Froe

Common card · No. 419978

A froe (or frow), shake axe or paling knife is a tool for splitting wood by cleaving it along the grain. It is an L-shaped tool, used by hammering one edge of its blade into the end of a piece of wood in the direction of the wood grain, then twisting the blade in the wood by rotating the haft (handle). A froe uses the haft to multiply the force upon the blade, allowing wood to be torn apart with remarkably little force applied to the haft. By twisting one way or the other the direction of the split may be guided.

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