The Goan 'Picaas' (Pick-axe)
Line Drawing by Tony Fernandes
A mid-sized implement for a lot of jobs.
Forged by professional local master craftsmen and iron-smiths of yesteryear, the pick-axe is a handy tool used in many village households, and also in the construction and agricultural sector in Goa. Mainly used in stone quarries for cutting out and shaping the initial rough form of commonly used laterite stones. for building houses, schools, churches, temples, bridges, river-side embankments, forts, government and commercial buildings, compound walls, and especially for wedged shapes and circular segments used for arches and round wells by professional masons.
The shape of this tool is generally T-shaped. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood. It has a pointed end on one side of its head and a broad flat blade opposite. A gradual curve characteristically spans the length of the head which gives it the advantage and leverage both for breaking and prying from both ends. The axe is used for hoeing, skimming, and chopping through roots.It is also used in mining and digging in hard rocky terrain and other tough earth surfaces.
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