I have a tabletop that I want to sculpt to give it the appearance of being hewn with an adze but don’t have the skills to wield one effectively. I think I want to use a wide #2 sweep gouge. I’m not sure of shank design as I suspect it would have to be bent slightly to enable me to bring it back out of the flat surface smoothly. Any ideas on how to achieve this surface?
Thanks!!
Replies
My Wife wanted a hewn beam for the mantle and I used an adz, and was doing too good of a job, She wanted more HACKING. So an adz is pretty easy to use. With very little practice you can make a pretty smooth finish.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Thanks for the input. I've tried the adze and got pretty good results also, but I'm looking for finer detail and control since the table will be viewed from above and up close. I think the right handheld gouge would offer the control I need, I'm just not sure which one.
I've talked with a timber-frame builder who achieves that hand-hewn look with a power planer. He ground the knives so they're curved, kinda like the knife in a scrub plane. He makes little short strokes with the planer, and they look very much like adze strikes.
Moon, how about a 'crankneck' gouge? or two? Steinmetz
The book on handplanes (all the books actually) suggest that the plane blade be sharpened in a curve so as not to have sharp edge marks (and to get an easier slice). They flatten the surface by repetitive cuts (note the picture in Taunton's Working with Handplanes). Given that you want a table top I thing a well curved Jack Plane, or smoothing plane, would give the effect if you didn't smooth it out with repetition.
Best, Jon
Jon,
Thanks to you and all the others who have replied to my query. I think the hand plane with a curved blade is the way I should go. I have an extra smoothing plane that doesn't see much use. I'll just regrind the blade and dedicate it for this type of surface.
We do it all the time in out timber framing shop using adzes but the next alternative is a hand plane with a curved blade or even a power plane with a curved blade, both of which we also use on aregular basis. We have a power compass plane for this. A gouge is never an option as it would be too slow.
Try a scrub plane. It'll leave the table "flat", but with subtle undulations due to the slightly curved blade.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Maybe you could use a fore plane, more or less cross grain. Adzes produce very fine surfaces. They are used cross grain. The only marks I see are ridges or lines between the strokes. But in the area of those strokes, the wood is as smooth as if it were planed with a smoother.
Check out April's PW for my article on making "rough hewn" saw horses. Though I caution you; after reading it, you may be disinclined to use an adz!
Adam
moonshadow,
I'm a power tool junkie, I remove one blade from a curved base Maikta power plane and have at it. instant handhewn look.
The ladywife inherited some oak furniture from a well known apprentice of The Mouseman (a famous English maker of yesteryear) that appeared to have every piece adzed - including not just the 7 foot by 3 foot table top but also the legs, stretchers and all the chairs. Other pieces were similarly sculpted.
I was very impressed and went to see their workplace. They did originally make all their stuff (including the inheritence) with both long handled and short handled adzes. However, economics has forced some "efficiencies" and they now use a Festool electric plane with a dedicated curved head and blade. This head/blade alone costs £120! (Another £300 or more for the planer itself).
Lataxe
I'm all for the hand tool method myself. If I were going to use power, it would be with the power planer approach mentioned.
I did an on-site sculpting of a mantle once using a friends Festool power planer. There were blades shaped already for it, but it doesn't take much to shape blades yourself.
Take care, Mike
MS,
I measured the "dip" in the adzed oak furniture I have. The deepest dips are just short of 1mm (1/32"). I wonder if it's possible to reshape a hand plane blade to that degree and get a smooth cut?
The Festool power planer head with the curved blade is curved itself. This means that the planer blade is well supported, even if it takes a bite a couple of millimetres deep at the centre of the curve.
I've never used that Festool, or a handplane with a curved blade. Whilst I can see that such a tool can make a curved cut left to right, how does it make a curve front to back, as a swing of the adz does? I've always wondered.
When in the woods learning greenwoodwork stuff last year, one techique taught was the use of the long handled adz. As the thing is razor sharp and you swing it through your legs, as you cut scoops from the timber which you are standing on, they made us wear thick leggings made of straw wrapped in hessian and tied on with baling twine. We were the height of sartorial inelegance, one side effect of adz use that all should consider!
Lataxe
Hi Lataxe,
When I built our log cabin back in the 1970s, I used an adze for a lot of work. All the joists, logs, etc. When sharp, the work quickly and cleanly.
As for the Festool, the technique for lengthwise scallops is to bring the plane into the work, move forward and raise it off the surface. It also works well and quickly.
My preference is nearly always via hand tool methods. Not all people enjoy handwork, though. So I merely am giving an alternative that also works.
Take care, Mike
Edited 4/25/2006 6:18 pm by mwenz
I'd like to amplify what my friend Mike said. Adzes aren't like wood planes. You can't shatter your tibia with a hand plane. If the OP needs a fast solution to satisfy a customer or some such, I think he should look elsewhere than an adze. Adzes are best used when you have plenty of food, rest, and time to learn.Adam
So that's what that bone is called <g>...
Seriously, I've got all my bones intact and all my fingers--and most importantly, my toes.
Having grown up with such tools, I never really gave using an adze "safely" much thought when I built the cabin. I saw them used, cleaned up after the men using them and at some point, began using them in increasing time alotments until one just grabs one and uses it. So when I began the cabin, I used the adze my great uncle had used most of his life and passed down to me.
Adam raises the issue--you can hurt yourself quickly even "knowing" how to wield one. It isn't the tool to just grab and use on a project "today" because it will create the effect desired.
Thanks for the reminder, Adam!
Take care, Mike
<<We were the height of sartorial inelegance, >>
The epitome of Bond Street fashionability, I'm sure. :-)
James
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