A cleaving tool with a blade at right angles to the handle, used to split shingles or staves from a log.
From Middle Dutch 'froewe,' related to 'frouwe' (woman, perhaps from the tool's shape). First recorded in English in the 18th century, the etymology remains somewhat uncertain.
A froe is one of those ingeniously simple medieval tools that seems almost magical—you tap the handle with a mallet and the perpendicular blade splits wood along the grain with minimal effort, a principle still used today!
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