51/32

An adze is a woodworking tool for trimming and shaping surfaces in wood, and is used for finer work than an axe. This adze was used for chopping rafters when reslatting old roofs. It is inscribed with the name I. Sorby, and the number 2. The metal stud which projects behind the blade knocked wooden pegs in and out of their sockets and drove nails below the surface of the wood so that the adze would not be damaged. The blade is set inwards at right angles to the handle, slightly saucered and basilled on the cutting edge.

1 adze: metal blade; wooden handle

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –'In the Hermitage I have a fine adze given to me [by the donor], whose craft as a stone-slatter I described in the last chapter. It was made not by the local blacksmith but by an old firm of general tool-makers called Gilpin, founded in 1763, and has been in [the donor's] possession for over forty years. He used it for chopping the rafters true in reslatting old roofs when the old timbers were not renewed in the process. Before it came to him, it belonged to a family named Cares, old-style country carpenters doing all manner of country work, gate-making, hurdle-making, fencing, erecting barns [page break] and fixing roof-timbers and beams which they chopped out with it...The wheelwrights, Mr Greening remarked in one of his recollections, as we stood within a stone's throw of the old timber-yard, "would use the adze a good deal in preparing beams and principals and these would be framed up and the prices marked or numbered with Roman figures done with a chisel so as to simplify their reassembling on the job later on"' (pp.64-65), MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - 'Museum of English Rural Life // Equipment to be loaned to the Cotswold Tradition Exhibition // Cat Ref. No.: // 51/32 M // [tick] Adze [Cleaned] [tick] ...', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, circa 1951] - '[insert] MASSINGHAM FILE [end insert] // THE COTSWOLD TRADITION // AN EXHIBITION AT CIRENCESTER PARK // MAY-SEPTEMBER 1951 ... // RECEIPT. // Received with gratitude the following articles, collected from Reading University on the 29th April, 1951: // ... Adze. ... // Loaned by The Massingham Collection.', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/32 // NAME: ADZE // NEG NO.: 35/135 // STORAGE: ', This adze had been in the possession of Mr Amos Hall for over 40 years before being collected by Mr Massingham. It came to Mr Hall from a family named Cares who were country carpenters. Mr Hall used it for chopping the rafters true in reslatting old roofs where the timbers were not renewed. The adze is used for hewing timber to a convenient shape. It is used for finer work than the axe, and varies in size, shape and weight according to the nature of the work. The heavy adze, such as this one, was used by shipwrights and carpenters to hew boards, beams etc. The metal stud which projects behind the blade knocked wooden pegs in and out of their sockets and drove nails below the surface of the wood work so that the adze would not be damaged. The blade was kept razor sharp.

1875-01-01 - 1899-12-31

1920s

Metal, Wood