The scoring axe was the smallest of the three cutting axes and was used to remove bark and notch if the timber stick. The blade is rectangular and usually the handle measured from three to four feet in length.
2. Broad Axe
The broad axe was just that, a broad-bladed axe. It was also very heavy and took a strong man to wield it well. It was used for trimming and shaping the finished square timber sticks.
3. Felling Axe
The felling axe was a medium sized timber axe with a rectangular blade like the scoring axe but somewhat smaller. It was used for cutting down trees and trimming the branches.
4. Pike Pole
The pike pole was made of smooth ash or oak with a screw point and a curved lateral hook behind the point. This photo captures only part of the fifteen foot handle. The pike pole was used in the sawn lumber operation to sort logs in log booms and for loading a jackladder which was an escalator-type moving iron belt that carried logs from a river or pond into the mills for cutting.
The other commonly used tools were the peavy, cant-hook, and crosscut-saw. The cant hook had a four to five foot long pole with a metal tip to which a curved hook was attached. It was used for stacking timber sticks on the rollways or skidways. The peavy was named after the Maine blacksmith who invented it in 1858. It was tapered gradually from the thinner hand-grip end to a diameter of three inches at the pointed end, and was used for dislodging sticks or logs on the river drive. Crosscut-saws usually required two men. They were primarily used for cutting the felled trunk into sticks or logs in the 1830's and, by the 1870's, for felling trees.
