Toki-ualoa (adze)

This toki (adze) is a toki-ualoa, a long-handled adze used for carving areas difficult to access, such as the interior of deep wooden bowls and the interior 'V' sides of a vaka (canoe). It has a steel blade lashed to the foot of a V-shaped handle with sennit (coconut husk fibre) cord.

Origins

This toki-ualoa is one of a set of ten toki made in Porirua, New Zealand. They were manufactured under the supervision of the late Fuli Fati, a respected Tokelauan tufuga (cultural expert). For Tokelauan communities, tufuga are custodians of specialist cultural knowledge. Fuli's grandsons Jack Kirifi and Kupa Kupa made the handles from fallen willows near a local stream and the blades from steel chisels. The sennit lashing material came from Tokelau. Making the toki helped Fuli's grandsons to take on Fuli's knowledge and enhanced their sense of identity as Tokelauans.

Materials

Toki have three parts - the kau toki (handle), the lau toki (blade) and the lau kafa (lashing) - and are classified into types according to size and purpose. Before extensive European contact, Tokelauans usually made the blades from tridacna shell, a species of large clam. There is no stone on the coral atolls of Tokelau for the manufacture of toki and other woodworking tools, but occasionally Tokelauan seafarers brought back stone blades from Samoa. After the first encounters with Europeans, metal blades were also used. The durability and greater effectiveness of metal made it a sensible and popular choice among carvers simply because it made life easier.

Continuing craft

In Tokelau, toki are used in the manufacture of vaka and other wooden articles such as tuluma (fishing tackle boxes) and kumete (bowls). Tokelauans in New Zealand make toki to ensure the continuation of their customary crafts, as well as for use around their homes and work places.