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Reference Books

Tools

Historical Books Featuring Tools

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

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

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

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.
• 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 moulding plane shapes.

Organizations

• EAIA
• SAPFM
• M-WTCA