Mallets and chisels were chosen according to the task at hand: big and heavy mallets and sizable chisels for coarse work, carving and inlay work required more delicate implements. The mallets were…
Category: Tools & Invention
Bronze tools
Bronze was a great improvement on copper. The oldest real bronze found in Egypt dates to the 4th dynasty and consists of 90% copper and 10% additional metals, which is about the…
Wooden tools
Wood, ivory, bone and stone have been used for making tools since earliest times. Wood has marvellous qualities for which it is used and loved to this day. It combines toughness and…
The axe
The primary tool for roughly working wood was the axe. Sawing, while resulting in a smoother cut, was very hard work and time consuming with the kind of saws that were available….
Stone tools
Stone has basically three functions for which it is suited: pounding, grinding and cutting. A relatively high specific weight and hardness give it much more impact power than a similarly sized piece…
Sanding
The final smoothing of the wood was done with stones. (This method of scouring wood continued until the 19th century CE, when wooden shipdecks were still holystoned.)
Iron tools
Rare meteoritic iron has been found in tombs since the Old Kingdom, but Egypt was late to accept iron on a large scale. It did not exploit any ores of its own…