[Illustration: Figure 3.--1703: THE TOOLS OF THE JOINER illustrated by
Moxon are the workbench (A), fore plane (B. 1), jointer (B. 2),
strike-block (B. 3), smoothing plane (B. 4 and B. 7), rabbet plane (B.
5), plow (B. 6), forming chisels (C. 1 and C. 3), paring chisel (C. 2),
skew former (C. 4), mortising chisel (sec. C. 5), gouge (C. 6), square
(D), bevel (F), gauge (G), brace and bit (H), gimlet (I), auger (K),
hatchet (L), pit saw (M), whipsaw (N), frame saw (O), saw set (Q),
handsaw (unmarked), and compass saw (E). (Joseph Moxon, _Mechanick
Exercises_ ..., 3rd ed., London, 1703. Library of Congress.)]
[Illustration: Figure 4.--1703: ONLY THE PRINCIPAL TOOLS used in
carpentry are listed by Moxon: the axe (A), adz (B), socket chisel (C),
ripping chisel (D), drawknife (E), hookpin (F), bevel (G), plumb line
(H), hammer (I), commander (K), crow (L), and jack (M). (Moxon,
_Mechanick Exercises_ ..., 1703. Library of Congress.)]
Charles Hummel's forthcoming _With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen
of East Hampton_--to be published by the Yale University Press--will be
a major contribution to the literature dealing with Anglo-American
woodworking tools. Hummel's book will place in perspective Winterthur
Museum's uniquely documented Dominy Woodshop Collection. This extensive
collection of tools--over a thousand in number--is rich in attributed
and dated examples which range from the early 18th through the mid-19th
century. The literature of the subject has been greatly enhanced by the
English writer, W.L. Goodman. Extending a series of articles that first
appeared in the _Journal of The Institute of Handicraft Teachers_,
Goodman has put together a well-researched _History of Woodworking
Tools_ (London, 1964), one particularly useful for its wealth of
illustration from antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Specialization
Given the limitations of precise dating, uncertain provenance, and an
uneven literature, what can be learned about woodworking tools after
1600? In some instances, design change can be noted and documented to
provide at least a general criteria for dating. Frequently, the original
appearance of tools can be documented. For some hand tools,
characteristics can be established that denote a national origin. Not
infrequently a tool's style, decorative motif, or similarity to other
objects that coexisted at a given time can suggest, even in relatively
modern times, the values of the society that produced it. The source of
such information derived from the hand tool is generally visual,
recorded in the tool itself or in pictures of it and supported by
manuscript and printed material.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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