maine adze

[mainejman]

Here is a maine adze.The damage on the butt end is from a mallet.They were said to be hafted.So they were swung and struck.

 

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[painterx7]

That's a sweet piece so they were struck kinda like a wedge or chisel like we use today ?

 

[mainejman]

Thats what im reading.Some were used with gouges in making dugouts.The adzes for shaping the outside and the gouges for hollowing them out.Painter im trying to understand these tools too.The ones i posted last night were definetly lighter in design.They could have been used for designs or more delicate carving or shaping.I dont believe they were made to be struck.

 

[mainejman]

i also have a few larger ones that are broke in the center.They are an inch thick so they must have been struck pretty hard.

 

[painterx7]

It really is puzzling how hard it is figuring such pieces out makes me wish I could go back in time and observe for just one week what they were doing haha here are a few thinner pieces I thought to b in finished preforms but it possible for them to b just some scrapers

 

[mainejman]

I think most of their tools were multiuse.You can usually tell by the design of the tool what its intended use was.But thats its intended use who knows what other uses they had.This is coming from a guy who has used a set of visegrips to drive a nail.

 

[monsterrack]

I go along with you on the multiuse of tools, they used what they had on hand at the moment. They didn't have it easy like us with a F-150 with a tool box on every site

 

[painterx7]

I think most of their tools were multiuse.You can usually tell by the design of the tool what its intended use was.But thats its intended use who knows what other uses they had.This is coming from a guy who has used a set of visegrips to drive a nail.

hahaha I have used vise grips I. The same way !!!

 

[mainejman]

Yeah im guessing those boys would of just loved duck-tape.....

 

[painterx7]

And bailing wire haha

 

[catherine1]

Nice find. Most of my celts/adze are flint. Could we see a pic of the other end. It looks like a maul or axe because of the material, and also smaller in the middle.

 

[GatorBoy]

Alot of those type tools have damage on the poll end.. This is just me thinking... But I bet some of it is from using a stone to knock it free when it got stuck..or needed a little help.
I've used a rock to knock the back side of my knife to cut through pretty good sized pieces of wood while in the woods.

 

[GatorBoy]

Another interesting thing about the way they were hafted... When they were inserted into a hole in a wooden handle they had to fit the hole so that the sides did not touch otherwise impact would split the handle.. They would have been wedged in pretty tightly ....Some damage probably occurred during hafting.
I imagine they were inserted into a green handle that was slowly smoke and fire hardened to shrink it onto the stone

 

[mainejman]

It looks to me like they were hafted several different ways.Some of mine are broke midway.They have found them made of slate.Now how does that work?They have to be doing awful delicate detail work or something.There are also long whetstones for sharpening gouges and adzes..

 

[GatorBoy]

A celt would have been hafted with the bit parallel to the handle.. an adze would have been hafted with the bit perpendicular to the handle.
The material that was available in the area is normally what was used they come in many different sizes for many different jobs its just a woodworking tool.
They were made from shell down here in areas where flint was not available.

 

[Charl]

I think most of their tools were multiuse.You can usually tell by the design of the tool what its intended use was.But thats its intended use who knows what other uses they had.This is coming from a guy who has used a set of visegrips to drive a nail.

Here's a multiuse adz. Grooved for hafting with sharpening grooves on the blade face. A humpback adz as well....

 

[Charl]

And a double grooved adze. Hafted in the case of this size tool, not for use with a mallet....

 

[GatorBoy]

It just looks like adze to me... Those grooves on the bottom look like they got there from scraping it across a hard surface to put the bit back on it when it got dull.
While I have them out I thought I would post my smallest shell adze.

 

[GatorBoy]

 

[Charl]

It just looks like adze to me... Those grooves on the bottom look like they got there from scraping it across a hard surface to put the bit back on it when it got dull.
While I have them out I thought I would post my smallest shell adze.


No, they are bone awl sharpening grooves, but you would need to look at them with a loupe or microscope to see for certain, and I can't get that close of a shot. Definitely used as an adze and sharpening tool.

At a foot long and full grooved, this adz is probably about as heavy duty as they got. As usual for New England hardstone, the material is basalt: