ksmith | (no subject)

Current Mood: contemplative

Entry tags:

writing

(no subject)

Thanks to all for the wedge feedback. Now I'm wondering about wedge vs splitting wedge. My characters are trying to remove an old, but well-made, wooden lid from the cistern/well. They use the wedges and a sledgehammer to bust the hinges away. Not sure if that makes 100% sense, but while these people aren't clueless when it comes to tools, they aren't expert. In this case, the hinges were the weak spot.

Maul. What a nasty name. I wonder what came first, the noun or the verb...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

According to the OED, both the noun and the verb are first cited from the same work in 1225.

Considering that hammers were also battle weapons, it's a good bet both parts of speech were created simultaneously.

Thanks for looking that up!

"They use the wedges and a sledgehammer to bust the hinges away."

They wouldn't use a wedge for "busting hinges", they would use a chisel (cold chisel) for that kind of work. The wedge is a little too wide and clunky for that.

Wedge for splitting logs:
http://www.amazon.com/4LB-SPLITTING-WEDGE-DROP-FORGD/dp/B000LP7D9A/ref=sr_1_41?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245872006&sr=8-41

Cold chisel:
http://www.amazon.com/Mibro-524500-4-Piece-Chisel-8-Inches/dp/B0015AOAZ0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1245872396&sr=1-5

Wouldn't it depend on the hinge? An upright door hinge vs an old-style, big lid hinge?

It's not a make or break--I can be vague, or mention that they brought chisels as well.

I've personally used a chisel to open corroded hinges and to shear off large bolt heads because they had corroded so badly that they could not be loosened. The chisel makes jobs like that almost easy.

I'd vote for your characters having a chisel because I think if I ran across someone using a wedge for breaking open hinges it would throw me out of the story.

But do they have a cold chisel? You use what you have. Cast-iron hinges, steel wedges...they might use wedges.

I like the drama of sledge and wedge.

I hear what you're saying about, "But do they have one?"
A chisel is a pretty common tool, almost everyone has one in his or her toolbox. A splitting wedge? Not so much unless you have a specific use for one.

I inherited half a dozen or more splitting wedges from my Dad, but I couldn't find a chisel when I needed one and had to go out and buy one.

As I said, I also inherited too many sledgehammers, axes, and mauls. And a machete.

A complete set of sockets for the ratchet? Not so much.

FWIW, these folks are in a small town in the middle of orchards/farm country. One may be well-versed with tools, the other, not so much. And it all depends on what you can find when you're in a hurry in a house that's not your own.

That would pull you out of the book? Huh.

Kris has wedges and has no use for them...people inherit tools. What matters is what's readily available to these characters in that time and place.

But if she wants to use a cold chisel and a maul or mallet, it's fine with me.

Given that they are working with what is available, wedge and sledge should do the trick. A maul would work directly.

There are lots of tools one might use, if they were available. Pry bar, for example.

My favorite instrument of remodeling, chock-full of sinister phonemes:

Dead-blow hammer.

As in "... I used a 10lb dead-blow hammer to take down the wall".

But do they make long handled dead-blow hammers?

Heh! "Give me a Sawzall and a half hour, and I'll take that house down!"...next best thing to a bulldozer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only