Glossary of Tools

adze : a tool, like an ax, used for chipping or slicing away the surface of wood.

auger : a carpenter's tool for boring holes in wood.

bellows : an instrument fashioned to furnish a strong blast of air, used to blow a fire.

bench hook : an iron hook by which a board may be gripped.

bevel square : a joiner's and mason's tool, used for setting off angles.

broad ax : chisel-edged ax used for hewing round logs into square beams.

chisel : a cutting edge with an oblique angle, the tool is worked by blows from a hammer.

draw knife : a blade between 2 handles, it cuts by being drawn towards the cutter's body.

felling ax : large ax designed for cutting down trees.

firmer chisel : a thin all-purpose chisel (sometimes called a forming chisel).

froe : tool used for splitting out shakes (sometimes called a splitting froe).

gouge : a chisel for cutting rounded holes in wood.

hatchet : a small ax with a short handle.

hoe : a tool used to break up the surface of the ground.

holdfast : something that holds, such as a hook, clamp or bolt.

mortise & tenon : a square hole (mortise) into which the shaped end (tenon) of some other part of a framework is fitted so as to form a joint.

pickax : a digging tool with a chisel edge on one end and a point on the other.

plane : a tool used to smooth the surface of woodwork by paring shavings from it.

ploughshare : the large pointed blade of a plow which cuts a slice of earth.

reap hook : a hook with a cutting edge used for cutting grain.

rule : a graduated strip of metal or wood used for measuring length.

saw : a cutting tool, one edge of which is a series of continuous teeth.

sickle : a hook with a serrated edge used for cutting grain.

spade : a digging tool, the handle is grasped and the foot used to push the blade into the ground.

square : a tool used for determining right angles.

steelyard : a weighing instrument that uses balances and counterweights.

wedge : a piece of wood, thick at one end and tapering at the other, used as a tool for splitting wood.

whipsaw : a long narrow 2-handed saw.