this useful woodworking tool can be really expensive (200$ and up) so i wanted to make one on the cheap but I could not find an instructable on it so I decided to make one.

Step 1: Getting the Materials

ok so i started with two different widths of plate steal (exact sizes: 4 in for the large on and 2in for the smaller one) from canadian tire (23$ total) and a maple branch for the handle that i could just grasp with the tips of my fingers touching and two lag bolts.

Step 2: Making the Handle

do you want the handle to take some abuse so you just want to take the bark off i used a drawknife but most anything sharp will work, you want to leave a largish chunk at the top for mounting the blade

Step 3: Making the Blade

this part is tricky as there are many different styles of adze (you may need a anvil)

I made to different widths of flat adzes

Step 4: Sharpening

I used a grinding wheel to sharpen

Step 5: Attaching the Blade

I simply lag bolted the blade onto the handle

Step 6: The History and Uses

so the adze first appeared back in at least 8000 BC (possibly earlier) when Reindeer antlers were sharpened to form a cutting edge. In the late Mesolithic adzes were made by

knapping flint (shaping flint to make tools).In the Neolithic period the adze were made of ground stone, such as amphibolite, basalt or Jadeite. Copper and bronze adzes developed after 3000 BC (the end of the Neolithic period)and are similar to the ones we have today.During the Eighteenth Century advances in saw design led to a slow decline in their use.

the uses:Adzes are used for smoothing or carving wood in professions such as carpentry railroads and boat building. making things like dugout canoe, boles,log homes, wood dikes and almost anything that needs howling out.

how to use: the trick is to pivot the adze on your hip and waist and then move in a arcke. Its all about removing small amounts of wood little bit at a time.

p.s thanks for looking at my instructable I will make some more on things like this .