A wedge is a triangular shaped tool , a portable inclined plane , and one of the six simple machines . It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converting a force applied to its blunt end into forces perpendicular ( normal ) to its inclined surfaces. The mechanical advantage of a wedge is given by the ratio of the length of its slope to its width. Although a short wedge with a wide angle may do a job faster, it requires more force than a long wedge with a narrow angle.
31-488: A wedge is a triangular-shaped simple machine. Wedge , The Wedge , or Wedges may also refer to: Wedge The force is applied on a flat, broad surface. This energy is transported to the pointy, sharp end of the wedge, hence the force is transported. The wedge simply transports energy in the form of friction and collects it to the pointy end, consequently breaking the item. Wedges have existed for thousands of years. They were first made of simple stone. Perhaps
62-544: A spoon chisel , which is bent, with the bevel on both sides. To increase the force, stone chisels are often hit with club hammers , a heavier type of hammer. Masonry chisels are typically heavy, with a relatively dull head that wedges and breaks, rather than cuts. Often used as a demolition tool, they may be mounted on a hammer drill , jackhammer , or hammered manually, usually with a heavy hammer of three pounds or more. These chisels normally have an SDS , SDS-MAX , or 1-1/8" Hex connection. Types of masonry chisels include
93-470: A "sweep number" is specified that expresses the part of a circle defined by the curve of the blade. The sweep number usually ranges from #1, or flat, up to #9, a semi-circle, with additional specialized gouges at higher numbers, such as the U-shaped #11, and a v-tool or parting tool, which may be an even higher number such as #41. In addition to sweep, gouges are also specified by the distance from one edge of
124-524: A U-shaped cross-section. Chisel comes from the Old French cisel , modern ciseau , Late Latin cisellum , a cutting tool, from caedere , to cut. Chisels are common in the archeological record. Chisel-cut materials have also been found. Woodworking chisels range from small hand tools for tiny details, to large chisels used to remove big sections of wood, in 'roughing out' the shape of a pattern or design. Typically, in woodcarving , one starts with
155-399: A craftsperson to cut into areas that may not be possible with a regular, straight-bladed gouge. The cutting shape of a gouge may also be held in an adze , roughly as the shape of a modern-day mattock. Gouges are used in woodworking and arts. For example, a violin luthier uses gouges to carve the violin, a cabinetmaker may use it for running flutes or paring curves, or an artist may produce
186-447: A larger tool, and gradually progresses to smaller tools to finish the detail. One of the largest types of chisel is the slick , used in timber frame construction and wooden shipbuilding. There are many types of woodworking chisels used for specific purposes, such as: Woodturners use a woodworking gouge or chisel designed to cut wood as it is spun on a lathe . These tools have longer handles for more leverage, needed to counteract
217-421: A pair of tongs . This tool is also often used in combination with a "top fuller" type of hotcut, when the piece being cut is particularly large. Stone chisels are used to carve or cut stone, bricks or concrete slabs. To cut, as opposed to carve, a brick bolster is used; this has a wide, flat blade that is tapped along the cut line to produce a groove, then hit hard in the centre to crack the stone. Sculptors use
248-405: A very smooth finish is not required or when the work cannot be done easily with other tools, such as a hacksaw , file, bench shears or power tools. The name cold chisel comes from its use by blacksmiths to cut metal while it was cold as compared to other tools they used to cut hot metal. Because cold chisels are used to form metal, they have a less-acute angle to the sharp portion of the blade than
279-410: A woodworking chisel. This gives the cutting edge greater strength at the expense of sharpness. Cold chisels come in a variety of sizes, from fine engraving tools that are tapped with very light hammers, to massive tools that are driven with sledgehammers . Cold chisels are forged to shape and hardened and tempered (to a blue colour) at the cutting edge. The head of the chisel is chamfered to slow down
310-444: Is the application of the same force over a wider area of the material to be separated. Other examples of wedges are found in drill bits , which produce circular holes in solids. The two edges of a drill bit are sharpened, at opposing angles, into a point and that edge is wound around the shaft of the drill bit. When the drill bit spins on its axis of rotation, the wedges are forced into the material to be separated. The resulting cut in
341-602: Is the product of force and movement, the wedge amplifies the force by reducing the movement. This amplification, or mechanical advantage is the ratio of the input speed to output speed. For a wedge, this is given by 1/tanα, where α is the tip angle. The faces of a wedge are modeled as straight lines to form a sliding or prismatic joint . The origin of the wedge is not known. In ancient Egyptian quarries , bronze wedges were used to break away blocks of stone used in construction. Wooden wedges that swelled after being saturated with water were also used. Some indigenous peoples of
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#1732798196822372-495: The Americas used antler wedges for splitting and working wood to make canoes , dwellings and other objects. Wedges are used to lift heavy objects, separating them from the surface upon which they rest. Consider a block that is to be lifted by a wedge. As the wedge slides under the block, the block slides up the sloped side of a wedge. This lifts the weight F B of the block. The horizontal force F A needed to lift
403-454: The blade into some material to cut it. The driving force may be applied by pushing by hand, or by using a mallet or hammer . In industrial use, a hydraulic ram or falling weight (' trip hammer ') may be used to drive a chisel into the material. A gouge is a type of chisel that serves to carve small pieces from the material; particularly in woodworking , woodturning and sculpture . Gouges most frequently produce concave surfaces and have
434-446: The blade to the other (this corresponds to the chord of the circle section defined by the edge of the blade). Putting these pieces together, two numbers are used to specify the shape of the cutting edge of a gouge, such as a '#7-20mm'. Some manufacturers provide charts with the sweeps of their blades shown graphically. In addition to varying blade sweeps, bevels, and widths, blade variations include: All of these specialized gouges allow
465-426: The block is obtained by considering the velocity of the wedge v A and the velocity of the block v B . If we assume the wedge does not dissipate or store energy, then the power into the wedge equals the power out. Or The velocity of the block is related to the velocity of the wedge by the slope of the side of the wedge. If the angle of the wedge is α then which means that the mechanical advantage Thus,
496-402: The bottom of the door and the wedge, and the wedge and the floor (or other surface). The mechanical advantage or MA of a wedge can be calculated by dividing the height of the wedge by the wedge's width: The more acute , or narrow, the angle of a wedge, the greater the ratio of the length of its slope to its width, and thus the more mechanical advantage it will yield. A wedge will bind when
527-590: The cutting edge to provide clearance. The round nose chisel is used for cutting semi-circular grooves for oil ways in bearings. The diamond point chisel is used for cleaning out corners or difficult places and pulling over centre punch marks wrongly placed for drilling. Although the vast majority of cold chisels are made of steel, a few are manufactured from beryllium copper , for use in special situations where non- sparking tools are required. Cold chisels are predominantly used in Repoussé and chasing processes for
558-634: The development of knives for those kinds of tasks. The blade of the knife allowed humans to cut meat, fibers, and other plant and animal materials with much less force than it would take to tear them apart by simply pulling with their hands. Other examples are plows , which separate soil particles, scissors which separate fabric, axes which separate wood fibers, and chisels and planes which separate wood. Wedges, saws and chisels can separate thick and hard materials, such as wood, solid stone and hard metals and they do so with much less force, waste of material, and with more precision, than crushing , which
589-399: The end of its blade , for carving or cutting a hard material (e.g. wood , stone , or metal ). The tool can be used by hand, struck with a mallet , or applied with mechanical power . The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind ). Chiselling use involves forcing
620-436: The fabrication of bronze and aluminium sculptures . A hot chisel is used to cut metal that has been heated in a forge to soften the metal. One type of hot chisel is the hotcut hardy , which is used in an anvil hardy hole with the cutting edge facing up. The hot workpiece to be cut is placed over the chisel and struck with a hammer. The hammer drives the workpiece into the chisel, which allows it to be snapped off with
651-401: The first example of a wedge is the hand axe (see also Olorgesailie ), which is made by chipping stone, generally flint , to form a bifacial edge, or wedge. A wedge is a simple machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force and movement of the workpiece. The available power is limited by the effort of the person using the tool, but because power
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#1732798196822682-434: The following: A plugging chisel has a tapered edge for cleaning out hardened mortar . The chisel is held with one hand and struck with a hammer. The direction of the taper in the blade determines if the chisel cuts deep or runs shallow along the joint. In leather work , a chisel is a tool used to punch holes in a piece leather. The chisel has between one and seven (or possibly more) tines that are carefully placed along
713-453: The formation of the mushroom shape caused by hammering and is left soft to avoid brittle fracture splintering from hammer blows. There are four common types of cold chisels. These are the flat chisel , the most widely known type, which is used to cut bars and rods to reduce surfaces and to cut sheet metal that is too thick or difficult to cut with tin snips . The cross cut chisel is used for cutting grooves and slots. The blade narrows behind
744-444: The grain. A narrow wedge with a relatively long taper , used to finely adjust the distance between objects is called a gib, and is commonly used in machine tool adjustment. The tips of forks and nails are also wedges, as they split and separate the material into which they are pushed or driven; the shafts may then hold fast due to friction. The blade is a compound inclined plane, consisting of two inclined planes placed so that
775-434: The line where the holes are desired, and then the top of the chisel is struck with a hammer until the tines penetrate the leather. They are then withdrawn, and the leather worker then stitches through the resulting holes. A modern gouge is similar to a chisel except its blade edge is not flat, but instead is curved or angled in cross-section. The modern version is generally hafted inline, the blade and handle typically having
806-401: The material is in the direction of rotation of the drill bit, while the helical shape of a bit allows the removal of the cut material. Wedges can also be used to hold objects in place, such as engine parts ( poppet valves ), bicycle parts ( stems and eccentric bottom brackets ), and doors . A wedge-type door stop (door wedge) functions largely because of the friction generated between
837-462: The planes meet at one edge. When the edge where the two planes meet is pushed into a solid or fluid substance, it overcomes the resistance of materials to separate by transferring the force exerted against the material into two opposing forces normal to the faces of the blade. The blade's first known use by humans was the sharp edge of a flint stone that was used to cleave or split animal tissue, e.g. cutting meat. The use of iron or other metals led to
868-406: The same long axis. If the bevel of the blade is on the outer surface of the curve the gouge is called an 'outcannel' gouge, otherwise it is known as an 'incannel' gouge. Gouges with angled rather than curved blades are often called 'V-gouges' or 'vee-parting tools'. The blade geometry is defined by a semi-standardized numbering system that varies by manufacturer and country of origin. For each gouge
899-406: The smaller the angle α the greater the ratio of the lifting force to the applied force on the wedge. This is the mechanical advantage of the wedge. This formula for mechanical advantage applies to cutting edges and splitting operations, as well as to lifting. They can also be used to separate objects, such as blocks of cut stone. Splitting mauls and splitting wedges are used to split wood along
930-473: The tendency of the tool to react to the downward force of the spinning wood being cut or carved. In addition, the angle and method of sharpening is different. Chisels used in metal work can be divided into two main categories: hot chisels and cold chisels. A cold chisel is a tool made of tempered steel used for cutting 'cold' metals, meaning that they are not used in conjunction with heating torches, forges, etc. Cold chisels are used to remove waste metal when
961-419: The wedge included angle is less than the arctangent of the coefficient of friction between the wedge and the material. Therefore, in an elastic material such as wood, friction may bind a narrow wedge more easily than a wide one. This is why the head of a splitting maul has a much wider angle than that of an axe. Chisels A chisel is a wedged hand tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge on