Thinking about it, woodworking must be one of the oldest crafts around. Many cartoons depicting our ancestors as cavemen shows the male dragging the female by the hair and carrying a wooden club over his shoulder. It stands to reason that wood was one of the first materials to be shaped into instruments to be used - stone and metal are much harder to work with and the use of these materials would have come much later.
Early ships, from canoes to large sailing vessels, were also manufactured from wood. Woodworking tools have also evolved. I would imagine that spears were first sharpened by rubbing it on a rock, and rocks were used to hammer wood to some sort of desired shape. Early dugout canoes were made from complete trees with the core being burnt and then scraped with stones. When metal was utilized in later times, axes and knives were manufactured, and some of these were crafted as woodworking tools.
An ancient axe was recently discovered in Slimbridge. experts have identified that this axe is of Viking origin and dated it to the 18th or 19 century. Claims are being made that this axe was a woodworking tool which wouldn't surprise me, but there is still some debate on the validity of these claims.
To read the full story, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-16907224.
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