Ancient Egyptian Tools ... Copper Tools.

Copper may have superseded other ancient Egyptian tools such as the more primitive wood and stone, but it was a far more expensive and labour intensive material to use.

It could not be cut down and shaped like wood. It could not be easily found and knocked into shape like a flint stone. But, eventually the benefits of copper outweighed the effort required to produce it.

Copper load of these ancient Egyptian tools.

The many copper artifacts discovered by archaeologists and Egyptologists shows how versatile this metal was.

Some tools included: needles, saws, scissors, pincers, axes, adzes, harpoons and knives.

Copper was soft and did not have the durability of stone or wood, but the Egyptians persevered with it anyway and it brought results in the long term.

One of the best examples of how copper could be used in ways wood and stone could not was the barbed fishing hook. Only a light thin metal could be shaped into such a handy tool for fishing

Once the Egyptians had the knack for making copper tools they could make longer knives and thinner sewing needles.

Drilling into history.

An interesting tool, that does suffer from a lack of evidence, in ancient Egypt was the coring drill.

Holes and cored impressions have been found in places such as the step pyramid at Saqquara and the Great Pyramid ( on the King's sarcophagus). These could only have been made with a coring tool of some kind.

The drill bit would have been a cylindrical copper tube. The bow drill, usually reserved for carpentry and starting fires would most likely have powered it.

Sharp sets of Teeth.

Copper was used in a range of woodworking tools.

Saws, adze blades and chisels are some ancient Egypt artifacts that have been discovered.

Set in a wooden handle, the blades of a saw were curved and had a round blunt nose. Each of the teeth was pressed over in the same direction. This is different to modern saws where the teeth alternate in direction.

The short saw evolved by the end of the old kingdom. It became a longer saw with a pointy end and a metal handle. The teeth were pressed back toward the handle so it was used in a pull-only action. The idea was to rip down the long grain of the timber.

This longer pull-saw had more leverage as was designed to be used with two hands.

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