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Since the bow drill is ineffective for heavy drilling and wastes energy, the Romans came up with a better tool: the auger. Egyptian woodworkers also used wooden pegs instead of nails and made the holes with a bow drill, which they moved back and forth. Roman builders used the try square (also known as the carpenter’s square), the plumb line, and the chalk line, tools developed by the ancient Egyptians.
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The principle of the frame saw lives on in the modern hacksaw. The frame saw uses a narrow blade held in a wooden frame and is kept taut by tightening a cord. The Romans also invented the frame saw and the stiffened back saw, with s blade that is reinforced at the top to afford straight-through cuts.
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This made the saw cut slightly wider than the blade and allowed a smoother movement. They used iron for the blades, making them stiffer, and they set the teeth of the saw to project alternately right and left. The Romans improved the handsaw in two ways. Because the carpenter could not bear down on the cutting stroke, sawing wood must have been a slow, tedious process. Since the blades were copper, a soft metal, they had to be pulled, not pushed. It had a broad blade, some as long as 20 inches, curved wooden handles, and irregular metal teeth. The handsaw was used in Egypt as far back as 1500 B.C. The axe-adze was popular with Roman carpenters. The Minoan civilisation of Crete used a combination axe-adze and invented the double-headed axe. Woodworkers used the axe to fell trees, and the adze, whose blade was turned 90 degrees, to dress timber. For instance, the Roman joiner had a larger tool chest than his medieval counterpart.Īxes and adzes were among the first tools created. In some instances, societies advanced slowly or even regressed when it came to the development and use of woodworking tools. Obviously, the more wooden objects a society produces, the more tools it needs and uses. They allow us to view the civilisations that created them.