Links

Museums

• Ceredigion Museum
• Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
• Glasgow Museums
• The Burrell Collection (Furniture)
• St Fagans National History Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum

Reference Books

Furniture

Beckerdite, Luke (Editor). 1993-2020. American Furniture. Havertown, PA; Casemate Academic.

American Furniture is an annual publication of the Chipstone Foundation and a scholarly journal focusing on 18^th and 19^th Century American furniture, though other periods sneak in from time to time. This is a superb series and I look forward to the new edition each year. They run 300-400 pages and from 1993 to 2010 they were available in both hardback and softcover. Since 2011, they are only printed in hardback. The publisher, Casemate Academic stocks the entire series from 1995 onward ($60 softcover, $65 hardback). Though you can find them on Amazon, eBay, and ABE for less. That said, you can read all but the more recent issues online. Though they beautifully produced books and layout is superior in print.

Tools

Tool Sale Reference Books

Rees, Jane. 2020. Goodman's British Planemakers 4^th Ed. Lanham, MD; Astragal Press. ISBN; 978-1-931626-44-6

The 3^rd edition was long out of print and was fetching $150 on the used market as it was such a valuable reference. However, Jane Rees finally finished up a thorough rewrite and expansion. This remains THE canonical reference for British wooden plane makers. It starts with 165 pages giving background on the trade and how it all worked in Britain especially in the 18^th ; 19^th Centuries. Also, a good treatment of the different profiles used. It covers makers from the late 17^th Century to the end of wooden planes in the early 20th Century with over 2400 makers identified and over 2250 maker marks. It also includes Extensive biographical information on some of the important planemaking families.

Walters, John. 1996. Antique & Collectible Stanley Tools; Guide to Identity & Value. 2^nd Edition. Merietta, OH; The Tool Merchant. ISBN; 1-878911-02-3

Long out of print and fetching $100 or more on the used market, this is probably my most used reference for preparing my tool listings for eBay. It has a pretty encyclopedic listing of all tools made by Stanley up to the 1960s. After that, it's sketchy, but that's because they started turning out junk sourced from overseas and it has no collector's value. There is rumor of a 3^rd edition in the works, I hope the guy gets it out the door before he dies...If you have any interest in Stanley tools from the beginning of the company until they sold their souls in the 1960s, you need this book.

Historical Books Featuring Tools

Amman, Jost and Hans Sachs. The Book of Trades (Ständebuch). New York, NY; Dover.

Dover’s reprint of a 1568 work depicting the stations of life in 16th century Germany. The pictures and accompanying poems depict a number of woodworking tradesmen at work along with their tools.

Moxon, Joseph. Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy-Works. Morristown, NJ; The Astragal Press.

A facsimile reprint of the first English “Do it Yourself” book, covering smithing, joinery, carpentry, turning, and bricklaying. The most valuable parts of the book for the student of old tools are the engravings, which depict tools of the period and are largely drawn from older Continental works, and the descriptions of the tools.

Arwidsson, Greta, and Gösta Berg. The Mästermyr Find; A Viking-Age Tool Chest from Gotland. Lompoc, CA; Larson Publishing.

A detailed examination of an 11th-century Swedish tool chest and its contents. The tools consist of a variety of wood and metalworking tools, including several chisels and a small saw.

Gaynor, J. M. and N. L. Hagedorn, (1993) Tools: Working wood in eighteenth-century America, Williamsburg, VA; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

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Mercer, Henry Chapman. 1920. Ancient Carpenters’ Tools Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumberman, Joiner, and Cabinetmaker in Use in the Eighteenth Century. 5th ed. New York, NY; Dover.

Originally written in 1920 and still a classic in the field. While the book concentrates on 18^th and 19^th-century American tools, there are several illustrations from period sources scattered throughout the book.

Rees, Jane and Mark, (1994) The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton, Tools and Trades History Society.

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Salaman, R.A. 1989. A Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, c. 1700-1970, and Tools of Allied Trades. Mendham, NJ; Astragal Press.

A guide to an extremely wide variety of woodworking tools from a variety of trades. Although it concentrates on the 18th and 19th centuries, there are some references to earlier periods. Very useful for identifying obscure tools from the less common trades.

Whelan, John M. The Wooden Plane; Its History, Form, and Function. Mendham, NJ; The Astragal Press.

A general history of planes. Not as much on medieval planes as Greber, but still a good book. One of the standard references. Includes an extremely detailed typology of molding plane shapes.

Organizations

This is a list of organizations that have useful publications and / or events.

US National

• EAIA
• SAPFM
• M-WTCA

US Local

• PATINA
• CRAFTS

Inernational

• TAFTS (UK)
• Regional Furniture Society (UK)