The adze consists of a flat blade of steel in the shape of a highly
acute-angled triangle (Pl. 111). The slightly convex base is the
cutting edge. The upper half of the triangle (which may or may not be
marked by a shoulder) is buried in the lashings by which it is attached
to the wooden haft. The haft is a small bough of tough, springy wood,
cut from a tree, together with a small block of the wood of the stem;
the latter is shaved down until it forms an oblong block continuous
with the haft and at an angle to it of 70[degree] -- 80[degree]. The
upper half of the metal blade is laid upon the distal surface of
this block and lashed firmly to it with fine strips of rattan. A
piece of skin is often placed between the metal and the lashings;
this facilitates the removal of the blade, and enables the craftsman
to alter the angle between the cutting edge and the haft. Commonly
the blade is laid in the plane of the haft, and the implement is then
what we should call a small axe; on turning the blade through go',
it is converted to a small adze; and not infrequently the blade is
turned through a smaller angle, so that its plane forms an acute
angle with that of the haft.
Carved woodwork is commonly painted with black and red paint, prepared
respectively from soot and iron oxide mixed with sugar-cane juice
or with lime; the moist pigment is applied with the finger on larger
surfaces, and the finer lines and edges are marked out with the aid
of a chisel-edged stick of wood.
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