I like to say, "There’s no tool like an old tool”, misquoting an old adage. But seriously, often on the road to improved technology, simple but useful things get dropped along the way. Years ago, when I began carving, I automatically looked to commercial carving tools like chisels, gouges, mallets, and saws. All these, with the addition of my pocket knife, allowed me to make a few carvings.

Then I read about the traditional tools used by the Northwest Coast Natives and saw some drawings of them in a book. I thought they looked pretty cool so I made some facsimilies. I started with a “D” adze, a straight knife, and a couple of curved knives, and ground the blades from old files. I used them well for a few years until one day I saw some very old ones that a fellow had purchased from “Ye Old Curiosity Shop” in Seattle. They were a little on the crude side, but they were obviously the “real” thing and a heck of a lot better than mine. Soooo...back to the tool bench. My next set of tools was much improved and so was my ability to carve more effectively.

Prior to European contact, the master Native artists and craftsmen of the Northwest Coast built grand communal houses, carved totem poles, canoes, masks, bowls, bent -corner boxes, and a host of other items without the aid of steel axes, chisels, electric drills and saws, etc. The art form didn’t undergo any serious change due to the eventual acquisition of modern tools, although production probably increased to a large degree.

The twenty-first century carver of Northwest Coast Native- style art takes advantage of any modern tool that is practical, such as factory made chisels and gouges, hand saws, and of course for larger work, the trusty chainsaw. The chainsaw probably accounts for roughly a thirty percent reduction in man-hours on larger jobs, but the bulk of the work on projects regardless of scale is still done with the traditional adze and knife.These are positively the tried-and-true tools of the trade.

I still make my own adzes and knives. I regard these tools as part and parcel of this art form. They are, like much of this art, examples of form and function.