The Anglo-Saxons hewed planks from logs for many uses, from buildings to shield-making. Here I hew planks from cleaved sections of an ash log. I will use these planks to make an Anglo-Saxon shield.

There is no evidence for large saws used in woodworking during the Anglo-Saxon period. Logs would have been cleaved or split into sections, and these sections would be hewn into planks with axes.

The earliest evidence for the use of T-shaped axes in Anglo-Saxon woodworking is found in the form of tool marks on timbers from the Ebbsfleet Saxon Watermill in Kent, dated to 692 A.D. However, there are finds of smaller T-shaped axe-hammers in weapon burials dating earlier to the 6th century, including at Buckland Dover, Sarre and Tuddenham.

This axe, as the originals, was forged with a wrought iron body and steel bit and weighs roughly 800 grams, placing it in between the earlier war T-axes and later woodworking T-axes in size.

After splitting the log down to eighth-sections, the cleaved section was marked out with a wooden straight edge, by making small holes with the tip of a knife, or with charcoal. This corresponds to lay-out marks found on Early-Medieval ship timbers. The Anglo-Saxons would likely have used intuitive measurements for laying out timber, such as the foot, hand or thumb. Here, the planks were marked out to a thumb’s width, or, roughly, an inch.

The upper edge of the plank was marked out first, making sure to remove enough material to reach the thumb's width of the finished plank. If the section twists or curves, as cleaved wood is like to do, extra width is needed to account for this and to produce a straight plank.

After trimming the upper edge of the plank down to size, the best face of the section was chosen to become the first face of the plank. A straight line was marked on the upper edge of the plank, closest to the best face, and the wood was trimmed down to this line.

When hewing to a line, it is good to stand back often and look at the work from a distance. The eye is very good at spotting areas where the straight line is not true. As with traditional ship-building, the majority of the finishing work was done by “eye”.

The lower edge of the first face was also hewn straight, with a straight edge and by eye. The first face of the plank can then be hewn flat between these two lines, by running a straight edge along the plank, identifying high spots, and trimming them down. The straight edge also helps to identify any twist in the plank face.

The second face of the plank was marked out to a thumb's width, off the first face of the plank, first on the upper edge, and then on the lower. The majority of material was removed from this side, with relatively heavy hewing cuts, before flattening the second face the same way as the first.

The planks should be compared against their neighbour within the shield board regularly, in order to check that the edges align well for gluing. At this stage, they do not need to butt up well, as long as their edges align without any twist or curve away from one another.

The final plank faces were checked with a straight edge to make sure they were flat, and that the plank did not twist along its length.

The eventual shield board will be far thinner than a thumb’s width; between 5-7mm depending on the thickness of the hide covering. However, this shield board will be convex, as other 7th-century examples such as the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 shield, and as depicted on the early 8th-century Franks casket. The curve may have been produced by steaming or carving. In this case, I plan to carve the convex shape. Therefore the planks must be thicker at this stage in order to accommodate that convex curve.

One plank in the set is thinner than a thumb’s width at one edge. This is because it was hewn from a narrow section that did not split evenly. I did not place the axe well when cleaving. Also some knots needed to be removed. This plank will be set at the edge of the shield where the shield board will taper anyway, and oriented so that it will not impact the final shape of the shield board.

Although these planks will be used for a shield, they could also have been used for any number of uses within the Anglo-Saxon domestic setting, from furniture making, to house and ship building.

With thanks to:
Herknungr, Musician, playing 'The Wolf Chieftan'.
Hector Cole, Blacksmith, for forging the Saxon T-shaped Axe.
Damian Goodburn, Woodwork Archaeologist, for sharing his knowledge on hewing and the Ebbsfleet Watermill.

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