Newby question. . .I bought a decent adze, but unlike my buddy's this one has no flat head opposite the cutting edge, but a bit of a snout, sort of octagonal and a few inches long, lightly tapered. I think I read somewhere that this is driven into a log or timber so the cutting edge could be touched-up in the field.

Is this correct?

Thank you.

I don't think the pin poll was developed as an aid to sharpen the adze, rather I have read that the pin was used by builders and ship carpenters to drive nail remains deeper into the timber with the tool in hand and not stop work get another tool and extract the nail.

Wooden Boat's recent issue had a good article on adzes. The use of the pole on the end is still up for debate. At one point in the article it was mentioned "ask the adze's owner if he thought the pole was of any use and would he cut it off if it had no viable use, Nope, not cutting it off"

I think sticking the point in to some chunk of wood for sharpening would not be very good for holding it well. And the nail thing, try pounding nails with it some time.

I suspect it is art and or for balance.

I'm just on the internet dubbing around.

Tim, google images for railroad maul and you will find spike drivers with a very narrow face. We are part of the clumsy generation of tool users, we just have not put in the repetition necessary to develop fine skill with what initially seems an unwieldy tool.

Still a sizable pin head and a bigger target than a nail head. The weight of the adze blade is also a little ackward when used in the upside down direction. Possible, but I would just go over the surface with a real hammer and set then pick up the adze.

Also, re surfacing after a timber has been in use just seems like it would wreck havoc on the cutting edge of the adze, grit and what not.

Until I see some official document, pictures or writings, I will have to say any of these possible uses are just speculation.

http://www.industryrailway.com/p/296/spike-maul

Referring to the White Tool Catalog, the adzes with the pin polls are ship and bridge carpenters tools. My guess for usage of the poll relates to bedding, decking and planking operations especially rehabs where old nail remnants are likely.

http://toolemera.com/catpdf/lijwhite1905Cat.pdf


The swing for striking, for the purpose of punching in a nail would be short and measured, in contrast driving railroad spikes with a full round swing. John Henry was not only a man but an artist of industry. Hitting the target should not be a problem.

Anyhow, this is speculation, give it the weight it deserves.

I've heard the type with a pin were shipwrights adzes. I don't know the exact method, but there was apparently a need to whack something at regular intervals while adzing. I have one with a very small pin, maybe 1/2" diameter at most.

Great catalog link, Roger.

It still seems odd a manufacturer would make a tool with a projection on the end so it could be used to punch/set nails on a work site planned in the future on rehab work. These tool were for new construction. I for sure would not risk hitting a nail with my sweetheart adze on some old wood with nails in it. And if I need to set nails below the surface I would use a proper tool, a nail set and a big one. If memory serves well, large nails don't set easy. A well placed measured swing of an adze will not do much on a spike, it is too light.

I still can't see it. I have all the confidence the workers back then were very capable and had good eye hand coordination.

Tim, ships go to sea, get battered in storms, get repaired afloat and eventually ends up in dry dock. Rehab and repair was and still is normal, although wooden boats are far less common. Isn't a boat after all a hole in the water to pour money?

Yes, even small wooden boats, like a skiff.
I was thinking bridges, the opposite of a boat.

At one time and for some years I demonstrated traditional skills at events at a number of area museums. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of those demos were the conversations one would end up in, conversations sparked by either what I was doing or a tool I was using...

I no longer remember the gentleman's background, but someone I had such a conversation with insisted the Poll on a "Shipwrights" Adze was about moving pieces being worked, and little else - An obvious example would be flipping over a floor board adzed flush to the chosen common thickness at each joist, flipping over and back to check if the board being worked had reached a level of completion desired without bending over, until ready to kneel down to then nail off - To nail off with a hammer!

I've come to look for such bits of information in such conversation as valuable, and "living memory" as a source for almost lost tid-bits of the once every day - And wrote a bit about that here > http://bridgewright.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/living-memory/

Another interesting conversation I had while demonstrating was with a guy who explained he'd been trained to hew as part of an engineers regiment before deployment to the Second. When I asked if he ever put the training to use he said "Well no, if we needed timber to build a quick bridge or some-such, we'd just go pull down the nearest French or German Barn"

That is a reasonable task for the pole. Should it be more pointy? The gutter adze was the tool for removing thickness at joist, if I am not mistaken. The scrub plane of the adze world. I like it, gouge it out, flip it to check fit and flip it again for a little more removal and flip it back for home, and I didn't have to bend over. Working with the late Bill Copperthwaite, he often went to extremes to reduce repetitive steps, like bending over and over and over or climbing up and down a latter too many times. It is places like this that I see the "old timers" shined.

Blunter the better for the pike I would think, no need to emmbed, just to grab the far edge lift & flip.

Ever since that conversation, Ive sorta seen the "lipped" Shipwrights form as intended for this particular task.

In examples we (any of us) have examined, has peening of the poll been commonly found? Is such not there because that tip is sufficiently hardened for driving nails, or is it not there because this was not the intended use?

I will give the poles of my adzes a closer look and a test if they are peenable.

Thanks to all. Been out of town so couldn't fire this off as planned,
Do appreciate the information.
bob

I tested the pole on the end of one of my adzes today, it is soft and would mushroom if use to set nails.