 'virgin' Collins Lipped Adze.



Photo of used Uptown and Shipwrights Adzes.

[Hughman]

Mike, give Sam Manning a call. He loves explaining (and demonstrating) all that medieval ironmongery. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I could take a look at it also.

[Jay Greer]

Just looking at the inside of your adze blade tells me that the edge forward of the main bevel is too blunt. I sharpen mine so that the wings are in line with the main cutting edge of the blade. When dubbing with an adze, the angle set by the handle will allow the wings a slight lead in the cut. I also do a very slight bevel on the back in order to allow it to not plow in and jamb the chips. Several stones are needed for proper sharpening, coarse, medium, fine and ultra fine if you use water stones. Water stones are available from The Japan Woodworker and are curved on their edges. A properly sharpend adze should be capable of shaving hair off your fore arm. Remember that this is a dubbing and not a chopping or hacking tool. Often I will use the sole of my boot to hold down the chip as I dub under the sole. Cuts are made either cross grain or at a 45 deg angle to the grain. By the way, nice adze!
JG

[bugeye]

thank you, just the info I was looking for. Mine is sharpened with a back bevel, and I wasn't sure if this was proper. Mine also is more curved on the back of the blade than the adze pictured. When I use the tool, to get it to cut, I have to strike the workpiece at a higher angle than seems natural. I think that it would be harder to cut too deeply with it set up this way. I had considered regrinding to the point where I had removed the back bevel, but I guess I'll leave it for now, and see if it begins to feel more natural. Thanks again.

[Jay Greer]

I forgot to mention the process of hanging an adze so that the strike is correct. Lay the tool on its side on a flat surface with the end of the handle against a solid stop. With a pencil mark the cutting edge and the "Spike". Then flip the adze over and see if the cutting edge is about a quarter of an inch inboard of the mark of the Spike. This is about what most builders like. The adjustment is done by driving wedges into the front or back of the socket as needed to adjust the angle of the cut. Also, yours looks like a new adze that has not been used much. I prefer one that has been ground back a bit in order to have less length of blade.
Fair Winds,
JG

[ 01-26-2006, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: Jay Greer ]