Adze

The ahnetjer (Manuel de Codage transliteration: aH-nTr) depicted as an adze-like instrument,[3] was used in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, intended to convey power over their senses to statues and mummies.

Prehistoric Māori adzes from New Zealand were for wood carving, typically made from pounamu sourced from the South Island.

[7] Early period notched adzes found in Northland were primarily made of argillite quarried from locations around the Marlborough and Nelson regions.

[9] American Northwest coast native peoples traditionally used adzes for both functional construction (from bowls to canoes) and art (from masks to totem poles).

[11] Indeed, even before the first foreign missionaries or colonial officials arrived in the New Guinea Highlands, inhabitants had already obtained steel tools through trade with their neighbors.

[12] Modern adzes are made from steel with wooden handles, and enjoy limited use: occasionally in semi-industrial areas, but particularly by "revivalists" such as those at the Colonial Williamsburg cultural center in Virginia, United States.

Adzes are also in current use by artists such as Northwest Coast American and Canadian Indigenous sculptors doing totem pole carving, as well as masks and bowls.

Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards between his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind.

There are a number of specialist, short-handled adzes used by coopers, wainwrights, and chair makers, and in bowl and trough making.

Some urban legends[weasel words] say that Bulgarian migrant workers always carry their adzes with them so they can do construction work more efficiently due to the lack of Western equivalent of the tool.

[14][citation needed] There is a popular Bulgarian folk song called "На теслата дръжката" (eng: The tesla's handle) about a craftsman and the masculinity of his tool.