Fig. 592. (S. 1–2.) Various copper implements. University of Vermont collection.
A somewhat similar tool is also employed by modern woodworkers.
1. There are at least two well-marked types of these implements. The first of these is generally nearly square, less frequently oblong in outline. The flanges of the implement are turned inward to form a socket, at the base of which is a hip or shoulder, against which the tip of the wooden handle abuts. The blade is elevated above the socket and is provided with a straight or slightly curved cutting edge. The back of the implement, opposite the socket, is flat or transversely convex, and slopes or curves downward to the cutting edge. This is certainly the most common type, and has been obtained in many parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Examples have also been collected in Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa. The average specimen appears to be about three inches in length by two and a half inches in width. The smallest known is only one and a fourth inches and the largest six and a fourth inches in length. Fine series of these implements are to be seen in the Logan Museum, Field Museum, State Historical Museum, Milwaukee Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. In weight adzes of this type vary from a few ounces to one and a half or more pounds. (Fig. 581.)
2. A second type differs from the preceding mainly in the fact that the extremity of the socket is angular in outline and that the flanges are bent straight upward or inward, instead of curved. The hip at the base of the socket is also often absent. The back is generally flat or transversely rounded, and in some specimens traversed from the top to the cutting edge by a pronounced median ridge. A specimen in the Milwaukee Public Museum has the middle of its back ornamented with a double row of zigzag incisions. Its blade is also ornamented. (Fig. 583.)
These implements are as a class larger than the foregoing. Of a dozen or more examples which the writer has examined in the Hamilton and other local cabinets, none are below five inches in length and two and a fourth inches in breadth, the largest known being six inches in length and three inches in breadth. The weight of these specimens ranges from twelve ounces to nearly two pounds.
There are also a small number of peculiar forms, each represented by a single example. These vary in the length and breadth of the flanges and the shape of the blade. When a sufficient number of these shall have been recovered, it may be advisable to expand the present classification to include them. Many of the implements included in the adze class are admirable for their symmetry and perfection. A specimen secured in the Lake Superior region has a portion of the wooden handle still fitted in the socket.
Fig. 593. (S. 2–3.) Copper chisel and awls. Logan Museum collection, Beloit, Wisconsin.
