A twybil is a hand tool used in green woodworking, chiefly for chopping out mortises when timber framing or shaping smaller pieces such as gate parts, combining a chopping action with a levering action in one implement. It looks like a T-shaped double-edged axe with unusually long blades and a short handle, but that appearance is deceptive: a twybil actually derives from a large double-ended chisel with a side handle added for control, and its long straight blades make it unworkable as an actual axe.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa)In use by the 18th century (depicted in Diderots Encyclopedie) 1 Earliest depiction noted in the cited source; the tool may be older. OriginName traced to Old English twibile (twy- meaning two); the Oxford Dictionaries record the spelling as twibill 1 Sources
1. Twybil (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationConstruction section
Diderot's Encyclopédie of the 18th century shows a bisaiguë in use for paring end grain of a large joint
Naming section, Oxford Dictionaries citation
The Oxford Dictionaries, however, define the spelling as twibill, from the Old English, twibile.
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