A froe was used for splitting, or riving, wood in the early days and was a skill practiced by craftsmen who made boards, shingles, c lapboards, fences, basket splints, chair parts, wagon spokes, lath, and more. Our ancestors used axes, gluts or wedges, froes, draw knives and spelk planes for splitting wood.   The froe was designed in many sizes and designs for splitting timber. It is typically an L-shaped tool made up of a wedge-shaped blade with a dull, but not blunt, knife edge and a wood handle. Blades were usually straight with a socket forged at one end for a handle, but curved blades were also made. Most handles were round and tapered and were inserted up through this socket. But some froes had eyes similar to those on axes for handles that were wedged. The froe handle is held in an upright position in one hand while the other hand drives the top of the blade downward with a wood froe club or mallet. After a split is started, the froe is wiggled downward to lengthen it until the split is complete. Most old froes were hand forged, but they were also available in many catalogues. The 1873 D.R. Barton American catalogue offered straight froes at 12 1/2 cents per inch. You can still buy new froes from many tool manufacturers today.A tool that has not changed in design or use since its inception several hundred years ago to split timber for various uses.Froe, also called cooper's froe or stave froe, without handle.Noneflagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, froe, cooper's froe, stave froe, wood splitter, carpenders tools, coopers tool, splitting timber

Also known as a froe (or frow), shake axe or paling knife, this tool is used for cleaving wood by splitting it along the grain. The L-shaped tool is hammered on the top edge of its blade into the end of a piece of wood in the direction of the grain, then twisting the blade in the wood by rotating the haft (handle).Shingle knife or paling splitter Metal knife with short wooden handletimber tools

Used to split shingles or palings from planks of wood. Used in the timber industry and building industries.A paling or shingle knife, also called a froe. The blade is iron, with the sharper edge on the bottom. It has a short wooden handle .paling-knife shingle-knife froe

A forged steel headed paling knife or froe with a wooden handle used for splitting wood along the grain. It is sometimes called a cleaving tool. There is a large indented cross on the side of the head of the blade where the handle joins it.A large cross is indented on the head.cleaving tools, woodworking tools, froes, rending axes, cleaving irons

Froe (or shake axe) is a tool for cleaving wood by splitting it along the grain, then twisting the blade in the wood by rotating the handle (haft). The haft is a lever to multiply the force on the blade, allowing wood to be torn apart with little force applied to the haft.Noneaxehead shingle splitter, froe, shake axe

Likely used by the Jensen family who were early settlers in the Martin's Creek area, 35 miles north of Orbost, along the Bonang - Orbost Road in c. 1890. Peter Jensen came from Denmark. A flat iron blade, sharpened on the bottom and attached to a wooden handle. The blade has a pointed end.BRADES CO.shingle-making roofing-shingles house-construction