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TOOLSby tric Sloane

Illustrated by the author

Collectors of Americana have long been

asking for a book about early tools and thewooden artifacts that our forefathers rhade

with them. Except for Eric Sloane's ownAmericana series, there are only one or twosuch books

"Would Sloane simply sketch the imple-ments that adorn his museumlike studioand describe them briefly? It would be likea personal visit to Weather Hill. " Sloane

liked our suggestion, and A MUSEUM Otr'

EARTY AMERICAN TOOLS presents hispen-and-ink sketches of more than a hun-dred such folk tools and artifacts. Thissketchbook will long be a "must" on everyantiquarian bookshelf, a textbook for thehistorian, and a handbook for all those wholove the EarlyAmerican theme. Sloane gave

himself ninety days to do both drawingsand text, and the result is spontaneouslyfresh, informal, direct, and expressive. Hewrites and sketches for his reading audi-ence in the casual way that he chats withhis visitors.

A MUSEUMof €arly American

(c'ontinued on back flap)

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BOOKS BY ERIC SLOANE

A Museum of Early American Tools

A B C Book of Early Americana

American Bmns and Covered Bridges

Ameri.can Yesterday

Book of Storms

Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake-t8o5

Eric Sloane's Almanac

Eric Sloane's Weather Book

Folklore of American Weather

Look at tbe Sky lOur V anishing Lands c aP e

Return to Taos: A Sketchbook of Roadside Americana

The Seasons of America Past

MUS UM

LS

FUNK & WAGNALLSNEW YORK

Copyright O tq6+ by Wilfred Funk' Inc.

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 61-1374r

Printed in the United States of America

Published in Canada by

Firzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Toronto

ISBN o-3o8-7oo46-5

ro II rz I3 14 15 t6 r7 t8 t9 20

This sketcbbook is dedicated to the

unrecorded Pioneer Americans who

f ashioned their ousn tools. Abhough

mass production has made tbeir old

tools obsolete, along tt;itb Early American

individualism, th e s e ancient implements

ure symbols of a sincerity, an integrity,

and an excellency that the

unionizecl craftsman of today *)ght do

well to emulate.

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I like the sound of the word museum. Perhaps because the r'r'ord root fe-

fers less to an actual collection of things than to the musing, cogitatiug,

and reflecting that one does while beholding a collectior-r.

Nowadays we use the word museum to identify a big, housed collec-

tion, but in the days of Early America it usually meant a simple library

or some printed collection of facts. There were magazinelike books,

such as ,,N,{erry's Museum," and therc \vcre llewspaperlike publications,

such as ,,The Farmer's Musex,Lm," but the fine word museum has since

drifted from the u'orld of $'riting. Because it is my hobby to fecaPture

what I believe to be the good things of the past, I hope the reader $'ill

accept and en)oy my title, A Museum of Early American Tools'

The *ord magazine was first used to identify rvhat we now might

call a museum; it then meant "storehouse," or "housed collection"

(powder magazine, for instance). And the first printed magazines were

(like the newspapers of that day) printed on one piece of paper and

folded once or perhaps twice-never in the book-form of today's mag-

azine.

In presenting my collection of drawings as a museum' I hope that it

will, like a s.irpbook, induce musing and reflecting, and that it u'ill

draw the reader back into the quite difierent u'orld of Early America'

The rambling sequence of subjects is no accident: I u'ould Iike mv

reader to ,,srfoll" through this book as he u'ould through a musellm'

Wemightregardsomeoftheoldtoolsasclumsyoruglyunlessrvelook at them in terms of the centuly in which they were used' Manv of

roday,s tools would have been considered ugly, clumsy, and completely

undesirable by the early craftsmen. The steel and plastic handles we now

all

have, for example, lack the spring and "feel" of seasoned wood that ex-

perts know. Shovels were made of rvood not because of a lack of metal

(as many assume) but because it was supposed that grain and apples were

harmed by contact with metal. You might think of a rvooden shovel

as being short-lived, yet, although thousands of wooden shovels are to be

'found in antique shops and collections, almost no early metal shovels

remain.

Most of today's tools have the cheapness of mass production; the old

hand-made tools often had design that made them examples of fine art.

Lumber cut and sold as a "two by four" was once an honest tr,l'o inches

by four inches; even today there are people who are shocked to learn

that our lumber, because it is measured before being trimmed and planed,

is sold at a quite untrue measurement. Builders who constructed rooms

rhat were not accurately square (and why should they be?) are now

regarded as slipshod and careless; yet the old buildings have stood the

test much better than will many we are now building, for the ioints and

braces were made with much greater care than today's craftsmen con-

sider "necessary." Floror boards were never the same width at one end

as they were at the other. Quaint or Poor workmanship? Not at all. The

finished efiect is finer than the monotony of today's narrow-width floor

boards. A building pinned together with hand-whittled wooden pins?

We don't have to do that sort of thing today! But if we built for last-

ingness and for handing down to future genelations we would do so,

for wooden pins work much better than nails: they hold tighter, they

don't rust and rot the beams. ?

While I was putting this book together, my neighbor bought a good

new saw and left it out overnight in the dew. Its shiny newness had

given way to the orange of rust, and he telephoned me to ask for help

in removing it. I took it to clean and loaned him one of my early saws

ro use in the meantime. The old sa\r' was one I found in the stone wall

of an ancient barn. It is still sharp and clean of rust.

And so it goes. The craftsman of yesterday might look like a poorly

informed man only before we take a longer and a better look. His tools

might appear pathetically poor, but his ways were honest and lasting

and beautiful to an extent that is today deemed over and above require-

ments. How poor and dishonest and ugly and ternpotaty fie the results

aiii

of so many modern u,orkers $'hose constallt aim is mole to make the

-or, *orriy from their profession instead of producing the most honest

and beautiful and lasting things. I feel that a good rvav of studying the

conscience and personality of the anonymous pioneer American-so

rhat I may .-ulri. some of his ways-is by collecting and analyzing the

tools with which he worked.

As d collector of early tools, I harte also been a collector of infonna-

tion'Antiqueimplementshaueapricetdgolcthern,butfortbein-f ormation that has been priceless dnd grdtis,l arn indebted to the men at

D oy le stott;n, Shelburne, W interthur, C o oper sto'u\\ ) Stur brid ge' W il-

liamsburg, and sangu.s. I leanrccl much frorn t"d)o excellent books,

Mercer's Ancient carpenters' Tools and I(ildttttg's woodrl'orking

Tools, and from the Early American lndustries Associatiott's publicntiort,

The chronicle' Eric sloane

Weather Hill

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tuAuthor's Note 'uii

The Romance of Tools 2

Crude Shops, Magnifi'cent Resubs IAn Ax ls an Axe! to

A World of Axes t2

The Broad Axe t4How the Broad Axe {4/as Used 16

A Giant and a Midget t IThe Hatchet 20

Hammers 22

The Axe and the Log House 24

The Adze z6

Canoes and Bowls z8

Wedges andFroes 30

The Fine Art of SPlitting 32

Tools uith Legs 34

The American Horse 36

For Making "Snitzels" 38

Little Shavers and Big 40

The Days of River Raf ting 42

Tools of the River Lumberman 44

Of Cider and APPIe Butter 46

To Remove Bark 48

x

Tv;o Heads Are lletter Than One

The Chisel t2Chisels and Gouges t4Planes t6, 64

The Mouldirtg Plane y8

The Rabbet 6o

The Plou: 6z

Early American Satvs 66

A Gallery of Frame Sau;s 68

The Biggest Sauss 70

To Make a Hole 72

To Make a Hole Bigger 74

To ,Make a Bigger Hole 76

The B'race or Bitstock 78

The Things You'll Find in a Born!

Some Were Special 84

These Were Tools Too! 86

lacks 88

The Blucksmith 90

Wrotrght Nailmaking 92

Tanners and Curriers g4

Abotrt W lseels 96

It's All in the trf ay Y ou Hit lt 98

Hay Implements too

I{nives ond Grass t02

Fourtd in the Barn t04

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Finding an ancient tool in a stone fence or in a dark corner of some de-

caying barn is receiving a symbol from another world, for it gives you a

particular and interesting contact lr'ith the past. Men used to build and

create as much for future generations as for their own needs, so their

tools have a special message for us and our time. lVhen you hold an

early implement, r,r,hen you close your hand over the woln wooden

handle, you know exactly horv it felt to the craftsman wrrosc hand had

smoothed it to its riqh patina. In that instant you are as close to that

craftsman as you can be-even closer than if you live in the house that

he built or sit in the chair that he made. In that moment you are neal

to another being in another life, and you are that much richer.

Why an ancient tool should be closer to the early craftsman than a

modern tool is to a modern workman is not readily understood by most

people. Even the ardent collector is sometimes unaware of the reason an

ancient tool meant so much to its user. But reason there is. Henry Ward

Beecher said it nicely when he explained that "a tool is but the extension

of a man's hand." Whereas today's implements are designed with the

idea of "getting a job done quickly," there was an added quality to the

early implements and an added quality to early workmanship too. For,

like the nails on a beast's paws, the old tools rvere so much an extension of

a man's hand or an added appendage to his arm, that the resulting work-

manship seemed to flow directly from the body of the maker and to calry

somerhing of himself into the work. True, by looking at an old house

or an old piece of furniture, you can imagine the maker much more

clearly than you can by beholding anything made today.

The early implement was also a piece of art, as much as the work

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fashioned, for the worker designed his tools too. In Early America theironworkers forged only the cutting blade; they gave no thought to thedesign of the wooden handle and the rest of the finished tool. plane

blades and even knife-blades were har-rd-forged and sold like axe heads,and the craftsman was left to make his own wooden "hand" to hold the"6ngernail," or cutring part. A small hand

'eeded a small ha'dle and a

big hand needed a big handle; the man who used an apprenrice hadnotches in his big plane that enabled the apprentice to help push it alongwith a stick.

A man whose architectural creations followed the Greek or Romantradition rvould find it natural to include Greek or Roman artistictouches in the ornamentation of his implements. Decoration on the earlytool, however, sprang fronr the pridc of the maker rather than from anycustom.

The feeling that certain tools had souls of their ou'n was not unusual;an axe might be marked "Tom" or "Jack" simply because the or,vner feltit was a companion worthy of a pet name. All this sounds strangelysuperstitious. Yet today motor trucks are often named "Sally" or "Babe";boats almost alr,r'ays have names; even large machine tools, such as pressesor bulldozers, are graced with pet names.

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The religious man probably felt that sacred initials or Biblical quota-

dons might have their efiect upon the u'ork done by tl'rat tool. Perhaps

mindful that the carPentel Jesus once rvorked wi h such tools, some of

rhe early rvoodrvorking implements have crosses carved upon them.

one of the finer pieces in a recenr showing of modern aft was a piece

of steel that curved like a bird's r.ving. It was set into a sguare block of

wood and its title\in the catalogue was "Number t76o." The artist had

an even more honest sense of beauty than a sense of humor, for if you

looked closely and rvith an informed eye, you could recognize the piece

as the head of an Early American "goose rving" broad axe' In the back of

the blade, the year r76o had been marked, which, of course, explained

rhe title. To many it was, ar firsr, the most beautiful piece of art there,

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but u'hen they leanred that it u'as onh. an old are head, thev fclt as ifthey had been hoaxed. Hou,, after all, could an axe head be considercd

a work of artl

The Civil W-ar period narkcd a turnir.rg point in tool design, as it didfor so much Amcricana. Before that time, the r,r'ord tool meant an im-plement that could make one thing at a time; mass-production tools then

entered the scene, and the r,r'ord tool, u,hich had mcant only "hand tool,"took on many added meanings. Finally the u.ord tool came to mean anyitem having to do with the production of an itcm; it could be tl're machine

and also the building that housed the rnachine. Even the salesmen, rhe

advertising gadgets, and the business offices are "tools of the trade."Generally speaking, hand tools made after the Civil War period

lacked the simple beauty of those of the ante-bcllum period. Thingswere made to sell quickly, things u'ere made in large quanriries so rhar

they could be catalogued identically, and hand-made implemcnts began

to disappear. Wooden handles becamc "fancier," more curved and orna-

mental, but the severe beauty of folk art and primitive usage rvas losr.

Saw handles became "trickier"; thcy r,vere designed to appeal to the eye

instead of to fit the hand. Ave handles, u'hich had ahvays been almoststraight, as a good club should be, took on curves such as the "fau'nfoot" and the "scroll knob." By rBB5, handles on axes and adzes had

become almost too curved, but by the rgoo's they settled dolvn to a

sensible and standard design, such as that of those you can buy no$' ar

the hardware store.

Before the Civil War, mosr axe handles (like the handles of all tools)were made by the man r,vho would use the axe. A pattern rvas cut froma piece of flat wood and saved as the model from which future handlcs

would be fashioned. Axe patterns (i,vhich you can still find in old barns)were so subtly curved and proportioned that they were as distinctive as a

man's signature; you could take one look and say "This tool belongs to

Jones" or "That tool belongs to Smith." Very often an axe-l-randle pat-tern was handed down from generation to generation, and it r.l'as con-

sidered counterfeit for another family to copy it.

While we are on the subject of the handles of old tools, I rvould liketo point out that the collector should understand something of the phi-losophy about the connection betu.een the 'uvorkman's hand and that

part of a hand tool that he touches. N{ost modern u'orkmen will scoff

at the idea, but any fine craftsman will tell you that the right rvooden

handle (let us say, on a hammer) helps you along with your work. Ametal or plastic handle or even an incorrect u'ooden handle can feel

"dead" and not "spring back" against pressure, thus causing blisters and

slowing your work. The proper handle's "feel" or "heft" is the unex-

plainablc quality that a fine violin has to the musician. The OxfordHistory of Technolagy quotes Christian Barman's comments on an ex-

hibition of early hand tools: "Everybody i,vho appreciates the qualities

of materials loves wood, and here was u.ood formed into a special kind

of tactile sculpture made to be felt rvith the hand. I remembered that

old craftsmen, when they buy a new set of modern chisels, throu' au'ay

the handles and carefully fit their own. These handles, polished bright

by a lifetime of use, became part of their owners' lives."

Always in the fine art of working rvith r,vood, the old-time craftsman's

laboratory was in his head and his hands and his heart. He called it"knack"l some now believe it r,vas a "sixth sense" or an extrasensory

power. Elusive as this "knack" may be, it is the most important part of

those small differences that distinguish the master craftsman from the

good workman.

When r.r'e consider tools, \\'e are dealing with human benefactors of

the most primary soft. Tools increase and vary human Power; they

economize human time, and they convert raw substances into valuable

and useful products. So when we muse on historic tools as symbols, we

are always analyzing the romance of human Progress'Although Early American tools u'ere traditional in design to such an

extent that one can usually tell the nationality of the maker, there are

almost ahvays subtle differences and decorative touches in design that

equally identify the region of American countryside from which the

tool came. A collector can easily tell a piece coming from Pennsylvania

from one originating in Connecticut. This distinctiveness was often in-

tentional; the Early American's urge for identification was born of pride

both in himself and in his time. An extraordinary awaleness of life and

time permeated our early days; when something rvas made and the maker

was satisfied, it rvasn't complete until his mark and the date were added.

Nowadays things are armost obsorere before rhey ls2r. the drarvirgboard. Horv lucky we are that so ma'y of trre old toors a'd trre thingsthat were made rvith them were dated and touched rvith rhe crafrsman,sart.

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After the Civil War, factory-made things became popular and the toolhouse rvas limited to such minor rvork as farm repairs. The Dominy Shop

(shown belorv) was used by Nathaniel Dominy IV (r737-t8rz) and

his son Nathaniel Y (t77o-r852). This entire shop, including manu-

script accounts covering the period from r76z until r829, has been kept

intact at the Henry Francis du Pont \Vinterthur A4useum in Delall'are.

The visitor's first rueaction is usually "What a prirnitive shopl" Yet the

magnificent table standing in the center of the room \\-as made in it.

Cozntesy, Henry Francis dtt Pont Wintertlsnr Mnseuttt

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&&ioqzu4ta-lNo matter how you spell it (both ways are correct), it is natural to start

olT a sketchbook of Early Americau implemeuts u'ith this tool' America

was a neu. world of unending wood rvhere a lllall armed with only a

felling axe could enter the forest and survive. with his axe he could clear

the land of ffees, cut fuel, build a bridge, a housc, and furniture. \'vith

his axe he could fashion snares for garne and, in a pinch, use it to Protect

himself against marauding Indians or wild beasts. No u'onder the first

settlers carried axes in their belts and treated them u'ith a resPect like that

of a soldier toward his su'ord or side arms'

As was true of all first American artifacts, our earliest axes 'uvere likc

those from abroad. They had ri,ell-curved, gracefully fashioned blades,

and they lacked the bulky polls such as those that identify the pure

American design. The heavl poll appears to be for hammering (indeed

it could have been usecl for such), /et it rvas devised to servc as a rveight

to give more momentum to chopping' Felv early polless axes have sur-

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America's r.r'ealth of r,l'ood and her pride in carpenter craftsrnansl-rip

resulted in an amazing array of specialty tools. Early catalogues listed

more than fifty patterns of axe heads alone, all doing the same iobs yet

difiering in design. Farmers and blacksmiths fashioned their own axes

for framing and for mortising the beams of barns (shorvn belorv) or for

felling trees (shown opposite).

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A most essential Early American tool r,vas the chisel-edged broad axe.

Thousands of them are still around, but people seeing this broad axe

often take it for a very big and clumsy felling axe. Because few muscums

bother either to include the tool or to explain its use, fs11' people really

knou, how it u,as used. Acttially, it u'as a kind of plane or striking chisel

that early Americans used for he$'ing round logs into squale beams.

More than tu,ice the size of a felling axc, this tool had a short bcnt

handle protruding outrvard from the side of the axe head u'ith the bcvel

(basil or chisel-slant) on that same side. T$'o hands u'ere used; the proc-

ess was called "squaring" or "hewing"'

The American-style broad axe had a fair-sized squarish head, or poll

(as the other American-style axes did); European types had uone.

Although hand-hewn timbers in old buildings are commonl' called

"adzedbeams," they were usually broad-axed'

Although some odd people hack up beams "to make them appear hand

done,,, the most .rp..a broad-axe man cut the fewest axe marks' and

those that were left were sPaced nicely-never haphazatdly'

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Any old-timer is willing to tell you how to use a broad axe, but each one

is bound to describe a different method. Trying to ferret out the truthI asked everyone who visited *y collection-if the visitor claimed he

knew the art-to demonstrate broad-axing. Some "used to stand upon the

log, hewing as they walked along it." "But you rvouldn't bc able to

reach the log with so short a handlel You'd chop your toes off!" was

my reply. But they insisted, and offered to demonstrate. The doctor

managed to sew one toe back on very nicely.

Actually, a rvalk-along-theJog method u'as used, but with a special

broad axe unlike the ancient ones r,vith bent handles. (This is shorvn on

the following page.) As for the ancient chisel-edged broad axe, vou

rvalked aldngside the log, working as you went. One man would su'ing

horizontalll (with the grain); another rvould hit straight do'uvuward;

another would strike at an angle. As for me, I contend there was tlo gen-

erally accepted procedure. Mercer (in Ancient Carpenters' Tools)

says that the broad axe was usually "held with both hands, right hand

foremost. The leg face was set against the workman's Ieft side and he

hewed with both hands, not longrvays with the grain but diagonallv

dou:nuard across it."

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The straight-handled broad ^xe_a

knife-edged axe beveled on both sides

-was usually used to hew railroad ties. Logging railroads that make their

ties out of sofnvood her,v just tr,r,o sides of the log. A trcc u'as felled at

a slight angle (held at one end by its olvn branches), aud the her,r'er

walked first up and then dorvn, flattening the sides as he r'vent' The satne

axe \4/as used both for scoring and heu'ingl This Process seems difficult

but it was fast.

Because this axe has a straight handle, it is often mistaken for some

re-handled ancient broad axe, glound on tr'vo sides to corlvert it into a

felling axe. The only clue to its true use is that its ponderous head is

much too heavy to sr,ving sider,r'ays as an axe must be s\\'ung in felling'

The sma{lest version of the herving axe is the carpenter's herving

hatchet (belorv). It sometimes looks like a toy model of the big one'

Never used to split u,ood or to drive nails, these hatchets rvere used for

shaping.

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Today's household hatchet began as the "shingling hatcher." This hada flared shape with slightly rounded nail-hammering head and a nail-pulling notch in the bit. Because the first New world roofs r,verethatched, shingling hatchets were unknown ro the early settler. Shinglinghatchets so often fell from roofs being worked on that roofers frequentlyhad them strung for hanging at the wrist.

The "lathing hatchet" is recognizedby its flat outside conrour, madeso nails could be struck near a ceiling without hitting it. If the axe headflared, the flare was on the inside of the bit. It soon became the favoritecarpenter's tool to replace the awkward cooper's hatchet. (See opposite.The cooper rounding off a barrel head is using a cooper's hatchet; noticehow it was held close to its head rather than by the end of its handle.)

The rTgo ,tmerican axe-hatchet (shown belorv) was a miniaturemodel of the square-headed American axe with the poll that outweighedthe bit.

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gfu*orer'-sThe clav'hammer hasn'r changed much since abour 75 A.D. Aside fromits aesthetic qualities, the Roman example shorvn below has a most effi-cient design (r,vhich might do rvell to show up any day now).

The use of nails in the r 6oo's and the r 7oo's was more efficient thenthan now. The early square-cut nails, for instance, had greater holdingpower than our round nails; furthermore, they retarded splitting of thewood. The practice of "clinching" (bending over the protruding point)is now regarded as poor workmanship, but its efficie'cy is obvious. Earlybatten doors rvirh r,r'rought nails on the outside and bcnt points on theinside are cemented together so r.vell that it is next to impossible to prythem apart.

Perhaps the rarity of ancie't iron hammers in America is due to theonce widespread ptactice of using u'ooden mallets to drive in woodennails (tree-nails or trunnels), even rvooden nails of a tiny toothpick size.

Wooden mallets were also used as striking chisels; iron hamm ers, onlyfor metal nails,

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Before we leave the subject of axes, the reader rvill be interested in seeing

just what was expected of the axe. Here are some standard iog-house

notches often made with only the axe.

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The idea of a sharp tool with its blade at a right angle to the handle is

most ancient. The Early American version was swung in the curvature of

the blade, with the arm and tool forming the radius.

Because of its flaring square end, the adze head had to be removable (as

the bevel to be sharpened was on the inside and inaccessible to a grind-

stone). Some of the earliest adzes, however, had nonremovable heads,

which had to be sharpened with a whetstone.

The shipwright's adze had a long peg-poll for driving down broken

nails (and to prevent the blade from being nicked).

As shown below, the right-angle cuts on old beams are make-ready

scorings for broad-axe work, not so-called "adze marks." Only on spe-

cial "parlor beamq" (these were made to be exposed) was the adze

introduced; then the surface effect was from a delicate ripple to almost

complete smoothness.

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The word canoe (canow and canoo in the r6oo's) described a hollowed-out log. Until the Indians saw the English hand adze, they used fire toburn out the hollow portion and flint knives and shells to scrape out theburned rvood. Then they devised their orvn adze, using flint instead ofmetal for the blade. The scoop, or scorp, became refined as the yearswent by, and, finally, it became a finishing tool.

Maple and ash burls (u'artlike bumps on rree trunks) were first burnedand then scorped out, making the toughest and most durable of all bowls.

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Wqzz4&re.u^A good woodsman would never consider using his axe as a hammer to hitthe head of a wedge. That would not only widen the eye but also u'ouldfinally split the cheeks, finishing ofi the axe head forever. Yet manypaintings of Lincoln show him splitting rails rvith an axe. Rails were splitwith wedges. Iron wedges (or wooden gluts) r,vere driven into the woodwith a heavy maul or beetle (as shown below).

To split shingles, laths, staves, and clapboards, a knife-type u'edge

called a froe or fror'v (shown on the opposite page) was srruck with a

short maul known as a froe-club. In England the froe is known also as a

fromard or rending-axe. The clapboard-maker struck au'ay from himselfand twisted the froe handle to split the board with the grain, while strik-ing away with the froe-club (see drarving).

The froe became Sbsolete about a century ago, rvhen it became cus-tomary to saw-cut shingles and laths. Till then, "riving" shingles was a

favorite rainy-day woodshed job, and every household had several froeson hand.

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Wt*-fuqThe uses of the froe'"vere many. Very old men, too feeble to swing an

axe, were given the chore of splitting kindling from logs. Half-roundbarrel hoops were also split with the froe. Willow poles were split in halffor making gates and hurdles. The early hurdle was not like our horse

hurdle; it was a section of fence that could be lashed to other similar sec-

tions to make a portable animal enclosure.

Lathing was split with the froe from fresh oak, in both single strips and

"flats." Lath flats were split first on one side, then the other, making asort of accordion piece that could be unfolded.

The saw was almost never used for cutting rvith the grain or length-wise: splitting a length of wood was so much easier. A craftsman couldsplit inch-square lengths from a Iarge piece of wood in a fraction of the

time that it woul{ take him to saw them.

Because of the many uses of the froe, there is hardly an old barn leftthat doesn't have a number of these tools tucked away somewhere in it.Less ubiquitous, however, are their battered mates, the froe-clubs.

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Chainnaking was one of the earliest industries of the Shakers, so it is

natural that they were also pioneers in installing their u'onderful mechan-

ical appliances onto benches so that operarors could sit rvhile rvorking.The first American shingle bench may have been made in N'laine or Penn-

sylvania, but it reached its peak in design u'ith the Sl'rakers.

One Lebanon (New York) shinglemaker filled a requesr for 5,oooshingles in December of 1789, rvhicl-r, apparently, \\.as a usual sort ofoutput for one operator. Shaker-made broom-vices, apple parers, nail-benches, and herb-cutters ."vere installed on legs and atrached to stools ofonc kind or another or dcsigrrcd so that tl're buyer could affix the appli-ance to a bench he made himself. To sit at u'ork rvas, all of a sudden, a

new American pleasure.

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The American sar,v-horse is now usually carpenter-made and hastilyknocked together by the workman to be discarded "afrer the job isdone"; it can also be bought ready-made, put together r,vith "tu-o-by-fours" and metal fasteners. Either way the modern saw-horse is more a

temporary prop than a well-designed table. The early saw-horse, rvhichhad a flat top, was wide enough to hold the r,r'ood being sawed and otherthings too; it was usually a handy and permanent parr of the rool room.

An Early American sawyer's prop was made of trvo clubs pushedagainst a raised log. A later arrangement was the "tackle prop," a stickpushed through a forked bough; two of these could hold a rvhole login place.

The first "saw-buck" was a tripod (a tilted cross with a stick throughit) and it was callpd a "saw-goar" instead of a "sarv-buck" (the Dutchtt,ord zaag-boc mcans sa\\'-goat). So the three-legged zaug-boc became

our four-legged saw-buck!

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38

First called the "drau'ing knife" bccausc vou dren' it tou.ard you, the

drarvknife (or snitzel-knife, as sorre Pcnnsylvanians callcd it) camc tcr

America before the Pilgrims. But only u'ith the emcrgence of the snitzcl-

bank, or shaving horse, u'hicl-r made it simpler to hold thc article being

shaved, did the drau'knife become a most favored tciol. Thcre are prob-

ablv nore ancient drau'hnives extant than any other antique tool.

The drari,knife u'as used to taper the sides of shinglcs, to rough-size

the edges of floor boards and rough-trim paneling before planing them,

to fashion axe, rake, and other tool handles, and to make stool legs, ox

yokes, pump handles, and u'hccl spokes. It is easy to see u'hv the drarv-

knife u'as so popularl The final finishing on much drau'knife u'ork 'nvas

done by our next tool, the spokeshave and scraper.,1

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The difference berween the drawknife and its little brother the spoke-shave is like the difference berween the old open razor and, the safetyrazor. The spokeshave has a regulated depth of cut. Tap the tangs and thecut deepens; tap the face of the blade back and it becomes more shallow.often a screw held the adjustment in place. All-metal spokeshaves ap-peared just before the Civil war; before that, the variety of 'rvood han-dles seems endless.

The biggest shaver was the chamfer knife, sometimes all metal, rvhichis often misrepresented (even by the experts) as a kind of froe. The sharpupper surface, however, shows that it \ /as not designed for striking; andthe curve-beveled blade is certainly not for splitting.

Although the tiny tools shown below rvere called "top and side

shaves," they r,r'ere really planes. Thev rvere designed for the use of stair-makers, but coachmakers found thcm even more useful.

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In many r'i'ooded areas of eighteenth-century America, farmers raised

crops mostly for their o\\'n use and derived casl-r only from the sale ofwood. Timber was floated to its destination by nreans of fastening logs

into giant rafts. Three or morc "platforms" $,ere fastened, onc behindthe other, to make onc long raft; sreering \\'as donc by long oars. \,\rhenrafts u'ere sold and dismantled at the nrill, irons and fastening dcviccs

\\'ere put into kegs, loadcd on \\'agorls, and hauled back ro the farnr. i\Iostfamers ran at least onc raft a year in late u'inter (u'hen rivcrs u'ere high)and busied themselves a good part of each u.inter u'ith making or repair-

ing lumbering implements"

\\/hite pine for nrasts and spars \\'as a prin-re American exporr in theearly r 8oo's and up until the Civil \\'ar. On such rivers as the Delarvare

u'ere floated more thhn a thousand rufts each spring. The largest one on

record was 2 r 5 feet long, and it containe d r 2o,ooo feet of lumber.

Belou'is a device knou'n as a "bou'-and-pin fastcner." The square pins

u'ere driven into holes in the log; the u'ooden borv held the lash pole

in place.

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43

WrJs-{fu'fucaLaa&ezryqryThe Arnericsn uord ,,lutnbertnan2 ca:tne bef ore our presentttse of the ttord lurnber."Lrfinber" dt one tirne (and still does in Englancl)meant "anytbing ttseless or cutnbersotne.r,

The so-called "ship augers" you find in antique shops had not, as yournight think, ,ny,hing iu do with ships; they were really used for log-rafts, or log-ships. The length of these augers allowed a man to bore ahole while standing.

The lash-pole and rvooden-pin method of buildi'g rafts rvas larer re-placed by iron raft shackles and "dogs."

Loose logs were "herded" into "corrals" by the owners at the mill(branded rvith the owners' marks). The marking axe was also an inspec-tion axe with a special bark-lifting poll.

Belolv you may see hou. the cant hook u,as made (irr rgTo by a black-smith named John Peavey) into the "American peavey" by *.edding it tothe jam pike. The jam pike pried, rhe cant hook rolled, but the peaveydid both.

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Anything that touched apples, according to the old way of thinki'g, hadto be made of rvood. Even a nail would "risk spoiling thc flavor" or"quicken a souring." so heavy treen-\\,are (applia^ces a'd tools madefrom trees) was necessary in the applc industry.

cider was never a matrer of just squeezing-rhere u,as a special arr to"bruising" apples and leaving them exposed to air for a certain and exacttime before pressing. oddly, those u'ho picked eating apples carefullyfrom the tree to avoid bumping them made an elaborate ceremony ofcrushing the same fruit r,i'hen making cider.

Apples \^/ere never squeezed: "pomace was pressed." A mash rvas made

into pomace or "cheese," then carcfully placed betrveen straw mats so thejuice could be pressed out. The pomace rake, apple butter scoop, "cheesecutter," and apple s\ovel are tools that are difficult ro undersrand nolv,for they are lost to the times l,-hen cider r,r'as America's national drinkand apple butter the national spread.

/ 79o

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Until recently the main source of tannin for treating hides was obtained

from oak bark, and the production of oak bark was an essential part of

the economy of many American farms. In April and NIay, bark peeled

easily, and this was done with the spud, barking iron, and barking axe.

The peeling chisel and adze were used mostly for "debarking" cedar

posts and cleaning logs before broad-axing. The irons and spuds were

true tanbark tools, usually blacksmith-made to order.

At first, chunks of oak bark rvere ground under massive stone millrvheels that turned into a trough of stone, but as early as 1797 the iron

bark mill entered the scene to create a major American industry.

The liquor for tanning was obtained by pouring cold water on finely

ground bark and leaving it to stand for a few days. Then it was passed

from one leaching pit to another till the desired strength was reached.

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Except for the double-bitted axe, these tools are rare. So rare in fact, thatthere is doubt about their true names. One of the first dictionary men-tions of the "tu'ibil" calls it "an iron tool used by Paviers" (road-build-ers). This ll'ould make it a sorr of grubbing hoe. Another describes it as

a tri'in-billed hoe-and-knife for beans and peas. One old dictionary says

the "tll'il'el" is "among Carpenters, a tool to make Tortoise Holes." Wemust assume this definition rvas dictated to a printer rvho mistook "mor-tise" for "tortoise."

I lr.ould guess that all tu'o-bitted hatchets might have been at some rime

called "tu'in-bills," "tll'ibils," or "t$'ivels." Still used in England to cuthurdle mortises, the trvivel there is called "tomyhar,vk," "dader," or"trr.'o-bill."

-fhe ice hatchet, radze-hatciret, and hatchet-adze u'ere American, butonly the Yankee double-bit remains. From A'Iaine (about r 84o) it was

designed u'ith one razor-sharp bit that couid do fine l'ork and one less

sharp for rough lvork. It also provides a means for being held (by sinking

it into a stump) for filing either bit.

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Except for the double-bitted axe, these tools are rare. So rare in fact, that

there is doubt about their true names. One of the first dictionary men-

tions of the "twibil" calls it "an iron tool used by Paviers" (road-build-

ers). This would make it a sort of grubbing hoe. Another describes it as

a twin-billed hoe-and-knife for beans and peas. One old dictionary says

the "twivel" is "among Carpenters, a tool to make Tortoise Holes." We

must assume this definition 'uvas dictated to a printer r,vho mistook "mor-

dse" for "tortoise."

I r.vould guess that all two-bitted hatchets might have been at some time

called "twin-bills," "twibils," or "t\\'ivels." Still used in England to cut

hurdle mortises, the trvivel there is called "tomyhawk," "dader," or

"two-bill."The ice hatchet, adze-hatchet, and hatchet-adze were American, but

only the Yankee double-bit remains. From A{aine (about I84o) it was

designed r,vith one razor-sharp bit that could do fine r'vork and one less

sharp for rough r,vork. It also provides a means for being held (by sinking

it into a stump) for filing either bit.

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There are so many kinds of chisels that it is difficult to establish definitenomenclature; yet, on the opposite pagc, we have attempted a general

classification. The firmer (or firming or forming) chisel is the basic

chisel design; it did a great many jobs, but one special use was ro cur thesuperfluous wood from two auger holes to make a mortise. The framingchisel is a heavier version, and it r.r'as used largely in the curring of renons

to fit the mortises. Both of these tools are wood-handled (usually sock-

eted) and r.vere designed to be struck with a mallet. The socket-end can

be struck bare, without the handle, though a good craftsman seldom

did this.

The short, stout mortise chisel is almost square, a one-purpose tool.The giant paring chisel, knoll'n as a slick, has a big blade that curves veryslightly torvard the bqvel; it u'as designed, not for striking, but to be used

rvith trvo hands (often with some shoulder help) like a giant plane. Big

framing chisels are often misnamed slicks; if the curve is evident, it is

a slick; if not, it is a giant framing chisel.

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What many call a "round chisel" is really a "gouge." The story told onthe opposite page is that rhe earliest gouges u,'ere usually all metal (black-smith-made from tl're old \Vorld) and copied in this country in largerform for use u'ith wooden handles.

The 1775 gonge in the illustration has an interesting srory. It was

found in a stone fence. Bright and silverish, its edge is keen; it has no rusr.

How farm-bound bog iron, privately smelted, hamniered together at a

farm forge, could be better in any 'uvay than today's steel is a niystery. Ihave compared the best chisels (the most expensive, that is) by leavingthenr in the rain alongside this ancient tool. The new tool's edge was

dulled, and rust appeared within a ferv days.

The legend is that early surfacc ore contained much manganese andwas purer in iron contqnt. It is also believed that the use of charcoal gave

purer carbon content and made a superior iron.The chisels shown below had individual uses; some were used as bark

scrapers, others as beam smoothers (like big planes). But I cannot findthem listed or catalogued. Some ice chisels are similar, but they lack a

tilted bit (see belorv-r).

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Old World planes, made as much to look at as to do a job, often had

inscriptions and floral carving. But the completely utilitarian American

plane, except for an occasional graceful handle, usually resembled a box.

Looking alike, a nest of small planes in the average carpenter's chest often

reached thirty or more. Perhaps because of their plainness, or their quan-

tity, they never caught the collector's fancy. Not long ago in Vermont,

you could buy them by the barrel as fireu'ood for five dollars. That in-

cluded the barrel!

From the big ones (l'long" planes) dorvn, these either leveled the sur-

face or fit pieces (side by side) together. Leveling was called "trying"

and "trueing"; fitting u'as called "jointing."With the trying plane (top, opposite) \rras a smaller bench plane called

a jack plane and a largeq (norv rare) mate, the long iointer, or floor plane'

But all other planes bow to their granddaddy in size, the cooper's long

jointer, rvhich u,as used upside dorvn on a pair of legs to rvork the piece.

Restricted in use mostly to ioining barrel staves' this plane sometimes had

two blades-one for rough, one for fine cut.

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The grandest plane was the crown moulding plane. I'hat large strip

between the wall and ceiling u'as the identification of a fine room as u'ell

as the mark of the craftsman. No r'vorkman even carried about so large a

tool and few owned one; instead the ordinary u'orkman improvised rvith

the basic "hollow" and "round" planes to make a moulding that the

crown could do at one sweeP.

The big crown plane was so heavy that it had bars for the apprentice

to pull it by rope ( r ). Or, looped once or twice around a mill-rvheel shaft

( z ), it could be pulled by tightening the rope, release d by ioosening.

some crown planes had an apprenrice pulling stick ( 3 ) ; others had a

bar scre',ved across the front of the stock (4); others had two bars that

slid into the front and back of the stock (5), r.vith a notch for a second

apprentice to push by sgick.

The sirnplest moulding plane made a hread, but even this design came in

sets of eight (from an eighth of an inch to a full inch), so you can see

hou, a u,ell-equiPped carpenter's chest often had twenty or lnore mould-

ing planes.

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&R^oad#iVlost American carpenters call it a "rabbit"; the British call it a "rebate."

It is really the "rabbet plane" that "rabbets" out a cut in the sides of

boards, so that they may be overlapped and joined. This was the popular

way of joining before milled tongue-and-groove.

The first rabbet and the long rabbet plane have fences (overlapping

strips) to guide the plane along the end of the board (as shorvn on the

opposite page). Because the little rabbet stands flat u'ithout a fence , itneeds a strip of u'ood nailed along its route to guide it before it can prop-

erly cut a rabbet in a board.

These planes vary in design, some throu'ing shavings to the right,

some to the left, some to both sides. Some irons have blades set, instead of

at a right angle, on a ske'uv to thc stock to avoid tearing the rvood. Rarer

is the pistol-grip-haqdled rabbct, n'hich lacks the usual rvedgc for hold-

ing the iron. Belou. is the rabbet sa\\', rarelv used except in stairmaking'

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The plorv plane did the simplcst job, yet it looks like rhe most compli-cated of tools. It just makes a groovc. We use tonguc-and-groove cuts

for flooring and sheathing withor,rt rcalizing horv rccent this practice is.

Before the "tongue" $,'as popular, two grooves \\'ere placed against each

other, and a "spline" v'as drir.en into thc "tunnel" to join the trvo pieces

together. For paneiing, a tongue \\'as not plancd, but a "feather edge"

was set into the groove.

lhe adjustable plou'had its fence attacired to the plane bv two arrns

that slid through the planc stock and madc sccure bv u'ooden rvedges.

Later the square arms became two long round scre\\/s with threaded

knobs to hold them secure.

The unadjustable plou' and unadjustable tongue plane came in pairs

("tongue-and-groo$e sets"), and there rvas also a combination of the

two, set into one stock (scc follorving pages) .

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Coves to { inclrdo itolinch

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'forus Beads to { inchdo from I to I inchdo over I inch

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do moving lenccdo Screrv ttma

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CABII{ET AilII C(IACH MAIGRS.

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otnitting adrious moulding planes and speci&l planes (such as those illus*dted onthe opposite pdge), the abo'u-e adrtertisetaertt ;f ilJe tgoo,s lists soTne of the basicpl-anes that the aaerrge carp.enter utas rikery to haae in his chest. As rnany of theseplanes came in sets of eight, the a?7ny o:f okr-time ,LDooclen pranes seems oaer_tuhelming.

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Both the frame saw and the open saw \\iere in use during the first Ameri-

can settlements. The open sa\\' is very much like its modertl counterPaft,

but it had a har-rdle like that of a knifc and it ri'as long enough to be used by

two hands. Americans enjoyed using u'ood in their tools, and thc u'ooden

frame saw $'as most popular. A{etal ri,as hard to come by, and the frame

saw had the advantage of needing only the narrou'est blade.

Saw nomenclature is uncertain, but the most common division is that

of "open" and "frame" types. The borv sau' (again a frame type) u'as

stretched taut between two arms by a twisted cord (or by rod and

screu,) I the sau' blade was readily turned bv tu'isting the handles, making

it easy to saw curved pieces.

The buck sarv is a bow frame type, but its blade is stationary and

heavier, and a long haqdle has been added. To "buck" Iogs was to saw

them into proper lengths; hence, the buck sau' is a rvoodsman's saw.

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.fatzt tuis----*.--sfretched '.\across anee.nd \tofr''he frame:>. \./ -,/ \! J/y' / - - \ -/,/

lztrned

//a/es uir'h harzd-

67

?*2u1*-:y-t/ -Frar-nJqq€^

The frame sau. looks clumsy to us r1ow, but actually it u'as rruch morcof "an extension of the craftsman's hand" than the nodern sau'. \'ou can

cut straight or around corners u.ith ir and alu.avs sce u'here thc bladc

was cutting. The rnodern sau' bladc is r,vide, alu'avs covcring tl-re spot

it is cutting, and is restricted to a straighr cut.

The terms "chairmaker's sa\\r," "felloe (also "fellv") sa$'," "turningsa$'," etc. are difficult to pin to one model because each design over-

lapped the other in size or shape at one time or another. The franre sau' is

"strained" in the center and nvo stretchers keep it taut; the bor,r, saw is

strained on one end, ri'ith a stretcher cord (or rod) on the other.

The finer the u'ork to be done thc finer the sau'; some frame sa\\'s are

pieces of art both to u'ork u'ith and to look at.

,, ,)6/,hizg 6:ruce 'zbozz( /he lzotz, -elvw /

\__ _ _--

'ft

?il'

%e,

6968

tarz/nuy'

€/.trrrrakerk*Sau,hnzC /hinzze.r b/ade,; jlc,tz/ cztt-/z,.. sa4tue

tz-s theFel/"& s//t/)

------

twiste r/b,/ade furla,hl

"ang/e

il(S=i

b*'FuLLr.zz.zz zr/-

"/(at Fe//oe /s a -\'"f €4fi,veztl af ct, ,)>-i--:\ " wheel/

'gi,,/.*#r,ffiiiY-pru:' fl011 uJ

/4 *fzzfulg -\--ta:-?- *7 Fe//oe

r efr*

')"ia d -- -e" t

T

I

,/

J:

\#j\ i,

li

l,l

,6ou{/,6"

77'-cD /)Frr -LU:

69

4.

C,A6€ %rycd;Zz{Its teeth raked to cur dov'nward, the long pit saws (both open andframed) did most of the earliest American plank-sarving both fromtrestles and in pits. The open type was more recent in the Nerv Worldthan the framed model. Factory-made, the open pit saw was used untilthe late r 8oo's.

There ruas an ancient open plank saw ( see below) that some collectors regmd6s dn open pit sau;, but the curaed blade und matching handles indicute otberu;ise.

:,Frner

-fufarrls ofntz,2/p^-"rnil'.4qy,

//'t"/d/zzl azlngte)

clzz'/t'ry1- - Ifq/rs {r.

Z-';t Srz,r.u

7;t/p-r-Llan---------7--

PrS"

q Tresr'ie/he 6oX r'/4/7n ///o.re a /ziq rtal becaztse af r'he shawer of saztt'/t;sl"

-fau/

&<,-,,

\

{

Opt, ?/orr,4'-rz7r'zl ( c- zaoo )

)al /r,4e aar pt/ s'/z/-/2

y'Ae

7o 7t

6---rr<-/l7e

&", .?tpL-

.{8oo

uer/g

Dr*r.ctt//tngrI 4i/ a/v 62'rz/fut furg1

Although awls seem no more than sharp points with handles, there are

those who collect them as basic tools. The awl and punch enter wood by

"spreading" the fibers aPart; the ream, auger, and gimlet "cuts." The

"burn auger" ( r ) was fired to a red-hot point that burned its opening in

the wood; then it was twisted to make the hole deeper. The "wood

punch" (z) was hammered into the wood, and was trvisted both for

deeper cut and for release. The "ream au'l" (3) had sharp corners that

acted as cutting agents.

The "gouge bit" (split-quill) v'as round-ended, Iike a gouging chisel;

if water was put into its cavity it rvould run out the end. If water was

dropped into a "spoon bit" or "pod auger," it would stay in, for the nose

of the bit scoops upward into a twist (A and B). The "twisted cylinder"

bit, neither podlike noq triangular, has parallel sides, one of which is a

cutting edge. The cutter of the nose auger is shown below, along with

the same device on a spiral-ribbon bit.

\

I(

w:.//

G ED6ESH O W/N C 6977 I 1,1 6 -:t L / P

i€

\"=I

trr

II

I

-t

Boro 4srot iryrehT

w, @)

4G)

"fr*uAr4

*Eurtry.n@-/-bztrztng o'uL zz

')^ (t)

7.7iukZea,PZ-

c?zrn'le/'

It

@a*@ryq.To enlarge a hole, you may "ream" it with a tapered blade; to be sure,

the hole rvill be tapered too, bur often (as when you are cutting a barrelbung-hole or a wheel hub-hole) this is just what you want. The biggest

of all reamers is the wheeh,r,right's hub reamer; often it reaches a lengthof three feet and weighs as much as rwenry-five pounds. Some of these

can still be found rvithout handles and rvith sffange hooks. Oddlyenough, the experts have not decided just how rhese were used. But Irigged up a wagon wheel on a'nvheelwright's bench, then put a hookedreamer through the hub, which I had weighted rvith seventy-five pounds.

With two men turning a very long detachable handle (which might ex-

plain the missing handles on so manv of these blades it u'orked nicely).With an ordinary reamer, a man exerts about half his u,eight dorvnward;this can be bettered ri'ith a seventy-five-pound u'eight plus the twenry-five-pound rveighttf the tool itself.

Tap augers and hub reamers were usually sharpened on one blade(on the inner side).

K ""/' o/P' -kzqrt"g- D nt+

2fr'a .175o.

I2:

t'- I

"1fp",,2/n/"-Qry/ggd

74

?<&rfuer Gr",ha,/.)',\\1; ctt.t- a faperer/ ha/e : so liC

/he two.h-amded woa/e/<----,--,-lz// {,4e.ll//zq/wrigrh/i

u7/7911

- - azd- sodtd lhe

'er*e

(T"%iHffir"'l.-.rt"-'1"-

L/ub---,n,

pa-ssib/er, tnel/zad af u*ngl #effiok-

zf-rfr,

Recently a "revolutionary speed bit" was introduced for electric drills.

Actually it is an adaptation of an early "buttott bit" (A) and (B) and l'ras

tlre same design as the "center bit" (c. rTgD r,r'ith rvhich the pioneer

American started trunnel holes in his buildings. For shallorv holes or to

start a boring, it cut dou'nrvard rvithout pulling shavings uprvard as the

big spiral bit does. Center bits, therefore, which were never put on bar

handles, u'ere used rvith a brace.

The four typical u'ooden bar handles shou'n are generalizations; be-

cause so many men made their orvn handles, it is difficult to pinpoint the

date of a handle frorn its design. I have s'orked out these estimates, from

the handles in rny ou,n collection, in the hope tl'rat this information rnight

be helpful in dating tools in other collections.

It seems incredible tha; a man could turn the huge bits that some augers

have. The job l.as made easier in the r 8oo's by a tr.vo-handled drill(shown opposite);an adjustable model canle out in the t86o's that drilled

at any angle.

aH/a"ksrri/.b:-" nl€/de /wtsl /if

omrre //tz/e// (x) (a'/a@a)

/./ren /wo f/ndes ItI,I

,lLrr-r-

- -

4/uen /'*"y'ow b/ade's--

c,

76 77

'r;n ; y'iye baz /zan c//e.c. 165a -y'a 779A

tzzr'dd/e /aoos

tB

r'yAt

ONEBLADE

J@/z/4//'A , '^://t/ '/Ar

ffi\tuogtaoes

Czt//ez- V

,4

{">*Bqrrrg

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77

tr>76>Br_rce_ ,1\

-:@241ryk.

The early American bitstock or brace was made of native seasoned hard-

wood. Some of the earliest were made of natural-shaped roots or bouglis

(see drawing in center, opposite Page). Oak and hickory were most

commonly used although the burl-u'ood bitstock u'as also prized.

Most early braces (particularly in New England) were "bitted" in a

permanent manner; the bit r.vas moulded into a metal r,vad and fitted tightly

into a square wooden chuck (sometimes ferruled), and this square chuck

was wedged into the stock to stay.

The revolving buttons were masterpieces of u'oodworking, for most

of those on the earliest braces still u'ork nicely and are not even cracked.

The button u,as either "stayed" by a u,ooden pin through the shaft and

head (A), or the shaft was "stayed" by a "Cotter-pinlike" peg (B). The

natural-shape stock's rbutton was loose, staying in f ust by pressure. (As

some braces were rested against the chest-and therefore needed a bigger

and flatter button-this brace may have had interchangeable buttons, one

for the hand and one for the chest.)i\

;ry/;" &dt %o /" o { o Sonqh*, /,gt'3 D'-,

" t'

H-.- "-' <--'/

- - ('bmnec/';ct't/ c' '/ 75 o

<--;/hls /az'qe Iy' heaC uzs-7b.r'reslina aadtnsl

J-/t JZhd chesl

,rt \€

,2hi-s scvelz{/Fpe/7red c,/72o

78 79

(

\LOosE

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,fe*d onr€i

---<-r-

tt

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p/r4a Ce/phirz, z'. I /6 S

pi,

uaa/enzaer//e

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2n r*ru/ -

/'-,

- Hatru//ev//

-

caL,S/ock',hea/-

S'eqv-fCI.fleaL

off"urc,4u-*e/./s , , A

c. z/50*-?tttt

is zz,oocez, .faeked iz"'--VZeTte u:ilh * uzbage- -&e @Z rs /e.dde/ ,,r, /zqh//z/, m--J-r?./r//*trrtr/, J

%n Wwssy"-/{4/ D*,-/

One of the most popular pages of the monthly publication of a tool col-

lectors' club is its "Whatsis Column." Antique gadgets that stump thc

experts are frequently turning up. In the era of hand-made tools, it was

logical that one-of-a-kind implements \\'ere created-the man who cus-

tom-made his own tools could allorv himself the luxury of making totlls

to nreet /:ls needs. Thcu, too, there rvere devices that had many uses'

Ladders were used as tobacco driers; the bars of a ladder-back chair held

candleholders; meat hooks doubled as grappling hooks that retrieved

things from the bottoms of wells. If you think it strange that a hook was

so necessary to a household, remember that the well was used many times

a day, that foods needing refrigeratioll \vere often lowered into it. Items

lost beneath the water could not, of course, be seen, so they could be

retrieved only by gropihg. The u,ell hook "vas

used as much as any other

implement of the old-time household. After all, who wanted to drink

water from a well filled with old pails?

/:---- .- :za a-, / t

" JAnu e Z4yZ@ /4/e i'e:t, a t & rp e lv / e rs' :y'he?:f ?ere 67<v a: "s/%: -.-{h:/ {::{'nd:.:y-_

Jro"rn ha osns',/z a o16.

Krorkers

y'uro-or'ece

J"!7"d,lL"fu

-?tn?""

s/icer,

/o /oot"- /oo/ fiom a-rv /-\ bar/e/, Viu used, a-t:=:=-

I uaat" -Zerr/ " tn R----;..-@,u--J-

zzade lo c/tp an/o harness,

1A 45

83

lwrs'/e/.rnadel an/ a,One"

?t'e-ce, Vlofv---=-7-,

c.ta50

f ./r/te/ pies/ror77 oy€ns , /8oo's

,a' vvnra Knockei

'k;s hoak cou/d- - -sZrve l+aang pL/rprtes.// t't'asrfrrcand/es-

Plv7e zae^fe-fr-evut

Although nails and hooks and tacks and hundreds of other iron imple-

ments were hammered out by farmers all over the countryside, it was

recognized as fitting that each item have its own sizes and patterns.

The nails made in Maine look quite like the nails made in New Jersey,

both in proportions and design; only an expert can tell a dilTerence. Peo-

ple were religious about conforming to tradition; they had a profound

reverence for accepted design that we nowadays feel is decadence.

Here are a few things that are of the past that you might find in old

attics or barns, each thing for a special use. The stock-knife shaped

wood, the mill pick dressed millstones, the barrel-scrape cleaned out

barrels, the "commander" pushed beams "home" and into their mortises.

When I was trying {o move a barn, I found a "commander" of better

use than two men rvorking with sledgehammers, and was pleased to see itsending beams into place without disfiguring them as the iron sledges did.

U(

lz-

"b,I

1qc

r\:

C4

i1l

idi\I

\{

,

'11

MOR]A-r/

-=r--4fr1

\-l

/1=/ -/,-/',L::-:- 2'z'/'/iz; /.- 'Yi,

;rflaofu :,-z"en

,r'/tv nay' a hoah -/-a lermpot'/"./'t/ p/n /b.z- tes//mq u:oolctz {ri.neuat'/f i to bey'(noc"/rer/at/ 6V iuy-htz,-ur?ztmV " zzl' x .

8584

6;7/- @ - - a lso cotle a Bkdgrz/L,

{q-slen e d la an- -ryli'-b,/oc,k, ,r'/ czt/ ot-t/. I \

foug.h n ood -s,lzdvpes frz' &e.zuoodzuorkingt

s,hap

- --=--1

rl , \dre -s-s e o/ " r'zz e \\---- --*bzz,4r -r/o.z-ze

8y

t/// eal/hed ad Janzes/owlz, /n:a-

/woRr/sE

fo poznd baansll / 12* 4v,o.k/e,

G%.se zlEra 76r/"n /oo/

,,Sleds" were for winter; "sledges" were used year round. Tools the

sledges were. If you would wish to learn the value of the sledge, try

po.,1.rg an ordinary house broom beneath a heavy trunk or obiect you

wish to move. with someone then lifting one end, a child can easily

pull the broom and its load across the floor. Farmers pulled unbelievable

loads (on wooden runners) across grass on which a wheel would have

sunk and become impossible. lVe know of the "stone boat," but the

Early American fr.*., had a number of other sledge-type devices before

the wheelbarrow. A sledge could be pulled by horse or ox through forest,

and over rocks and onto the farm in winter ice or spring mud' whereas

a wheeled vehicle could not. A wheeled vehicle is higher off the ground;

this makes it iuconveniently high for lifting loads into and it does tip over

easily. So, harvesting aqd haying and moving rocks, dun$' maple syruP

barrels, etc. was done by sledge rather than wagon'

Here you may see a few of these early sliding devices. It might be

safely said that for every wagon on the Early American farm, there rvere

thr.. to ten sledges. Even the hand-pulled rnodel, like that shorvn below,

was used until the earlY r 8oo's'

fyen 4/Ve.r.haz'se azd wa7lam re'htc'/e-s'*'&

rufur ;frfb @ tt e,?z a,,z e &-T- )u a huzn7glfurrn y'ool

://'//t

a/na

P//

* /n o'zzvdlrv _c/ed,

lzzy'e-/7ook

"$t/yY

/r.il

/ rnna/f .

ToundSp,/il .-,iuo/e \^"

^L%&@-B

r' Turrre*sl* o-flec/gre

ffi;;;;';4y_%*_

rl -. J -d JL+1l*n^

<faplt2gr /- /-/ // // e r

&*ttThe Early American \.r'as an artist at lifting and moving heavy obiects.

Foundations and stone fences u'ere built with tl're lever principle and a

few gadgets as u,ell as r.vith the help of oxen. Experts are often stumped

by the strange hooks and loops of iron u'ith teeth in them that are found

in old barns. But these u,ere blacksmith-made jack hooks for moving

beanrs and logs and stones. The lever tvas any handy tree limb; the

longer, the more leverage.

The "wagon jacks" you find in antique shops r'vere used for many pur-

poses. Carpenters, framets, blacksnriths, and rr'heelu'rights included these

jacks in their list of shop tools. Some of them are made entirely of wood

(usually ash or hickory); and thev have outlasted many automobile iacks

that have rusted au,ay and ended in the iunk pile u'hile the wooden iacks

are as good as thev v'eie a centurv ago.

/jze n or.L

------v

-rt

e

Iw\A

ff]:iill..--;:i#f#,""

/,tfZea onlo a ra//e,4or ro//e.d g/-ro,

88

fl f-D c.77so

l4roozv/r,r,O1ansy/ragiar. {./*t:6/ava

te77C&..-^7-

*-Wgs+k"k ,onr'ffi"y'r,atknzeahdzz-z/s/4a %'M ^or -ifumas.in/o;;;r;;;;7; @f ;fi,ii/"iitibistwo -s,/ab-r o{ho//awed '-.f44W \=4x-\ffi(D]/ ,ry!^l#,tlr;ffi*e \

',(l,l/o ouy-aT9'.'." Jtt/ t:ry,P.i'twtt44/4 da)-,' ...' .%;rutla.t'.f ...-,' -7- -y[ .-.' ,ha/ -r/idin4 ^ -, , .z' rvAtT _S'//4//r'zV:/' -grrp_

'ACfu issg

. T4ainz- furr/qVec-Zarct

/430

Qve*-B/rze/rsnui/,h' t

6"Smith" from "smite," "black" from "black metal" (as distinguished

from silversmith brightu-ork), the "blacksmith" was the Early American

handyman. He made nails, hinges, sled runners, anchors, scythes, hoes,

utensils, axes, hooks, and every kind of tool. In the middle r8oo's he

began taking over the farrier's work of horseshoeing; till then the farrier

was veterinary too.

Blacksmith tool design has not changed verv much except for the

hazelwood 'uvithes that held all upper tools (chisels and swages). Hardly

an implement or utensil cannot be traced to the earlv blacksmith.

=3/r./r,i "srni/hls

2flatnmers

Co/onia/-/tzYil

/he (/-,fte rrztvi.f'JHunFt rretor/ 1,

;;;'/A/"i;;;A I

. nai,/her,tders

9o

-r

7?r-odin4 7oo1-,\A---79'--ge7)

^_ JrnryrJ-a@

8,eqrt.[ron.s.

'C/tse/-si#

,PonVS

ruers+- .J<%a

i%,(

ffilO\

_tuv.Voa,l'----1 -

hr] eK

z;gs

ffi.W

$#t,"shorl

9r

/,112g4/Qipzu4

%r,%rte

Lacking in beauty, the "nail header" is hardly a collector's prize, yet itsplainncss does not adcquately cxplain its infrequenr appearance in antique

sliops. Considering how farmers made nails by the thousands duringrvinter months around the forge or fireplace, the rarity of headers is a

rllystery.

i\Iachine-cut nails taper only on t\r'o sides; r,vrought nails on four.'fhe most common "rose naii" had four hamnrer hits (if done by an expert) ;

the head of the "clasp nail" had sharp downr,vard sides to cut into the

surface; "plancher nails" had T-shaped heads to hold dov.n flooring; the

"scupper" nailed leather (as for a bellorvs). Though our "brad" is a

srnall-headcd nail, tl-re s'ord once meant "broad" and the "brad" rvas sucl'r

a nail for planks.

?/^uo,4 ", Bro/ (z- sueo)(EooR/,vG) /W-

[a/h

92 93

ffiu

'4,7

ctRo'

:-4

t1----'

e/42

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_- FORNA/LS T4R/VETSJ

i - -y'abe| /c^tanrzted-'r' ./,// o/ Iy';-sg.

i

I

- r.1

*," /C-,#lVfaly' or

rt v./- -1,c-/faqha;

d//4.9

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ffu*,-:{-* a"/

8ow allachedfu cei/ingr.

*ro/ron,'#, aH///

Poz'mled/oflzzatl r,-/-

lhen ou,l,irtto t/tehead.er- sg-4iu

93

A/ t /' '\.il!!

, J/ai/eris

67zznz, e-v-s,z r t r/ 4-r'ru e,r'"ru-'t-

//ARD WOOD,,BEAM

DOARD'

a<-

A currier did not curry horses. His craft was to scrape and soften the

rough l-rides after the tanncr had treated them. The tanner's tools, so wet

and messy when being used, r'vere seldom things of beauty, but their lines

were traditional and graceful. The tanner's knives had delicate curves to

fit the curve of the tanner's beam.

The currier's beam u'as ffat, just as his knife was. The shaving knife

(also called beamer or head-knife) had a soft steel blade with its fine

edge burred over (recurved) into a minute scraPer form. This delicate

edge needed constant turning with a "turning steel" and lifting with a

"finger steel," u'hich r,l'as kept handy betr.l'een two fingers as the beams-

man workcd. (This recurved edge rvill have disappeared from wear and

corrosicln on ancient tools.)

Farmers made their or'vn leather for shoes, hinges, and harness, so old

barns often have ,o.h looh about.

\,Gzrrrbrs",Bgafizls-----.-

sy'one szeel-)

l/,

L)c

I ^ (/rtkers

ts-=='- "(-/<,-/

\I

94 9t

p6e c' z79a

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@6e Tar"re-J fue^sh;* 4'e- (eo.,zt:oue)

--t=;:=;

*Beazruru-- zzy' n,orh4 ,3k zz

;f7z/ .bezzra lo zz,ark ou (see

_n ESIWA-",4/7€d/:.J

(A) FOR T/?/MM/NG/ (8) ron SC/?AP/NGc/,as-f settio,zz:

r.C.r'72o

C./86o

-r fJ"Jhz {)z-trz'iaz- /zad oz.

t'Jrtnor)

9t

Beam:' '. ._ '/EDGE "KEPT TR/M W/7H A 'tF/rvGER srEE/-" ( X )

t-

*r4i,.4 I.l4'4"

@-.-7%Pt (nayes)'?et e "ot4Y"z ZZqe4e4/ fta heZp /ra,naff

@ /rr"z rlat/e *on Trnr)"d-/o a .hub'shape

'ub ,s wory't-redfu receive spokes

J,V,

Early u'heelwright tools were not much difierent from those of hard-r.vood joinery except for those shown here. The process of putting a

wheel together is illustrated below. The tire (iron outer rim) was made

by the blacksmith. After the tire was made hot in a bed of ashes, it was

applied to the rvooden rvheel, and then cooled quickly. The contractiontightened the tire, and held the whole wheel together with a tremendousforce. dr

"te

ft--alaul z6'/-->l

Ief/ utlh barkon.2 to 8 uear.r.',f*tiou

(fpo*es l/rere nade d 1' oaK, S ea.so?/ed oler 4 //rs.)

r.@.)Pakes are hamrvered lrtaorz' ",Dlsatqp " hz7 spo,tre-se/. qazqe

-J//l=t \ //'/ a.

@Je//oes zt:ere 3fiy'led loSPa,//€S

on lhe Whee/wrighfs-Bench, anl t/zere

Pla n,e c/, sh rt re d, c h e c,t e //-bar/a fbr ltTiztq al lhe- t9./acksmitfy'2-.

9',

F ____:_ 2\€-+=_ o v- t

96

I

I

Uun,l*ro'q,tz / k-/5emah-es-

lzzzalher lzlgdq{:/'zz-r/enrm4

-Jcrezu. fat"sy'enedjto. j{/oar

*1Q-rklglt.-)/-eHn.

{ . 7t7[, r'j4J'

c>4b fuzygpr:_nn e a-s z t z" e,, z/,

//ze il/re@

'sztr/Vta:eof

zahee/'-o74n '

a//e/spokes \

zmto p/ace

rkle /7.9.{//.,/'rv/v,l.he u,/a6ta12uln/ch tt rnu"s/ l-/'1.

97

I# a// in lh e /Jragryrauffi i / "

ham/Jes ->- @Ii_\ c)l ///a rLa/-

Today u,'e think a hammer is a hammer-the same thing that lays a roof,cracks a nut! But the early craftsman (like a good golfer) kneu, that bozt;

yotr lrit and u;hm you ltit tllrlr could makc a diffcrencc in rhe job beinq

done. Sec, in thc drarving below, how the flail separatcs thc grair-r rvhile

the pestle grinds it; yet both tools hit.The "flinting pick" did the job of making gun flints; the "bricklayer's

hammer" alrd "axe" and "raker" did ri'ork that is still admired after twcr

centuries. The "printing mallet" stampcd designs on painted floor cloths

(popular before linoleum). The "flood gate harnmer" didn't smash the

gate; its massive li'eight just movcd it. The "z x" cut roofing slate and

made nail holes in it. The "trunnel hammer" knocked trunnels in ri,ithout

smashing them. And so on. Each "hanmer" hit a special kind of blow todo the specialty the craft*sman needed done.

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€Among the more plentiful old barn relics is the hay knife. Wide, heavyand with the blade on the outer edge, rrost people wonder how hay

could be reaped with it. It didn't reap-it cur out portions of hay fromrhe haystack. The hay-spade and hay-sarv did the same thing. The hay-spade knife, ho$.cver, doubled as pumpkin currer in the days when pump-kins were animal food. Pumpkin stalks tended to choke animals, so pump-kins were cut from the top and the stalks destroyed.

The slender, sharp reaping hook became an American design of rare

beauty by the late rToo's. But during the late rSoo's the art of cuttinggave way to the art of slashing, and a sickle is a better slasher. The earliest

corn knife rvas machetelike, but the sicklelike corn knife appeared in the

early r 8oo's.

The sickle reaped r,r'ith tlie aid of a grass crook (hav crook), ri'hich

rvas also used for pulling lpose hay froni the stack.

Aithough such serrations are usually \\'orn arvav in ancient tools, the

early sickles were usuallv serrated; this sets thcnr apart from the slender

reaping hook.

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naturallv bent ,,snarhs" (handles) $,ithout "r]ibs" (hand grips). our

carlv scythes attd cradle scythes s'cre things of rare grace' Even those

of thc r 8oo's that u,crc factory-madc rctained the lines that made theni

differcnt front the cruder European and llnglish implements' The snath

u,as usuallv nradc of u-illos', shaped in hot oil; the nibs and fingers of

hickon.; the sned of ash. \\rire rods Nere added in the late t 8oo's'

The scr.thcs and forks of Anterica bcforc tl're latc r 8oo's rvill someday

be prized as pieces of arr, but as of no$'thev are so large or cumbersome

that feu, choose to collect them. You are almost never likely to see an

ancient u,ooden rake or scvthe broken, althougl-r those made during the

Iast seventy-five years or so have an average life of about five to ten years'

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Oddities now, comlnon items a century ago, here are a few things that

were found in old barns and brought to me for identification. A tiny

yoke for a goose, a cheesemaker's curd cutter and stirrer, a big winnow-

ing scoop one used to throw flailed grain into the air to let the wind blow

Lwa,y the chaff-these are things that bring the past back vividly. Most

old barns have eel spears tucked away near the rafters, although there

may not be a river or lake for miles around. Yet a century ago men prized

their swamp and wetlands, and stored uP water in millponds for water-

power instead of bulldozing over the wet places as we do now.

The American countryside was very different a century or two ago!

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lrancl, z9Inclian, z.c.y

shiprvlight's, z7Anvil

bezrk, 9 r

coloniirl,.c;trrrailcr's. 93olivcr, c.13

stirke, r)o

Applebarrow, .17

buttcr padclles, .17

buttcr stirrcrs, .17

(luirrtcrer, 3/+

Ar.rger

burn, 73fruit, 83l)ose, 73

Pod, 73reirm, 73spoon, 7rlspiral, 7zttip, 75tapcr, 74twistccl, 73

Awlburning, 73ream, 73

AxeAnqlo-American, r r

brick, 99British, r r, r3chisel, rzCerman, tr, 13

ice, 99joiner's, r3Kent, r3rnortise, tzshipbuilder's, r3

trirde, rztriangular, rrYankee,5r

Barka\e, 49chisel, 49irons, 4!)mill, 48spuds, 49

Bcrrk iron, grBec d'rrne, 5oBeetle, 3oBench clamp, 9Bit

cenler, 77gouge, 73nose, 73sPoon, 73twist, 73

Blacksr-nith tools, 9o, 9rBlock knife, 9, 85

Bog cutter, 8XBore

hooked reamer, 75taper, 74wheelwright's reanler, 75

Boring mnchine, 77Box vise, gBrace

coachrnaker's, 78nntural shape, 79pumpkin-handled, 8r

Broad axe

American, r5goose-wing, r5I'row used, 16, r7polless, r5straieiit-handled, rB

Bull rake, rozBungstart, z3Butteris, gr

r06

Cant hook, 44Carpenter-bench, 9Chamfer knife, 4r"Cheese cutter" (apple pomace), 47Cheese slicer, 83Chisel

bark, 54bowl, 55fanier's, grframing, 53gooseneck, 55gouging, 55mortise, 59skew, gg

slick, 53Cider tools, 46Collapsible saw, 66Commander, 85Corn knife, rorCradles, ro3Curd sdrrer, ro5Currier's

beam, 94ffnger steel, 94knife, 95slicker, 94

Dogs, 16, 43Drag shoe (ruggle), ro5Drawknife

coachmaker's, 38cooper's 39hollow shave, 39jigger, 38mast, 39

Eel spear, ro5

Farrier's tools, go, grFlail, 98Fork

barley, ro4four-prong, rozsix-prong, roztvyo-pronq, to2

FroecooPer's,3rcurved, 3rknife, 33

Froe-club, 3z

Gluts, 3oGouges, 55

Hammerbricklayer's, 99burl, 99cobbler's, z3

commander, 85cooper's, 23double-clawed, 99farrier's, goflood gate, 99mallets, z3mill pick, 85foman, 22snow, 8zswage, 90tack, 99turn-shoe, gg

Hardy, 9o, 93Hatchet

carpenter's, rgcooPer's,21hatchet adze, 5rhewing, r8, rgice,5rlathing, zr

Hay hook, rorHay knives, too, tolHay implements, rorHay spade, rorHold-fast, 9Hoof knife, 9rHooks, 83, 84, 98Horse

broom, 34nailer's, 35saw, 37saw ffling, 35shaving, 35

Jackcarriage, 89fence, 89stagecoach, 89wagon, 89

Jack hook, 88

Lard squeezer, ro5Leather tools, 94, 95Logging tools

cant hook, 44jam pike, 44marking axe, 45peavey, 44pickaroon, 43ship (raft) auger, 45shackles, 45tongs, 43

Log house, 24, z5

Mud spoon, 83

Nailer's forge, 9zNail headers, 93

I07

Nails, 9z

l)errvey, 44Plane

betrcling, 58ctrrrirrgc', 65can,er's rabbct, 65c'hisel, 65c'ompass, 65crou'n uoulding, 5ghollorr., 59hornecl rabbet, 65jack, 57list of, 6.1

lonq-jointer, 57moulclirg, 58plorv, 63labbet,6rrouncl, 59sc'ooper, 65stirir, 4osrrn, 65tonque-ancl-groove, 65trving, 57

Pokcs, ro5l)om:tcc rake, -17

l)rinting mallet, c.y9

Ilafts, .12, 43Rakc, rozllaker, 99Iicaping hooks, rorliivcr rafts, .12

R0pe twister, ro4lloundine tools, 9rlluggle (clrag shoe), ro5

S irrvbo"v, 67borr'-felftrc', 69c'lrairmlker's, 6p;

collapsible, 66fclloc, 69framc., 67open, 67

1-tit,7o-7tplank. 7or:rbbct, 6ovencer, 67

Sarv-buck, 36Sir*'ing tacklc, 37Sau'r'cr's prop, 37Scoop, apple butter, 46Scorp

brrrrel, 85closecl, zgiron, zgoPen, 29

Scythes, ro3Shaving block, 39Sl-rovels

apple, 47grain, q7

Sickles, rorSicle rest, 9Silnge chopper, ro5Sleclse

barrolv, 87bob, 87log, 87tLunbril, 86two-mltn, 87

Snow knocker, Bz, 83Spoke clog, 97Spokeshavc, 4rStock knife'(block knife), BS

Sugirr clevil ( fruit auger ), 83S'"vage, 9 rSrvage hrnner, goSrvinqling knife, ro4

Tirnningbcam, 95flcshing knife, 95unhairinq knife, 95

Tobrrcco knife. rorTongs

c.rook bit, 9rflat bit, 9rhanmrcr tongs, g1

lroop tones, 9rround bit, grsrprirre bit, gr

'l'r:rvclt'r (u.'hecl rnce), 97Tu'ibil, 5r

Vc'necr sirrv, 67

\\'irshing stick, ro5\\/ell hooks, 83Wheel race (traveler), 97\\/heehvriqht

bench, 97conrpass, 97crrrclle, g7I'mb-nrrrkinq, 96spokc clog, 97

Wirnower, ro5\\/ithe,9r

Zrrr, 99

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(continued trom fuont flap)

The axes and augers and adzes that con-vefied bark-covered logs into early woodenhomes and barns are all here, along withthe sleds and barrows and other farm im-plements made of wood. The reader findshimself sharing the reverence for wood andthe appreciation of excellence that theEarly Americans had, at the same timelearning the exact use of each tool.

As "American Heritage" says, ,,Mr.

Sloane writes well about American woodenstructures and. the men who built them, andhe sketches them as well: he does both jobswith an uncommon skill."

As Sloane himself says, .,To me this col-lection of drawings is a museum of antiq-uities that one might go back to time andtime again to visit with the past and todrink in the richness of the world of woodand hand-made things that so often nowa-days, modern conveniences allow us to for-get. With the specter of automation beforeus, we review with respect and humility thecraftsmanship and sincerity that made theEarly American people so fully aware ofthe wonders of life. "

Also by Eric Sloane:Diary of an Early American Boy:

lVoah Blake-1805The Seasons of America Past

UlxsJi g,e:i;i'e.-:

-=

il.l':jit &i

For more than a decade, Eric Sloane has been lvriting books about Early Amerr-can times, collecting for research purposes the tools, sometimes ingeniously de-

vised, often exquisitely constructed, that our craf ts-respecting f oref athers made,

with which they carved those delightful pieces ancl useful articles thatmade upthe wonderful hand-made world of yesterday. For more than a decade, collec-tors and students have asked, "When rvill Sloane do a book just on tools?" 'fhisbook is the answer.

No worshiper of old things for the sake of age alone, Sloane collects onll' thegood things of the past and tries to re introduce the Early American philosophyof excellence to the present generation.Whywould a backn'oods farmer forgean axe with classic decorations on it? Where did the maker of this hand-madetool get his knorvledge of Greek symmetry? N4r. Sloane enjoys describing those

accomplishments of a proud and individualistic rvorld, in the hope that thereader lvi11 remember something worthi,vhile that otherrvisc would be forgot-ten in this present lvorld of rapid changes and mass production.

FUNK & WAGNALLS

New York