HI DMS:

Just my 2 cents worth here on using the adze.

Like Mark I really enjoy using the adze and it is very handy for many different woodworking chores especially around timberframing.

I have much respect for the adze it is great but it is also very dangerous used by someone not accustomed to using one or having just acquired one and learning for the first time. Even then a very small slip can cause damge that can take a long time to heal.

Unlike Mark I always used a longer handle one that as I grasp it just down from the end of the handle it will skip the floor. Again I always used it by standing on my work and working in between my feet. There maybe instances when it is necessary to improvise an area for your feet to be at a safe distance, and I give you an example --shaping out a tenon on the end of a timber--. I would say though for most jobs that I can think of I always was able to stand directly on the timber and work.

Curvature of the blade is extremely important, and like a broadaxe learn with one and stay with one,. Unfortunately I have no pictures to post to the site of my adzes, but the one that Mark is showing looks like it is a good one as a model.

I use a hand made handles in mine, and they all have a fair amount of sweep and turn at the end. This sweep and turn gives you more control with your wrist as you work, and the sweep of the handle as it exits the eye of the adze in turn governs the angle of the cutting edge at the work level. It also positions the hands in front of yor body as you work along

I have no idea what you mean when you say you are resting you one hand on your thigh, I personally use both hands on the handle 100% of the time, and being right handed I rest my left elbow against my thigh as I work. Sometimes it is hard to explain how one works it just comes naturally, seeing how the work is being done by someone else is a good teacher, and then have someone to instruct and watch as you try to master (a) technique.

The method that i was taught was like that I explain above, I was never shown the method of working at hip height, so I can't comment on that technique, I will leave that up to Mark or others.

One last thing, there are many adze types out there, chose one that is not too heavy, nice and thin in the blade, and one that seems to have been used alot, no poll on the back or very little is needed for timberframe work. Alittle poll though was good for pounding in wood pins, or other light chores as you work. the cutting edge should be of very hard tool steel and not accept filing.

NH