TOKI (adze head)

Throughout much of Polynesia, adzes were the predominant wood working tool, and in New Zealand their efficiency was put to use in the felling of large trees, of which there was an abundance, for conversion into canoes of all sizes.

Similarily, toki were necessary for the shaping and dressing of timber in the construction of building.

Often misnamed as the "Maori axe", the adze head was attached to a wooden handle and used in a similar fashion to the present-day adze.

The axe as we know it appears not to have been used by the Maori before the coming of the Europeans.