frow

The froe (also spelled frow) is an L-shaped tool: a long blade set perpendicular to a handle. The user strikes the back of the blade with a mallet to start a split, then twists the handle to lever the wood apart along the grain. The word comes from Middle English froward, meaning "turned away"—the blade is turned away from the handle, at a right angle. Some etymologists connect it to Old English fro, "from," describing the action of prying wood apart.

Splitting wood with a froe produces boards, shingles, and staves that follow the natural grain of the tree. This matters structurally. A sawn board cuts across fibers randomly, weakening the wood. A riven (split) board follows the fibers continuously, preserving their full strength. This is why split oak shingles last decades longer than sawn ones—the grain is unbroken, and water runs along it rather than into it.

The froe was the primary tool of the riven-wood trades: shingle making, barrel-stave production, lath-splitting, and clapboard manufacturing. In colonial America, a skilled shingle maker could produce 500 shingles a day with a froe and a mallet. The tool required no sharpening in the traditional sense—the edge needed to be blunt enough to split rather than cut. A dull froe works better than a sharp one.

The froe nearly disappeared after the invention of the circular saw in the late 18th century. Sawn lumber was faster to produce, even if weaker. But the green woodworking revival of the late 20th century brought the froe back. Chairmakers, basket weavers, and timber framers rediscovered that splitting produces superior material. The tool that predates the saw may also outlast it.