AXES AND HATCHETS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 191 



arranged to cleave, rather than to cut, the wood. Now, a calculation 

 of the pressure necessary to thrust forward a wedge, and the impact 

 necessary to cause the same wedge to enter the same depth, would 

 explain why (regarded as a wedge only) the handle proves an import- 

 ant adjunct to the arm of the workman. Any one may test this by 

 using an ordinary-handled hatchet on a soft straight-grained wood, 

 or he may take a small axe with a straight and not a curved edge ; 

 let it rest upon a lump of moderately soft clay. Add weights until it 

 has sunk to any decided depth, then take the axe by the head, and 

 by pressure force the edge to the same depth. Next, hold the axe by 

 the handle, first at, say, one foot from the head, then at two feet, then 

 perhaps at three feet, and give blows which seem of equal intensity, 

 and mark the depth. Thus a practical testimony to the value of a 

 handle will be borne by the respective depths. 



A few words about the motion of the hands and the handle they 

 grasp ; and then a consideration of the curves given to the cutting- 

 edges of axes, adzes, etc. ; also to the wedge-like sections of the edges. 

 These will be all that can now be considered. 



The motions of the hands on the handle of an axe are similar to 

 those of a workman on that of the sledge-hammer. The handle of a 

 properly-handled axe is curved, that of a sledge-hammer is straight. 

 For present consideration this curvature may be overlooked, although 

 it plays an important part in the using of an axe with success and 

 ease. If the almost unconscious motions of a workman skilled in the 

 use of an axe be observed, it will be noticed that, while the hand far- 

 thest from the axe-head grasps the handle at the same or nearly the 

 same part, the other hand, or the one nearest to the head, frequently 

 moves. Let us follow these motions and consider the effect of them. 

 The axe has just been brought down with a blow and entered be- 

 tween the fibres of the wood. In this position it may be regarded as 

 wedged in the wood, held in fact by the pressure of the fibres against 

 the sides of the axe. From this fixity it must be released, and this 

 is usually done by action on or near the head. For this purpose the 

 workman slides his hand along the handle, and, availing himself (if 

 need be) of the oval form of the handle after it has passed through 

 the eye of the metal, he releases the head. The instrument has now 

 to be raised to an elevation ; for this purpose his hand remains near 

 to the head, so causing the length of the path of his hand and that 

 of the axe-head to be nearly the same. The effect of this is to require 

 but a minimum of power to be exerted by the muscles in raising the 

 axe ; whereas, if the hand had remained near the end of the handle 

 most distant from the head, then the raising of the axe-head would 

 have been done at what is called a mechanical disadvantage. Indeed, 

 if a workman will notice the position of the hand (which does not 

 slide along the handle) before and after the blow has been given, he will 

 find that its travel has been very small indeed. Remembering that 



