Here’s some images from a short eBook on woodworking by Peter C. Welsh. A quick read with some good stuff in it.
Not just eye candy, there is good information contained in this study of tools. But really, I’m just in it for the tool porn.
I particularly like the comparison of tools owned and used by actual people. For instance, in a Virginia workshop of 1709:
“John Crost, a Virginian, owned, in addition to sundry shoemaking and agricultural implements, a dozen gimlets, chalklines, bung augers, a dozen turning tools and mortising chisels, several dozen planes (ogees, hollows and rounds, and plows), several augers, a pair of 2-foot rules, a spoke shave, lathing hammers, a lock saw, three files, compasses, paring chisels, a jointer’s hammer, three handsaws, filling axes, a broad axe, and two adzes.”
A man could get a lot done with that tool kit.
In 1827, a Middleborough, Massachusetts, a carpenter lists his tools and their value. This is likely a representative set of tools for an actual tradesman of the time.
1 set bench planes $6.00
1 Broad Axe 3.00
1 Adze 2.25
1 Panel saw 1.50
1 Panel saw 1.58
1 fine do— 1.58
1 Drawing knife .46
1 Trying square .93
1 Shingling hatchet .50
1 Hammer .50
1 Rabbet plane .83
1 Halving do .50
1 Backed fine saw 1.25
1 Inch augre .50
1 pr. dividers or compasses— .71
1 Panel saw for splitting 2.75
1 Tennon gauge 1.42
1 Bevel .84
1 Bradd Hammer .50
1 Architect Book 6.50
1 Case Mathematical Instruments 3.62-1⁄2
1 Panel saw 2.75
1 Grafting saw 1.00
1 Bench screw 1.00
1 Stamp 2.50
1 Double joint rule .62-1⁄2
1 Sash saw 1.12-1⁄2
1 Oil Can .17
1 Brace & 36 straw cold bits 9.00
1 Window Frame tool 4.00
1 Blind tool 1.33
1 Glue Kettle .62-1⁄2
1 Grindstone without crank 1.75
1 Machine for whetting saws .75
1 Tennoning machine 4.50
Drafting board and square Bevel— 1.25
1 Noseing sash plane with templets & copes 4.50
1 pr. clamps for clamping doors 2.17
1 Set Bench Planes—double irons.— 7.50
1 Grindstone 300 lbs @ 6.25
1 Stove for shop—$7.25, one elbow .37 & 40
lbs second hand pipe $4.00 11.62
1 Bed moulding 2.00
1 Pr. shears for cutting tin.— .17
1 Morticing Machine 10.75
1 Grecian Ovilo 1.13
1-3⁄16 beed .67
1 Spirit level 2.25
1 Oil stone .42
1 Small trying square .48
1 pareing chisel .37
1 Screw driver .29
1 Bench screw .75
1 Box rule .50
1-3⁄4 Augre .41
11 Gouges 1.19
13 Chisels 1.17
1 small iron vice .52
1 pr. Hollow Rounds .86
4 Framing chisels 1.05
1 Grove plough & Irons—Sold at 4.50 5.00
1 Sash plane for 1-1⁄4 stuff 1.50
1 Copeing plane .67
1 Bead 1⁄4— .75
1 Bead 3⁄4 1.00
1 Rabbet (Sold at .92) .92
1 Smooth plane 1.50
1 Strike Block .92
1 Compass saw .42
6 Gauges 1.83
1 Dust brush .25
1 Rasp, or wood file .25
1 Augre 2 in. .76
1 Augre 1 in. .40
1 Do 3⁄4 .30
1 Spoke shave .50
1 Bevel— .25
1 Box rule .84
1 Iron square 1.42
1 Box rule 1.25
1 Spur Rabbet (Sold—1.17) 1.33
1 Pannel plane 1.25
1 Sash plane 1.25
1 pr. Match planes 2.25
1 Two inch chisel or firmer— .42
1 Morticing chisel 3⁄8 .25
1 Large screw driver 1.00
1 Pr. small clamps .50
1 pr. Spring dividers .92
1 do-nippers .20
1 Morticing chisel 1⁄2 in. .28
1 Ovilo & Ostrigal 3⁄4— 1.25
1 Scotia & Ostrigal 5⁄8— 1.08
1 Noseing— 1.08
1 Pr. Hollow & rounds 1.33
1 Ogee— 1⁄2 inch 1.00
1 Ostrigal 7⁄8 inch 1.00
1 Bit— .15
1 Beed 1⁄2 inch .83
1 Claw hammer .67
1 Fillister 2.50
2 Beeds at 5⁄8 1.83
1 Pair Quirk tools 1.50
1 Side Rabbet plane .83
1 Large steel tongued sq. 1.71
1 Saw & Pad .67
1 pr. fire stones .50
1 small trying sq. .50
1 Set Bench planes double ironed without smooth plane 6.00
1 Bench screw .75
from “A Yankee Carpenter and His Tools,” The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association (July 1953), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 33–34.
I could ponder this list for a long time and find only a few things to add from our modern arsenal of gadgets and labor-savers.
Overall, Welsh does a decent job of outlining the changes in woodworking tools over the last three centuries, and provides great period illustrations too. Read the complete book for free HERE.
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 