tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post8859926820643696983..comments2024-03-27T09:30:02.429-07:00Comments on Carvings with Stories: a blog about woodcarving: Woodcarving and woodworking tools seen at the British Museum; from the Stone Ages to the Anglo-Saxons in Northern EuropeAlistairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16375556738066106681noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-19734063009206328082022-05-11T02:06:28.056-07:002022-05-11T02:06:28.056-07:00Thanks for sharing these thoughts: they are some v...Thanks for sharing these thoughts: they are some very interesting points! Yes, the haft shown here probably wouldn't be ideal in heavy use - a crooked stick (or also perhaps the junction between a branch and main trunk, which was then shaped?) would be far more suitable. Good points about the possible use of the loop too. It's great to know how these tools might handle in practise from someone with some experience.Alistairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-19600222619816418262022-05-08T19:38:51.615-07:002022-05-08T19:38:51.615-07:00"The L-shaped wooden handle would fit into th..."The L-shaped wooden handle would fit into the socket at the back of the axehead and would be lashed on using the loop"<br /><br />Just saw this image on a search and followed it here. A note for you, that pictured axe has very clearly been made by someone who has no idea and should not be taken seriously - the grain running across the sawn bend would break immediately if used, the haft should be a crooked stick, not a sawn bend - furthermore, if you look at the evolution of these axe heads, the vast majority lacked that small loop cast onto the head... This means they had no need for that loop to fasten on the head, this was likely achieved with a fish glue or some such and raw hide.<br /><br />The usage of that loop has long been contested, personally, having used a small axe a lot, I would suspect that it was used to anchor a chord running from the head and fastened halfway down the handle in order to reduce the strain put on the crook bend when pulling the axe out of the wood, which is the most common moment for an axe handle to break. <br /><br />I am pretty sure I have seen primitive axes and adzes with this feature incorperated in them from relatively contemporary technologically primitive cultures.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-14973754891222349782022-04-06T16:41:23.979-07:002022-04-06T16:41:23.979-07:00Hi Dan, sorry for the slow reply, The information ...Hi Dan, sorry for the slow reply, The information did come from the museum label - glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for commenting!Alistairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16375556738066106681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-53599553415195225152022-04-06T16:40:10.667-07:002022-04-06T16:40:10.667-07:00Thanks very much for this reply Mike: very interes...Thanks very much for this reply Mike: very interesting! Yes indeed: how much incredible engineering and design has been lost forever to rot, termite and worm? I'll have to check out the knives you mention too. All the ebst, AlistairAlistairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16375556738066106681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-89604868932983916522019-07-05T22:21:08.658-07:002019-07-05T22:21:08.658-07:00These are some amazing photos and pffer a great vi...These are some amazing photos and pffer a great view at these tools. I am in the process of making some replica wax tablets when I stumbled upon your photo above of a "A double-ended spatula found in London, probably used for spreading wax onto wax tablets," Was this description taken from the sign at the meuseum describing the object?Dan-Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840429954384894334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-26437557544886436442018-11-29T12:49:22.312-08:002018-11-29T12:49:22.312-08:00Most interesting Alistair - thanks for all of that...Most interesting Alistair - thanks for all of that.<br />I suppose it should come as no surprise to us in the modern age that we can recognise these woodworking tools of the iron age onwards , wood was all they had & their design was perfected over millennia! <br /><br /> Having been a woodcarver who primarily uses knives for 35 plus years one find that I found profoundly interesting is the wood carving knives found in Novgorod, Russia. <br />https://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2012/02/ <br />YES ! this is precisely the conclusions that both myself & others independently come to as to the ideal shape for a carving knife blade. Of course the size might vary with the size of the work in hand but these are perfect.<br />Having seen these I started to wonder about the steel used & any tests that had been done but alas only swords of this period have been tested of European origin.54 Rockwell was the hardest BUT you don't want a sword to be brittle do you ? <br />Some say it was the impurity of the steel at the time YET the Japanese had perfected their slashing swords using damascus laminating methods. Lamination was the order of the day in anglo-saxon times too. The Romans have chisels & tools with a billet of steel inlaid at the end.<br />Taking all of this evidence into account it seems very likely to me that the ancients had very well made & designed/evolved woodworking tools much earlier than is generally thought.<br />It has long been a negative habit of historians to imagine that any culture outside of the "classical" Greek & Roman tradition was primitive ,uncultured & backward. <br />The hard evidence of sophisticated modern testing is ever so slowly changing this distorted view.<br />If only wood didn't perish so fast in the ground !<br /> Mike<br /><br /> <br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11428649479185395588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-82950102612100871652018-09-16T21:00:19.202-07:002018-09-16T21:00:19.202-07:00These tools seem to have a history of more than a ...These tools seem to have a history of more than a thousand years, and the wisdom of the ancients is beyond our imagination.Annette Corbeilhttps://www.tomtop.com/development-board-11031/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-15828772059567738702016-07-17T12:03:12.239-07:002016-07-17T12:03:12.239-07:00Thank you, glad to hear that you have enjoyed read...Thank you, glad to hear that you have enjoyed reading itAlistairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16375556738066106681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525461965645261532.post-49361808686175841332016-07-16T09:29:18.771-07:002016-07-16T09:29:18.771-07:00nice postnice postAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10221429602506947269noreply@blogger.com