Hand Tools for a Pioneer Trivia Quiz

Answer: broadaxe

After you score marks every 8-10 inches in a log, the broadaxe splits off the pieces between, creating a rough but approximately flat log surface. The axe is sharpened like a chisel, on one side only, so it tends to cut straight when used standing beside the wood. If cabin logs are flat inside and out, you can add furring strips outside to attach clapboards and lath inside for plaster, and you log house will look like a nicer frame house.

But make sure the logs are done drying and settling. Big timbers also can be made square this way for a frame building.

The broadaxe is heavy, but the weight does the work, like a heavy hammer that drives nails with less effort. The short handle is angled, to keep your knuckles safely away from the wood.

Answer: wedges

Once you score a mark in a log with a hatchet or axe, you can insert a wedge. Usually an iron wedge is used first, but as the log starts to split open, a series of cheaper wooden wedges can be pounded in to keep spreading the split, till the log finally "pops" apart. Wooden wedges made of hickory, ash, elm, persimmon or other tough wood will probably be stronger than the wood you're splitting and last a while.

In pioneer days, they were free for the making, compared to buying metal wedges.

Answer: hewing hatchet

A hewing hatchet works like a broadaxe in miniature, smoothing the surface of smaller logs to be used for furniture, windowframes, sills, etc. A split tree can be made as smooth as modern rough-sawn lumber from the mill, ready for use in rough construction or further finishing. The chisel-style sharpening, on one side only, makes the hatchet slice flat but not dig too deep into the wood, similar to an actual chisel.

Answer: adze

It's called a foot adze if it's on a long handle like a hoe, or a hand adze if it's more like a hatchet. It produces a smooth, slightly rippled surface on rough wood, better than a broadaxe, and could be used for flooring to avoid splinters, among many uses. If you're using a foot adze, old timers say to tilt your toes up and aim it right at the sole of your foot, planning to hit the wood, but at least if you miss, you avoid slicing along the side of your foot (ouch)!

Answer: two-man crosscut saw

A two-man crosscut saw with coarse teeth will really get timbers sawn fast. Two people work best once they get a rhythm going, always pulling, never pushing, else the saw will buckle. It's relaxing and you get a short rest while the saw's moving away from you. Rip saws, with different teeth, also existed for sawing with the grain to turn logs into boards, but splitting logs with the grain was often faster than sawing, back in the days when straight grain without knots was normal.

Answer: beedle

A beedle is a big sledge hammer. It could be made free at home by drilling a large hole, cutting the head to length, and inserting a handle. Hard, heavy wood like hickory, elm or persimmon made it last, and it was even better to get a blacksmith to put an iron band on each end. Wood also prevented damage to whatever you were hitting, whether you were convincing two framing pieces to finish slipping together, or using wooden wedges to split logs.

Answer: froe

A froe splits wood to a thickness of an inch or less, or more if you want it thicker. The wood needs to be free of knots for it to work best, something that pioneers found easily in old-growth forests. It's an L-shaped tool. Hold the upright wooden handle and lay the horizontal blade where you want to split the wood. Hit it with a froe club till the slightly sharp blade finds a place in the wood to start splitting, then lever the blade back and forth with the handle to widen the split.

At this point, one realizes the wisdom of making a "horse" for holding the wood secure. By adjusting the direction one pushes or pulls the blade and the pressure on the wood, an expert can produce wonderfully consistent boards several feet long.

Answer: hewing bench

No, this isn't a work bench, with a vice and all those goodies. It's lower and rougher. But if you use a hewing hatchet all day to turn limbs into square wood for furniture, you'll find the end of the wood soon sinks into the ground, and short pieces are hard on the back.

A rock or brick helps, but dulls the hatchet if you hit it. A low bench made of strong wood costs nothing for a pioneer with a woodlot, is a blessing on a sore back and protects the hatchet's metal blade.

Answer: jack plane

When a hewing hatchet or an adze isn't quite enough to smooth the wood to perfection, a plane will take care of that, maybe even a series of planes, a big jack plane to start and smaller planes to finish. a long plane removes dips and hollows, making the wood straight and flat.

Answer: beading plane

Planes aren't just for making surfaces flat. A beading plane makes a corner rounded with a little groove on either side, such as all along the eight feet of a 1x6 piece of floor molding. It hides any imperfection in the straightness of the corner, and makes the wood look decorated and finished, with a bit of easy work that's downright addictive to do. You'll often see this on exposed rafters, door frames, or the square parts of furniture like the framing under tables.