A tool with a blade perpendicular to the handle, used for cutting and shaping wood, especially in hollowing logs and splitting shingles.
Modern spelling of adz, standardized in the 19th century; from Old English adesa. The tool name appears in various forms across Germanic languages (Dutch aadze, German Adze), suggesting a shared ancient origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ad- meaning 'to put' or 'sharp.'
Viking shipbuilders relied on the adze to carve the curved timbers that made their longships so revolutionary—the tool's angled blade let them work with the grain in ways axes couldn't, which is exactly why shipwrights still use them 1,000 years later.
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