Band saw substitute?

[Brian T]

When I strike downward with the D-adze, the inside bevel cambers or cams off a shaving towards me.
I just have to make certain that my leg is nowhere near the blade travel if I miss.
It's the kind of an adze that you need for the inside of a big cedar log ocean canoe.
I can hack with it and I can skim off less than 1/16" easily. The design makes sense to me.

You can turn it around and push it like a Stanley Bailey #5 Jack plane. Kind of hard on the wraps
on the underside but it works OK.

Yes, it is really awkward to sharpen and hone. The smart money say to cut the blade off and re-wrap it.

The piece of copper pipe is the spindle to hold the #18 tarred nylon seine cord for the wrap, it has to go through the handle.
Takes about 15-17' of cord.
= = =
The copper adzes were a bit of a joke. I had forged some crooked knife blades from 1/4" copper rod stock.
Hopelessly dull, even work hardened, and useless in the kitchen in a raw potato.

I learned that a propane bottle torch was not enough heat.
I learned that my striking accuracy with a 32oz hammer was blind as a bat for forging.

So I went to visit the local farrier, the one that I buy used hoof knives from.
Well! He has no trouble with his forge, anvils and hammers to make a couple of adze blades.

The top one in the plain D handle I gave to him as a curio to hang on the wall.
The middle one can't chop a carrot. Honest. Looks so Chalcolithic but no, a real bust.
I keep it as a curio but it really has no practical value in any carving shop.
BTW, the snail is stained with the steel wool/iron acetate/vinegar brew. Looks dirty.

The front/bottom one has the D-adze blade from Kestrel, weighs nearly a pound.

[Brian T]

Thanks for the pictures, pallin. I think that there's a hundred ways to build a adze in the Pacific Northwest style.
I like the geometry where the bevel splits off the shaving into the open.
Same thing as a froe = the bevel faces the slab that pops off.

There are all kinds of design differences in both the crooked and straight knives.
Given the working technique with pull cuts, I don't see the need for a center hafted blade in a crooked knife.
.
In fact, Hall puts a tiny little dog leg in their hoof knives so that the blades perform as if they are surface hafted.

[hwallen48]

Check out craigslist if there is one in the area!

[fiddlesticks]

Robson, thanks for the pics. I asked for them and then went missing for awhile and stumbled across them. I'd not seen Adzes like the Pac NW, just the more "conventional" ones from Stubai and the like. "Bandsaw on a stick" I like it.

[Brian T]

I guess that you could see that the blue one is the big 7/75 Stubai.
I use a tennis ball as the mandrel for sharpening.
The others have Kestrel blades, all the wood work is my own birch.

I bought some western red cedar posts, 5" x 5" x 64" that I am carving as two storey poles.
As you might expect, I had to make round poles from square posts.
The carvings are wrapped all around the poles from near the bottom to the top.

In the "General Wood Carving" forum, there's a thread called: "Show us your work area."
In my po.st #2 in that thread, you can see what I did with the adzes to get the carvings started.
Was not an evening's effort.

I can't see a simple way to duplicate that work with any sort of bandsaw and a wood lathe is out of the question.

[fiddlesticks]

I guess that you could see that the blue one is the big 7/75 Stubai.

It looks much heavier than the others. Does it get fatiguing to swing vs the others?

[Brian T]

I bought the Stubai cheap (used) from a carving tool vendor. Owner #1 had cut off the handle for some reason.
Then was dumb enough to sharpen the outside sweep to the point that it would not even bite.
I have filed enough metal off the outside sweep that it strikes OK.
The only way to sharpen the inside sweep is with abrasive wrapped on a tennis ball.

True. It is very heavy to swing. I use the Stubai for hollowing out the crap rot in the core of cedar log pieces
to get curved wood for masks, turtle shells, etc. That's all. Not even for chipping off cedar surface sapwood.

The D-adze weighs 14oz and it's a heavy swing, too.
Haida carver taught me to feel my heart beat and never swing any faster = no where near the fatigue.
I really enjoy working with the D adze. The whole design makes sense to my arms.

That elbow adze is the Kestrel Baby Sitka blade.
When I cracked handle #1, I made the next one about 2 oz thicker/heavier and that's made a huge difference.

I have a full Sitka blade on the bench and wood and handle patterns to work on. Quite a bit bigger/heavier (I hope) .
I want to learn the rudiments of adze-textured surfaces which I can do OK with a crooked knife.

Anyway, they are nice substitutes for a band saw because you can go slow and fast, back up, and see cut-by-cut what the progress really is.

[VictorMet7]

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[Jamie Sharp]

a wood carving Adze could work, if you are looking for something more compact and don't mind putting some effort in.

Good ones are not exactly that much cheaper then a bandsaw however, generally starting at $200+