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1700's tools
- Thread starter Xtramad
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The Shelburne Museum in Vermont published a book that had a vast number of all sorts of tools. Check out the library or Amazon - I think it was simply called "The Shelburne Museum of Tools" or something similar. Maybe a Google search is in order...
You might try Google with "Roy Underhill"+"Tools".
There seemed to be a number of "hits" which might be of interest to you.
Roy Underhill is mainly into woodworking however his work is all done with antique tools and equipment, and his methods are all based on using tools/methods from the 18th and 19th century.
He has written a number of books about the methods used in the past.
The local PBS type TV station used to show his TV shows on Saturday. Truly amazing (to me) for instance to watch him hand cut dovetails and assemble them and they fit as good if not better than modern jigs and routers can do!
On several of his shows he built a small log cabin showing how it was done, from falling the trees to building the stick/daub fireplace to pegging the doorjam to thatching the roof.
There seemed to be a number of "hits" which might be of interest to you.
Roy Underhill is mainly into woodworking however his work is all done with antique tools and equipment, and his methods are all based on using tools/methods from the 18th and 19th century.
He has written a number of books about the methods used in the past.
The local PBS type TV station used to show his TV shows on Saturday. Truly amazing (to me) for instance to watch him hand cut dovetails and assemble them and they fit as good if not better than modern jigs and routers can do!
On several of his shows he built a small log cabin showing how it was done, from falling the trees to building the stick/daub fireplace to pegging the doorjam to thatching the roof.
I did a search on those names and a lot of interesting sites came up. I thought it was only me who was facinated with old tools, but there are serious collectors out there. :shocking:
Anyway, I looked at the Williamsburg sight and it seems tools have changed little through the centuries. I think I can get hold of some mid-nineteenth century tools at antique fairs for a resonable price. Some tools are more expensive new than as antiques. These are mostly the same type as used in the 1700's, so they should do nicely at reenactments and other public events where I can get some publicity for my gun restoration business. It's just a hobby with a few paying projects at the moment, but if I could do this for a living I'd be smiling from ear to ear. ::
Anyway, I looked at the Williamsburg sight and it seems tools have changed little through the centuries. I think I can get hold of some mid-nineteenth century tools at antique fairs for a resonable price. Some tools are more expensive new than as antiques. These are mostly the same type as used in the 1700's, so they should do nicely at reenactments and other public events where I can get some publicity for my gun restoration business. It's just a hobby with a few paying projects at the moment, but if I could do this for a living I'd be smiling from ear to ear. ::
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For the most part, many hand tools were perfected centuries ago. Since I am a blacksmith by trade, old tools interest me and the London pattern anvil is a good example of a design that was pretty much established by the 1700's. The two horn European anvil dates back even farther and remnants of fire tongs have been found in Norse graves dating to the first millennia AD. The problem with the really old stuff is damage from use and the elements. However, since most trades were passed down, sometimes a woodworker's treasure chest from a few hundred years ago can be found with planes, chisels, etc. Good luck on your hunt...
Doc Arroyo
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I don't have a list of sites, but I do have a favorite book.
Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry is a great addition to most libraries. Dover offers a reprint that is available at a reasonable cost!
Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry is a great addition to most libraries. Dover offers a reprint that is available at a reasonable cost!
This site lists a bunch of reference books on antique hand tools.
http://www.mjdtools.com/books/referenc.htm
http://www.patented-antiques.com/
Here's a site that has some very nice images of tools. It takes some poking around (when you pull up a selection you have to page down through lots of 'verbage"). Most tools are 1800 to early 1900's , but there are some oldies mixed in.
Awful hard to date wood and iron tools that were not dated and had no "patent" name or number, I'm thinkin.
samples:
Saw tooth pot trammel
Bowl Adz
3-bladed Fleem (medicinal "bleeder" - Who says they were the "good old days"?)
http://www.mjdtools.com/books/referenc.htm
http://www.patented-antiques.com/
Here's a site that has some very nice images of tools. It takes some poking around (when you pull up a selection you have to page down through lots of 'verbage"). Most tools are 1800 to early 1900's , but there are some oldies mixed in.
Awful hard to date wood and iron tools that were not dated and had no "patent" name or number, I'm thinkin.
samples:
Saw tooth pot trammel
Bowl Adz
3-bladed Fleem (medicinal "bleeder" - Who says they were the "good old days"?)
That book link was great. I found several books there that were interesting. A few of them I got to have and some of them I want to have, but I can only afford a couple.
Both I and my wife are book fanatics so we are running out of places to put bookshelves. Well, I guess I can buy another bookshelf for the bedroom. Just one more.
They have the strangest books at that website
Both I and my wife are book fanatics so we are running out of places to put bookshelves. Well, I guess I can buy another bookshelf for the bedroom. Just one more.
They have the strangest books at that website
LOL. I understand completely. My wife and I (well, mostly "I") just converted a bedroom off the living room into a dedicated library. What a luxury. Two desks, four chairs and books, books, books. (And one F&I War style scrimshawed powderhorn she isn't complaigning about). I even found an old "sea chest" to put odd, loose magazines in. (Actually, it's an old toy chest, but it has rope handles).
Our bed has a bookcase headboard and two walls of our bedroom have a full-length bookshelfs above head level, and then there's still a large bookshelf on one wall. Prior to the library my desk was stacked abouth three feet high with books. Now I can actually put a lamp on top of it!
Now if I only had the time to read some of them.
If you would like to see some 19-20th century gunsmith tools (they haven't really changed much from the 18th century, go to the Frazier Arms Museum in Louisville, KY. The museum purchased the whole shebang from a farm in Calif. and has everything displayed including the rifling machine. It's well worth the admission price and I spent a total of 6 hours there (7 if you include the 1 hour visit from the previous day. I left and came back several weeks later to finish it). Parking is only $2 around the corner and there's an attendant to collect the $ (which means your car won't be burglarized).
