Woodworking Tools 1600-1900 Part 3

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Hand tools are often neglected in the search for the pleasing objects of the past. Considered too utilitarian, their decorative appeal--the mellow patina of the wood plane or the delicately tapered legs of a pair of dividers--often goes unnoticed. Surprisingly modern in design, the ancient carpenter's or cabinetmaker's tool has a vitality of line that can, without reference to technical significance, make it an object of considerable grace and beauty. The hand tool is frequently a lively and decorative symbol of a society at a given time--a symbol, which, according to the judges at London's Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851, gives "indications of the peculiar condition and habits of the people whence they come, of their social and industrial wants and aims, as well as their natural or acquired advantages."[8] The hand tool, therefore, should be considered both as an object of appealing shape and a doc.u.ment ill.u.s.trative of society and its progress.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 15.--18TH CENTURY: Cabinetmaker's dividers of English origin. (Private collection. Smithsonian photo 49789-B.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 16.--1783: CABINETMAKER'S dividers of English manufacture, dated, and marked T. Pearmain. See detail, figure 17.

(Smithsonian photo 49792-C.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 17.--1783: DETAIL OF CABINETMAKER'S DIVIDERS showing name and date.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 18.--18TH CENTURY: Carpenter's dividers of English origin, undated. (Smithsonian photo 49792-B.)]

On first sight, it is the conformation rather than any facet of its technical or social significance that strikes the eye; perhaps the most decorative of tools are early dividers and calipers which, prior to their standardization, existed in seemingly endless variety. The great dividers used by the shipbuilder and architect for scribing and measuring timbers not only indicate building techniques (accession 61.548) but also doc.u.ment 17th-and early 18th-century decorative metalwork, as seen in figure 13. Well before the 17th century, artists and engravers recognized them as intriguing shapes to include in any potpourri of instruments, either in cartouches or the frontispieces of books (fig. 14).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 19.--1855: THE FRONTISPIECE FROM EDWARD SHAW, _The Modern Architect_ (Boston, 1855), shows the carpenter's dividers in the foreground unchanged in form from those ill.u.s.trated in figure 18. Of further interest in Shaw's plate is the dress of the workmen and the balloon frame of the house under construction. (Smithsonian photo 49792-A.)]

The two pairs of cabinetmaker's dividers ill.u.s.trated in figures 15 and 16 suggest significant changes in the design of a basic tool. The dividers shown in figure 15 are English and would seem to be of early 18th-century origin, perhaps even earlier. They are Renaissance in feeling with decorated legs and a heart-shaped stop on the end of the slide-arm. In character, they are like the great dividers shown in figure 13: functional, but at the same time preserving in their decoration the features common to a wide variety of ironwork and wares beyond the realm of tools alone. The dividers pictured in figure 16 are a decided contrast. Dated 1783, they are strongly suggestive of Sheffield origin. Gone is the superfluous decoration; in its place is the strong, crisp line of a tool that has reached nearly the ultimate of function and manufacture, a device which both in general appearance and precise design is very modern in execution. Equally intriguing are the smaller, more slender dividers (accession 319557) of the 18th-century house-builder as seen in figure 18, a form that changed very little, if at all, until after 1850--a fact confirmed by the frontispiece of Edward Shaw's _The Modern Architect_, published in Boston in 1855 (fig. 19).

The double calipers of the woodturner (fig. 20) have by far the most appealing and ingenious design of all such devices. Designed for convenience, few tools ill.u.s.trate better the aesthetic of the purely functional than this pair of 19th-century American calipers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 20.--EARLY 19TH CENTURY: THE DOUBLE CALIPERS of the woodturner permitted double readings to be taken without changing the set of the tool. Inherent in this practical design is a gracefulness of line seldom surpa.s.sed. (Private collection. Smithsonian photo 49793-C.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 21.--1704: THE FLOOR PLANE OR LONG JOINER of Norwegian origin exhibits the characteristic decoration of the stock and mouth, patterns common on tools of northern European and Scandinavian origin. (_Courtesy of the Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo, Norway._)]

Intended to establish proportion and to insure precision, it seems a natural consequence that dividers and calipers should in themselves reflect the same sense of balance and grace that they were designed to govern. Still, even the most prosaic examples of woodworking tools, completely divorced from the quasi-mathematical devices of measure and proportion, have this quality and can be admired solely as decorative objects. This is most evident in the three European bench planes ill.u.s.trated in figures 21, 22, and 23: one Norwegian, dated 1704; one Dutch (accession 319562), dated 1756; and one German, dated 1809. The Norwegian and German examples, with their elaborately carved bodies and heart-shaped mouths, are typical of the type that Swedish and German colonists in America might have used in the 17th and 18th centuries.

They are important for that reason. Also, all three exhibit elaboration found on other material survivals from these countries in their respective periods. For example, the incised rosette of the Dutch plane (fig. 22) is especially suggestive of the rosettes found on English and American furniture of the 1750's and 1760's, specifically on high chests.

The decorative motifs that characterized European tools of the 17th and 18th centuries obscured technical improvement. By contrast, in England and America, tools gained distinction through the directness of their design. Following English patterns, tools of American make were straightforward. Only later, in new tool types, did they imitate the rococo flourish of their European predecessors. In America, as in England, the baroque for things functional seemingly had little appeal.

This is particularly true of woodworking planes on which, unlike their continental cousins, embellishment is rarely seen. Exemplifying this tradition are three early 19th-century American planes: a plow, for cutting channels of various widths on board edges, marked "G. White, Philda" (fig. 24); a rabbet, for notching the margin of boards; made by E.W. Carpenter of Lancaster, Pennsylvania (fig. 25); and a jack or foreplane, for rough surfacing (accession 61.547), made by A. Klock and dated 1818 as seen in figure 26.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 22.--1756: THE HIGHLY elaborated stock and rosette-incised wedge of the smoothing plane recall the decoration on furniture of the period. The plane is of Dutch origin. (Smithsonian photo 49792-F.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 23.--1809: THIS BENCH PLANE of German origin is dated 1809. It is of a traditional form that persists to the present day. The planes pictured in figures 21, 22, and 23 are similar to the type brought to North America by non-English colonists. (Private collection. Smithsonian photo 49793-F.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 24.--ABOUT 1818: This plow plane, used to cut narrow channels on the edges of boards, was made by G. White of Philadelphia in the early 19th century. It is essentially the same tool depicted in the catalogues of Sheffield manufactures and in the plates from Martin and Nicholson. The pattern of the basic bench tools used in America consistently followed British design, at least until the last quarter of the 19th century. (Private collection. Smithsonian photo 49794-E.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 25. 1830-1840: THE DESIGN OF the rabbet plane, used to cut a groove of fixed width and depth on the edge of a board, was not improved upon in the 19th century. The carpenter's dependence on this tool lessened only after the perfection of multipurpose metallic planes that could be readily converted to cut a "rabbet." (Private collection. Smithsonian photo 494789-H).]

The question of dating arises, since only the Klock piece is firmly fixed. How, for example, is the early 19th-century attribution arrived at for the planes inscribed White and Carpenter? First, the nature of the stamped name "G. White" is of proper character for the period.

Second, G. White is listed in the Philadelphia city directories as a "plane-maker" between the years 1818 and 1820, working at the back of 5 Filbert Street and later at 34 Juliana Street. Third, internal evidence on the plane itself gives a clue. In this case, the hardware--rivets and furrels--is similar if not identical to that found on firearms of the period, weapons whose dates of manufacture are known. The decorative molding on the fence of this plane is proper for the period; this is not a reliable guide, however, since similar moldings are retained throughout the century. Finally, the plane is equipped with a fence controlled by slide-arms, fixed with wedges and not by adjustable screw arms. After 1830, tools of high quality, such as White's, invariably have the screw arms. The rabbet plane, made by Carpenter, is traceable via another route, the U.S. Patent Office records. Carpenter, self-designated "toolmaker of Lancaster," submitted patents for the improvement of wood planes between 1831 and 1849. Examples of Carpenter's work, always stamped as shown in figure 27, survive, both dated and undated. There are several of his planes in the collections of the Bucks County Historical Society, and dated pieces are known in private collections.

Inherent in the bench planes is a feeling of motion, particularly in the plow and the rabbet where basic design alone conveys the idea that they were meant to move over fixed surfaces. Of the three examples, only the bra.s.s tippings and setscrew of the plow plane suggest any enrichment, and of course these were not intended for decoration; in later years, however, boxwood, fruitwood, and even ivory tips were added to the more expensive factory models. Also unintentional, but pleasing, is the distinctive throat of the rabbet plane--a design that developed to permit easy discharge of shavings, and one that ma.s.s manufacture did not destroy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 26.--1818: THE JACK PLANE, used first by the carpenter for rapid surfacing, is distinguished primarily by the bezeled and slightly convex edge of its cutting iron. As with the plow and the rabbet, its shape is ubiquitous. Dated and marked A. Klock, this American example follows precisely those detailed in Sheffield pattern books. (Smithsonian photo 49794-C.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 27.--1830-1840: DETAIL OF the rabbet plane (fig.

25) showing the characteristic stamp of E.W. Carpenter. (Smithsonian photo 49794-D.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 28.--ABOUT 1631: THE PRECEDING ILl.u.s.tRATIONS emphasize the divergent appearance of European and Anglo-American tools.

This, however, was not always the case. The woodworker's shop by the Dutch engraver Jan Van Vliet suggests the similarity between English and European tool types in the 17th century. Note in particular the planes, axe, brace, and auger as compared to Moxon. (Library of Congress, Division of Prints and Photographs.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 29.--1690: THE CABINETMAKER'S SHOP from Elias Pozelius, _Orbus Pictus nach Zeichnugen der Susanna Maria_ _Sandrart_, Nurnberg, 1690. (Library of Congress.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 30.--1568: THE WOODWORKER'S SHOP from Hans Sachs, _Eygentliche Beschrerbung Aller Stande ... mit Kunstreichen Figuren_ [by Jost Amman], Frankfurt, 1568. (Library of Congress.)]

The divergence from European to an Anglo-American hand-tool design and the approximate date that it occurred can be suggested by a comparison of contemporary ill.u.s.trations. The change in the wooden bench plane can be followed from the early 17th century through its standardization at the end of the 18th century. Examine first the planes as drawn in the 1630's by the Dutchman Jan Van Vliet (fig. 28), an etcher of Rembrandt's school at Leiden, and also the examples ill.u.s.trated by Porzelius (fig.

29) and by Jost Amman (fig. 30). Compare them to Moxon's plate (fig. 31) from the _Mechanick Exercises_ (3rd ed., 1703) and to the splendid drawing of the bench plane from Andre-Jacob Roubo's _L'Art du menuisier_, published in 1769 (fig. 32). In all of them, the rounded handle, or tote, and the fore-horn appear, characteristics of both European and English planes of the period before 1750. The similarity ends with the ma.s.s production of hand tools from the shops of the English toolmaking centers, princ.i.p.ally Sheffield. An ill.u.s.tration from a pattern and design book of the Castle Hill Works, Sheffield, dating from the last quarter of the 18th century (fig. 33), shows the achieved, familiar form of the bench planes, as well as other tools. The use of this form in America is readily doc.u.mented in Lewis Miller's self-portrait while working at his trade in York, Pennsylvania, in 1810 (fig. 34) and by the shop sign carved by Isaac Fowle in 1820 for John Bradford (fig. 35). In each example, the bench plane clearly follows the English prototype.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 31.--1703: DETAIL OF THE BENCH PLANES from Moxon's _Mechanick Exercises_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 32.--1769: ANDRe-JACOB ROUBO'S PRECISE RENDERING of the bench plane retains the essential features shown by Moxon--the rounded tote or handle and the curved fore-horn. (Andre-Jacob Roubo, _L'Art du menuisier_, 1769.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 33.--EARLY 19TH CENTURY: The bench plane ill.u.s.trated in Roubo or Moxon is seldom seen in American tool collections. The bench planes, smoothing planes, rabbets, and plows universally resemble those shown in this ill.u.s.tration from the pattern book of the Castle Hill Works, Sheffield. (Book 87, Cutler and Company, Castle Hill Works, Sheffield. _Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 34.--ABOUT 1810: LEWIS MILLER WORKING AT HIS BENCH in York, Pa. In a predominantly Pennsylvania-German settlement, the plane used by Miller conforms to the Sheffield type ill.u.s.trated in the catalogue of the Castle Hill Works as shown in figure 33. (York County Historical Society, York, Pa.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 35.--1820: JOHN BRADFORD'S shop sign carved by Isaac Fowle is a unique doc.u.mentary of early 19th-century tool shapes and is in the Bostonian Society, Boston, Ma.s.s. (Index of American Design, The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 36.--1703: THE JOINER'S brace and bit--a detail from Moxon, _Mechanick Exercises_ ..., London, 1703. (Library of Congress, Smithsonian photo 56635.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 37.--1769: ROUBO'S ILl.u.s.tRATION OF THE BRACE and bit differs from Moxon's only in the precision of the delineation.

Contrast this form with that of the standard Sheffield version in figure 38 and the metallic braces ill.u.s.trated in figures 40 through 44. From these plates can be seen the progression of the bitstock toward its ultimate perfection in the late 19th century. (Andre-Jacob Roubo, _L'Art du menuisier_, 1769.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 38.--EARLY 19TH CENTURY: THE Ma.s.s-PRODUCED VERSION of the wooden brace and bit took the form ill.u.s.trated in Book 87 of Cutler's Castle Hill Works. (_Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 39.--18TH CENTURY: THE TRANSITIONAL FORM of the wooden brace and bit incorporated the overall shape of the ma.s.s-produced version but retained the archaic method of fastening the bit to the chuck. The tool is of Dutch origin and suggests the influence of Sheffield design on European tools. (Smithsonian photo 49792-E.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 40.--1769: ROUBO ILl.u.s.tRATED THE METALLIC BRACE and, in addition, suggested its use as a screwdriver. (Andre-Jacob Roubo, _L'Art du menuisier_,1769.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 41.--ABOUT 1775: FORD, WHITMORE AND BRUNTON made and sold clockmaker's braces of metal with a sweep and shank that was imitated by American patentees in the 19th century. (Catalogue of Ford, Whitmore and Brunton, Birmingham, England. _Courtesy of the Birmingham Reference Library._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 42.--1852: NEARLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS after Roubo's plate appeared, Jacob Switzer applied for a patent for an "Improved Self Holding Screw Driver." The similarity of Switzer's drawing and Roubo's plate is striking. (Original patent drawing 9,457, U.S. Patent Office, Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 43.--1866: THE SIMPLICITY AND STRENGTH of the brace proposed by J. Parker Gordon is in sharp contrast to the heavily splinted sides of the wooden brace commonly used in mid-19th-century America. (Original patent drawing 52,042, U.S. Patent Office, Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 44.--1865: MILTON n.o.bLES' PATENT perfecting the chuck which held the auger bit was an important step along the path which led ultimately to the complete acceptance of the metallic brace.

Barber's ratchet brace shown in figure 66 completes the metamorphosis of this tool form in the United States. (Original patent drawing 51,660, U.S. Patent Office, Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]

The carpenter's brace is another instance of divergent design after a common origin. Refer again to Van Vliet's etching of the woodworker's shop (fig. 28), to the detail from Moxon (fig. 36), and from Roubo (fig.

37). All show the brace in a form familiar since the Middle Ages, a shape common to both delineators and craftsmen of the Continent and the British Isles. But, as the plane changed, so changed the brace. The standard form of this tool as it was used and produced in the United States in the 19th century can be seen in another plate from the catalogue of the Castle Hill Works at Sheffield (fig. 38). This English influence on American tool design is no surprise, since as early as 1634 William Wood in _New England's Prospect_ suggested that colonists take to the New World "All manner of Ironwares, as all manner of nailes for houses ... with Axes both broad and pitching ... All manners of Augers, piercing bits, Whip-saws, Two handed saws, Froes ..., rings for Bettle heads, and Iron-wedges."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 45.--19TH CENTURY: THE UPHOLSTERER'S HAMMER is an unknown; it is not dated, its maker is anonymous, as is its user. It is of American origin, yet of a style that might have been used in England or on the Continent. This lack of provenance need not detract from its significance as a material survival. This hammer, the brace (fig. 46), the bevel (fig. 47), and the compa.s.s saw (fig. 48) are sufficiently provocative in their design to conjure some image of a technology dependent upon the skilled hand of craftsmen working in wood and of the relationship between the hand, the tool, and the finished product.

(Smithsonian photo 49793-A.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 46.--18TH CENTURY: THE BRACE AND BIT in its nonfactory form conforms to a general design pattern in which none of the components are ever precisely alike. This aspect of variety of detail--sophistication, crudeness, decorative qualities or the like--reflects something of the individuality of the toolmaker, a quality completely lost in the standardization of the carpenter's brace.

(Smithsonian photo 49794-A.)]

English tool design in the 18th century also influenced the continental toolmakers. This can be seen in figure 39 in a transitional-type bitstock (accession 319556) from the Low Countries. Adopting an English shape, but still preserving the ancient lever device for holding the bit in place, the piece with its grapevine embellishment is a marked contrast to the severely functional bra.s.s chucks on braces of English manufacture. No less a contrast are metallic versions of the brace.