Here is a nice example from about 200 years ago in Maine.Ģ.
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I do not know how to swing an adz with a sideways arc so I presume all smoothing of the timbers was done with an axe. However, all hewing marks I have ever looked at have an arc to the signature. Were adzs actually used to smooth timbers? I occasionally read books which refer to how timbers were converted using a broad ax and then smoothed with an adz. I have little experience hewing so I have some questions.ġ. Well thanks for the interesting info guys Mark above I know hews with the log elevated but I believe he uses a short handle to keep control, please correct me if I am wrong Mark Please be careful hewingwith a elevated log, in my opinion the ark of the axe could continue down towards your legs or feet. You are correct the trees then were quite large, and that is why I have said many times before that it was impossible to elevate even logs that could square say 12" in 60 feet, these were pretty large trees. I would have loved to have been with you at that time. The International plowing match is visited by many from all over the world and probably posed a formidable stumbling block that you probably encountered manytimes. If you can feel confident that what you are doing or portraying is as correct as possible, then you can feel more at ease and maybe learn from a good exchange of information. Hello to you Mark I remember the pictures that you posted awhile back, and they were great, I know from experience that however you portray an historic subject or object to the general public it is wise to really do your homework otherwise you can really get sidwinded by someone that has some knowledge on the subject. I would really like to take it in my hands and experience the feel and balance of that type of tool, and maybe (try) and use it Thanks Ken for your very knowledgeable insite into hewing techniques in your neck of the woods, and also the lovely picture of a Swedish Hewer, the axe is very different-from the picture it is hard to see if there is much sweep in the handle. If you check out :- you will see a picture of a Finnish hewer proudly displaying his favorite axe that he used to square the logs for building a church. The idea that hewing produces deep score marks and quite obvious scoops as can be seen in North America is not particularly evident here in England though occasionally "accidents" happen.
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Some of the early hewing work examined is done so finely that it can be very difficult to see how this was done using the naked eye alone and so one has to resort to making crayon rubbings to pick up signatures. If the tapestry had been made in France then the axe illustrated would be more likely French in design than English.Įxamination of hewing signatures left on older timber frame buildings (1300 - 1500's) seems to show that fairly narrow scoops are removed 2 - 4" wide and so axe heads are likley to be narrower than the old "Norman" or Saxon style.
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Despite its name The Bayeux tapestry was thought to have been made in England and not France as one might expect. Care needs to be exercised with drawing wide spread conclusions about the use of this type of axe throught England. One of these axe heads can be seen in the Winchester city museum with the blade being about 1.5 - 2" wide and 8 - 10" long with a curve in the blade at both ends presumably to prevent "digging in". The Bayeux tapestry shows hewing axes being used by the Normans to build ships for the invasion of England in 1066 and these axes were "Tee" shaped. The cast steel softwood axes employed in North America have large wide blades (12") whereas UK blades were forged and would appear to have been much smaller (6 - 8") but this might not allways have been the case. One of the major differences between the UK / mainland Europe / USA and Scandinavia is that traditionally most framing in the UK was done using hardwoods (oak, elm) as opposed to softwoods (pine, larch) and this has a significant effect on the design of the axe blade employed. Probably the best person on our side of the pond to answer this question is Joe Thompson but until he happens along I will do my best to get the ball rolling.