This gives the carver something to go by when finishing the shape. I have added to the value of the adze kits by rough shaping the haft. Our adze haft blanks are Eastern Rock Maple. These materials cover adze use, sharpening and hafting your adze iron. Our Adzes, adze irons and kits all come with a 12 page booklet with 29 photographs and 3 pages of drawings which includes full size adze haft templates. It is a 3 1/2” wide gutter adze that is another option when you want faster wood removal with a light weight tool but don’t need the flatter face of the lip adzes. In this same size range of adzes, we also offer the Big Mama gutter adze. Both the 2 1/2″ and 3″ are real wood eaters for wood carvers. To handle the extra weight I have also added some to the power of the haft. This small amount makes a real difference in the tools balance. This adds an ounce to the weight of the heads making them decidedly more aggressive tools when heavier wood removal is called for. I am now making the "light lips" of 5/32" material. Our lip irons come with a thermal formed Kydex sheath, perfect protection for that long edge! Although I have beefed up iron and haft for these you will still need to keep the tool sharp and cut, but not pry your chips. Since I don't carve everyday and I often use the corners of the lip I like the 2 1/2″ best. These sophisticated tools have a slight radius to the cutting edge and the lips are angled out some to keep from "stuffing the chip." The 3” lip adze is a little flatter, and better for larger flatter faceting work while the 2 1/2” version is a better all around carver in my opinion. Most of my professional carving friends use a lip adze for even smaller mask-size carvings. Once you know where you are going, there is no sense mucking about in getting there. The rest of the adze work will be done in a direction generally perpendicular to the trench - cutting “downhill” with the grain.There is nothing like a lip adze for wasting large amounts of wood rapidly. This trench now becomes the landing zone for the final strokes of the adze as it cuts from upper rim to the trench. It also lessens the possibility of having a split or cut run into the opposite side of the bowl as the far side is hollowed. This establishes an even curve across the width of the bowl and establishes the final depth (see photo below). Once I am within an inch or so of the sides and bottom, I use the adze (often my smaller adze) to cut across the grain along the short axis of the bowl. Then things ease up and slow down as I get closer to the line. Lots of fun and chunks of wood flying all over the shop. The rough adze work to this point goes pretty quickly - maybe twenty to thirty minutes. I’ve hogged out much of the bulk of the hollow with the adze. This one is around 21 inches long and 12 1/2 inches wide. I have laid out the line of the inner hollow and the outer perimeter of the rim and handles. At the stage of the first photo (above), I’ve hewn and hand planed the upper and lower surface of the future bowl from a half of a walnut log. Following up on my last post about adze design, I wanted to share a series of photos that show the procedure for my adze work.
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