finishing, as can be seen in illustrations of seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century workshops (Fig. 7a, b).
Sawing, although depending on a tool that is modern in com-
parison with the wedge and the ax, has quite a long history, as ancient
Egyptian and Etruscan evidence shows (Fig. 8). Until some three hundred
years ago, the limitations of metallurgy and of metalworking techniques
meant that an open saw blade could not be pushed without its buckling.
But this was not a serious drawback as the saw could either be pulled, as it
still is in some Asian countries, or be held under tension in a wooden
frame, still the preferred solution in many continental European countries.
In either case, quite astonishing accuracy was obtainable by specialist
sawyers (Fig. 9). J. A. Roubo, in L’art du menuisier,published in 1769, warns
his readers that even though it is possible to saw eleven sheets of veneer
out of one inch of timber, in his opinion, eight to the inch gives the mini-
mum thickness to allowproper finishing after the veneer has been laid180 Walker
Figure 5
Thin slabs of wood being split offby the use
ofa froe. Today the method is best known as
a way of making roof shingles, but there is
clear evidence of its having been used for the
production of panels in the Middle Ages.
Figure 6
Some of the types of broad ax used for shap-
ing timber in medieval Europe. Most have
edges beveled on one side only, like chisels,
and are therefore designed for either right-
handed or left-handed use.