Hurdle Making Tools

bill hook
A short-handled axe with a long cutting face, sometimes curved at the end, and made in many different patterns. The handle is often caulked, that is, swollen on the lower side at the foot, to prevent the tool from flying out of the hand in use. Though mainly used for cutting and laying hedges, and for faggoting, it is also frequently used in woodland trades for harvesting thinner material, splitting poles when making hurdles, and for pointing stakes.
Tool makers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as William Gilpin and Issac Nash, listed up to 100 different types of this tool, and even today makers supply a wide range. Before the factories took over, workers bought their tools from a local tool-smith. Also known as a hand bill, or bill.
hurdle maker's brace
Similar to an ordinary carpenter's brace, with an especially long head and an extra long foot to carry the thumbscrew chuck. The extra length enables the hurdle maker to work without too much stooping when the work is laid on the ground or on a low bench.
hurdle mould
This is a half log or square balk about 7' long and 6-8" wide, slightly curved in plan. Ten holes are bored in the top, the end holes being 6' apart, the others spaced equally between them. The vertical sails are stuck into these holes which enables the horizontal rods to be woven in and out of them. When built in a curved mould, the hurdles are said to be less liable to twist or wind when the material dries.
maul
A iron bat-shaped tool, 7-10" long, with one edge thicker than the other, and tapering towards the eye or knob serving as a handle. Used for beating down the weave during the course of making a basket. When a ring is provided at the handle end, this can be used as a commander for straightening stakes. The tool appears on the arms of the Company of Basket Makers of London, established in 1569. Also known as a beating iron.
mortising axe
A double-bladed tool, 11-15" across the head, with a short handle. One end of the blade is a pointed triangular knife with a thick back; the other end is chisel shaped. It is used for cutting mortices in the heads, instead of using a chisel. Holes are bored at each end of the mortice and the wood between them cut with the knife along the grain; the other end picks out the wood. Also known as a mortising knife, tomahawk or twybill.
mortising stool
A homemade stool about 5' long and 2' high, designed to hold the heads of gate hurdles when drilling and mortising.
shepherd's bar
This a heavy iron crow bar used for making a hole in the ground to take posts for hurdles and for "dibbling" holes to take the feet of the hurdles themselves. The point is swollen to prevent its sticking in the ground. The hollow depression above the point is used for hammering the tops of stakes. Also called a poll prytch, fold shore, fold drift, or fold pitcher.