An adze is an ancient woodworking tool whose transverse blade removes chips from timber, especially when hollowing beams, bowls, canoes, or troughs. In poetry it often evokes pre-industrial craftsmanship, shipbuilding, rural labour, and the transformation of raw wood into useful or beautiful form. Its chopping motion can suggest force disciplined by skill, while the marks it leaves may symbolise human effort, cultural memory, or the shaping of character through repeated blows.

The adze is among the oldest specialised woodworking tools, distinguished from an axe because its blade lies across the handle rather than in line with it. Poets may use it to evoke boatbuilding, timber framing, Indigenous craftsmanship, or labour performed before mechanisation. Its downward, scooping action suggests both violence and artistry, since each blow removes wood while gradually revealing a useful form. Related terms include axe, drawknife, chisel, woodworking, carving, hewing, and timber.