Adze

Any impact cutting tool with the blade set at a right angle to the length of the handle. As with hatchets and axes, adzes come in a range of sizes for use with one or two hands. Unlike axes, adzes may have curved blades for gouging and are often easily removed from the handle to enable sharpening on a grindstone.

Auger

Any boring bit that acts like a rotary chisel to shave out the wood as the tool progresses. The screw-shanked spiral auger that lifts the shavings out of the deepening hole did not become common until about the 1820s. Before this time, shell or nose augers required a centering, starting hole gouged into the surface of the wood before they could be started.

Bevel

A bevel refers to either an angle on an edge (other than straight or right) or the layout tool used to record and transfer this angle. The utility of a bevel is found in the broad body that may be held against a shoulder on the wood while the steel blade (adjusted to the desired angle and held by the set screw) provides a straight edge to mark along.

Bit, center

A center bit is about as simple and elegant a design as you will find. The central pike drills in and holds the outer spur in perfect circular orbit around it. The spur knifes down into the grain and defines the perimeter of the hole. Finally the blade enters and, like a rotary chisel, sweeps up shavings of wood as the bit is forced deeper into the hole.

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