This adze is made from Rimu and the stone is 'Blue Inanga' green stone. The adze is a cutting tool shaped somewhat like an axe that dates back to the stone age. It can be any tool with a sharp cutting edge. Adzes are used for smoothing or carving wood in hand woodworking, similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze, a short handled tool swung with one hand, and a foot adze, a long handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. The blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool's shaft (like a hoe or plane), in contrast to an axes blade, which is in plane with the shaft. 

When the ancestors of the Māori first arrived in New Zealand from East Polynesia, around 1250 to 1300 AD, they found a wide variety of rock types suitable for making tools, ornaments and other items. They were familiar with some materials like basalt and chert (or flint) but not with others, such as pounamu (New Zealand jade, greenstone – nephrite or bowenite). Within perhaps 50–100 years the main sources of suitable stone were known, and several major centres of stone-tool manufacture were established. In the 1300s, Māori were transporting both finished tools and selected raw materials around the country.

The carving on this adze represents the Kotuku (White Heron).