third elbow adze and some spoons

[forginhill]

Made a third elbow adze. This one has a smaller blade and the blade is set into the wood of the handle rather than just being fastened on top. It's a delightful little spoon adze. I'm having a lot of fun with these. Shown also are some spoons I roughed out with the adze rather than the hatchet, just quick ones made with scraps.

 

[humdrum_hostage]

they look good mate. I will have to put up the pictures of my Adze collection. there are two on here but I now have 4. mine are a little less traditional looking but seem to work well.

That wood looks lovely too.

 

[Robson Valley]

Ah. I see this one has a blade notch. Takes a great load off the attachment screws.
Next, wean yourself off the screws and dry-haft the blades with hard, fine, cord whipping.
The key point is to make the blade seat as flat as possible to match the blade shank.
If anything, the mid region of the seat can be a bit low. If you can really pull HARD on the cord,
the blade should sit down in the seat. Typical PacNW elbow adze.

Your spoon work is a delight to watch. When cometh the salad bowl? Hmmmmm?
All these fine tools to eat with but what's to eat from?

 

[Muddypaws]

That's a lovely tool! Nice spoons too. I love the look of that Mesquite wood.

 

[nephilim]

I really should invest in a few Adzes

 

[VaughnT]

That's beautiful work, hoss. I'm quite envious of your adzes and will have to start making some for myself.

What type of heat-treat are you giving them? Looks like you're starting with something like quarter-inch stock maybe inch-ina-half wide and maybe six inches long. Have you noticed a correlation between the width of the parent stock and how wide you can reasonably forge the blade? I'm working on my first adze but don't really have a clue on the dimensions needed for the blade portion.

 

[forginhill]

Thanks for the feedback! Everyone needs an adze!

Vaughn, I'll try to get some measurements for you. I just grabbed whatever steel I had lying around. Figured I'd try various widths, thicknesses, weights, and learn for myself what works best. I have noticed a lot of adzes taper to the edge without flaring much in width, which means when forging you just peen it lengthwise more than widthwise. Just jump in and make one. That's the best way.

 

[Dean]

I am liking these more and more every time I see them.

 

[Harvestman]

I am liking these more and more every time I see them.

Me too, and I'm starting to wonder where I can get an adze blade or two to make one for myself.

 

[Robson Valley]

For wood carving, the smaller elbow adze blades seem to come in three profiles:
"straight" (as forginhill describes in post #7), "lip" which has a pronounced sweep or curve to the edge
and "gutter" which has upturned corners. The lip and gutter do a better job of cutting fiber when you
make a cross-grain strike.

My Kestrel Baby Sitka is a straight blade for shaping and texturing surfaces.
My Kestrel D-adze is also a straight blade for shaping.
If I did more hollows, big spoons and round-bottomed bowls, I'd have a lip adze blade in a minute.
The handles are not terribly difficult to prepare.


It is perhaps easiest to see those profiles here:

http://kestreltool.com/index.html

Over your way, Scandanavian bladesmiths such as Karlsson and John Neeman/Autine show fine examples.
There have got to be good bladesmiths in the UK who makes these, but I haven't kept track of them.

On your own, like many PacNW native carvers, the steel strips from truck/lorry leaf springs are the place to start.

 

[bikebum1975]

That's amazing work the adze and the spoon. Never thought to use just an adze to carve with

 

[Buckshot]

They look really good
They remind me of the chop chops we were using in Namibia with the San


The difference is it's a stick tang just burnt into the wood to form a hole. Interchangeable so you have the blade in line with the handle like an axe or at right angles like an adze

 

[crosslandkelly]

Great looking adzes, and a really nice spoon. I like the interchangeable stick tang idea.

 

[forginhill]

Fascinating, Buckshot!

Any more pictures of those?

 

[Buckshot]

Not easy to hand but I do have them up in the spare room so when I have a mo I'll dig them out take some
Give me a few days...

 

[forginhill]

Not easy to hand but I do have them up in the spare room so when I have a mo I'll dig them out take some
Give me a few days...

I'll be waiting. Nothing fascinates me more than indigenous people using their tools....

 

[Buckshot]

Here you are


















The hole is burned in
Steel isn't tempered really so no worry about loosing it
you can see the blade is quite small as that's the most expansive part
It works surprisingly well. Put the blade in and start chopping. When you want to take the blade out just tap the back of the head against the chopping block which loosens the blade
Simples!

 

[mountainm]

I had a similar idea for using leather strap end cutters to male little elbow axes. May give it a shot now.

 

[forginhill]

Fascinating and inspiring! I want to give one a try. Thanks for sharing those, Buckshot!

 

[Clouston98]

Cracking stuff mate!