tools-msg - 8/21/10 Period and modern tools. Sources for tool illustrations. Toolboxes. NOTE: See also the files: p-lathes-msg, woodworking-msg, wood-bending-msg, tools-bib, lea-tooling-msg, glues-msg, craft-supplies-msg, bellows-msg, bone-msg, horn-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: tip at lead.aichem.arizona.edu (Tom Perigrin) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: 10th century bellows Date: 10 May 1994 17:34:16 GMT Organization: Department of Chemistry eric-smith at ksc.nasa.gov (Eric C. Smith) wrote: > Jennifer/Rannveik wrote: > > > > Failing tenth century does anyone know of any later sources for > > bellows? (The best I've managed so far is 18th-19th century). > > A book called 'Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention > in the Middleages', has some information about belows, including a few > pictures from manuscripts. The authors are Franses and Joseph Gies. I > don't have the ISBN right now, but if you want it I'll see if I can find > it. > > Maredudd CALL # T17 .G54 1994 AUTHOR Gies, Frances. TITLE Cathedral, forge, and waterwheel : technology and invention in the Middle Ages. OTHER AUTH Gies, Joseph. EDITION 1st ed. PUBLISHER New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1994. SUBJECTS Technology --History. Inventions --History. NOTE Includes bibliographical references (p. [329]-343) and index. DESCRIPTION 357 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0060165901 (cloth) : $25.00. Courtesy of your local Gopher Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: rzex60 at email.sps.mot.com (Jason Magnus) Subject: Re: Using Hand Tools - Sources? Organization: The Polyhedron Group Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 22:13:46 GMT millsbn at mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Bruce Mills) wrote: > Anybody have any source material or references on how to use hand tools > (period or not)? > > Since I have next to no experience, best to start with overview type stuff. > > Akimoya Several other good sources have already been mentioned. Another is 'Bob Villa's Toolbox'. Bob's been the host of several season's worth of home-improvement / remodeling shows, notably 'This Old House' and 'Home Again with Bob Villa'. While Bob isn't what most folks would call a craftsman himself, he has been exposed to the information available from a wide range of contractors, finish carpenters, and woodworkers. 'ToolBox' is aimed at beginners, and starts with the essential tooks for a kitchen drawer - stuff you need to change a light switch or do other light maintenance around the house. He works his way up into a variety of general-purpose and specialized hand and power tools. All the way he tells the reader what each tool is for, and how they are used. As a maker and designer of furniture, I have a -lot- of reference books in my library on tools, tool histories, woodworking and other shop topics. If I was going to hand a novice just one of those books, it would be 'Toolbox'. -- Regards, Jason Magnus (aka Jay Brandt) In the SCA, HLS Jason of Rosaria, JdL, GdS, AoA (Member # 3016) From: roman321 at aol.com (Roman321) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: HELP REQUESTED - Books on ancient woodworking techniques Date: 18 Jul 1994 09:27:04 -0400 David Mann writes: There is a book titled "Ancient Carpenters Tools" by (I think) Henry Mercer that contains just this sort of information. It was published in about 1950 and should be available through interlibrary loan. Good Luck Arlof, Count of Aranmor, In fealty to the Byzantine throne Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: rzex60 at email.sps.mot.com (Jay Brandt) Subject: Re: Period foods? tools? Organization: The Polyhedron Group Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 16:07:05 GMT Hokay, I guess as something of a long-time member I should put in my two cents worth here. This is just my opinions, and your mileage may vary depending on who else you talk to. I'm on more solid ground near the end of this, where I'm talking on tools and technologies, as that is my main area of research lately. In article <1994Aug15.151754 at usht01.hou130.chevron.com>, > What of Aluminum, and high-grade steel? Bronze is obviously acceptable, but > how about Zinc, Brass, and other alloys? Depends on just how authentic you want to be. No on Aluminum and on very high grades of steel. They did have some forms of steel, but mostly forge-created blades, rather than cast alloys or sheet steel. Bronze and brass are acceptable. I'm not sure on zinc, but I think so. There are some good period books on metalurgy, such as 'de re metalica', which could shed more light on that. Sounds like a good starting point for some serious library research. :-) > What tools are appropriate? One could write a book on that topic, and several people have. I'll again recommend a visit to a good library there. Most blacksmiths tools haven't changed since the SCA's period. Most hand woodworking tools are OK, at least in function. Hand planes (the tools that shave thin layers off of wood) would be wooden bodied rather than metal bodied. The same is true for spokeshaves and similar tools. Adjustments tended to be by wedges rather than by screws. Saws tended toward bow saws and 'turning saws' (a bow saw where the blade can be rotated on its long axis to get the frame out of the way of the cut). The modern carpenters panel saw wasn't used, as they couldn't keep the blade flat and stiff unless it was under tension. > What kind of machines (old definition) and tools were in common usage, or > were being invented? There were specialized carts for moving logs, various types of workbenches, and several clamping systems. Bench vises were of the wooden screw type. Many, in fact most, craftsmen used systems of pegs in the bench top and wedges between the pegs and the work to hold items while working on them. Holdfasts, an L-shaped iron peg still available today, were used to hold work down on the bench top. Most modern shop machinery did not exist, such as table saws, drill presses, and 'eggbeater' drills. The first table saw was invented by a Quaker woman in America, decidedly post-period. > What were the common fasteners; screws and/or bolts, > or just nails? Rivets were the most common metal-to-metal fastening, and fairly common as a means of fastening metal to wood as well. Hand-cut, flat-headed, blunt-pointed screws with a slot head were known in late period, and used on some metal assemblies with threaded holes or square nuts when the assembly needed to be taken apart later. Flat bladed screwdrivers only, no phillips or allen or torx screws. Metal screws were still fairly coarse threaded. Screws were generally not trusted for woodworking, and neither were nails, though both were used on cheap work. Most quality woodworking (from furniture to houses and ships) depended on good joinery and wooden pegs. They had some decent glues, but rarely trusted to glue alone for a joint's strength. Hinges on chests and boxes were commonly a pair of cotter-pin shaped devices, with the legs of one pin driven at an angle through a hole in the top edge of a chest's side and clinched on the interior, and the other pin linked eye-to-eye and clinched into the lid. Doors and large cabinets or chests usually used strap hinges, held in place by rivets or clinched nails going through the door. -- Regards, Jay Brandt --- Austin, Texas, USA --- In the SCA, HLS Jason of Rosaria, JdL, GdS, AoA --------- (Member # 3016) Owner / Designer / Craftsman ------------------------- Bear Paw Woodworks From: tip at lead.aichem.arizona.edu (Tom Perigrin) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Period foods? tools? Date: 16 Aug 1994 21:42:27 GMT Organization: AI in Chem Lab hkoeh at usht01.hou130.chevron.com (Mark Koehler) wrote: > What of Aluminum, and high-grade steel? Bronze is obviously acceptable, but > how about Zinc, Brass, and other alloys? Aluminum way OOP. Okay, one could argue that it MAY have been produced, but there is no evidence of it, only a few suggestions of a light silver metal that may been aluminum or a zinc alloy. Bronze and brass both well known. They are considered different metals, and both were used by the Romans for coinage. However, the alloys are poorly controlled, and so bronze and brass varies a lot from batch to batch. Zinc is known in alloy, and perhaps to a few alchemists, but not as a metal. Other alloys? Tin, pewter, silver, gold, electrum, red gold, white gold, copper (unalloyed), soft copper, lead, hard lead, drossel, billon, etc... > Greetings and Salutations! I suppose an introduction is in order... I am > researching for a persona out of freshly Normandized Saxony (England during About 1100? > but realizes he has a real talent as a handyman (Tinker?). > What tools are appropriate? I assume he would be able to provide assistance > and maybe borrow either a blacksmith's or woodwright's facilities, but he > could construct a makeshift shop using his own tools in a moment's notice. Errr, well, don't bet on it. Tinkers were considered pretty low people. A smith is a wealthy man, a pillar of the village or even of a keep, and has little use for a tinker. It's not just the training, it's also social standing, etc... Same for a woodwright. Tinker's carried their shops on thier backs... some hammers, pliers, nippers, tongs, a blow pipe, some solders, sheets of metal to make repairs, a file or two, some clay to make tinkers dams, a piercer, an awl, some needles and thread, maybe a small mandrel. > What kind of machines (old definition) and tools were in common usage, or > were being invented? What were the common fasteners; screws and/or bolts, > or just nails? One of the previous gentles answered correctly about joinery, except that he is thinking too late for your period. During the early 1100's, etc., the primary furniture construction is planked construction, simple boards and nails. Joinery, as witnessed by the Mayor of Paris's decree in 13XX (I have the exact date elsewhere), was a very rare and expensive form of construction, mostly limited to church and royalty. A commoner had a boarded chest and damn little else. The nobility and even parish churches might have had mor furniture, but it was pretty crudely made. The furniture and construction renaissence really startd in the mid 1300's. Before then, it was surprisingly crude and rare. He had the hinges right... cotter pins, with the legs banged clear through the wood and clinched over. Looks "primative". I lost a lot of points at an A&S tourney once because of how crude my hardware was... *sigh* Bolts were very very rare... how do you plan to cut the threads on the nut? When I make a nut for a spinning wheel reproduction, I cut the threads in a rod with a file, get a bar YELLOW hot, and then quickly bang it around the threads. Then you have to file it square, work it so it threads on and off, and do a lot more work. NOT easy. I require 2 days to produce a bolt and nut. I imagine somebody good could do it in a half day? More common were long pins with a slot that could take a wedge, much like a tusk tenon in wood. This is much easier for the blacksmith to make. Look at pictures of cannons... up until 1800 most of the metalwork uses this type of wedge. Even fine work such as astrolabes used a slotted post, held by a wedge typically shaped with a horses head on the end. The entire wedge is called "the horse". The posts for clocks and watches were also pinned, rather than using screws. Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: rzex60 at email.sps.mot.com (Jay Brandt) Subject: Re: Tools Organization: The Polyhedron Group Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 18:26:38 GMT J.N.DEakin at sheffield-hallam.ac.UK (Jim N. Deakin) wrote: > Greetings from Niall of Stone Ford, > In a recent, very interesting note, Jay Brandt > said: > > ...the first table saw > > was invented by a Quaker woman in America, decidedly post-period. > > What we over here call the circular saw is indeed post-period, but the > origin given here is not correct. The story is that it was invented by a > _Shaker_ woman, and it is presented as fact in tours of Shaker communities > etc. The trouble is it's wrong. There was a discussion on rec.woodworking > some time ago which mentioned earlier examples. Unfortunately I didn't save > the notes, and I can't mail to newsgroups so I can't ask there. I stand corrected. Thank you, as I wouldn't want to spread misinformation. I was citing from memory while at work, rather than quoting from an authoratative source while nestled in my research library. You are indeed right that the usual attribution was to a -Shaker-, as opposed to Quaker, woman. Several rather authorative books on tool histories that I have in my collection contain that attribution. I'll not argue whether someone else perhaps deserves credit for an earlier 'invention' of that device, as you may well be right. That is certainly the case with a number of inventions. I think perhaps hers was the first 'commercially viable' table saw. Certainly others in Europe were already cutting wood with circular blades, but as I recall, none of their arrangements allowed the wood to slide on a table, nor for the blade height to be readily adjusted. Unfortunately, I missed that discussion on rec.ww. I truly wish I could have read it. Incidentally, in her design, it was the table that moved to adjust the blade height, rather than moving the blade and power source. Quite clever! -- Regards, Jay Brandt --- Austin, Texas, USA --- In the SCA, HLS Jason of Rosaria, JdL, GdS, AoA --------- (Member # 3016) Owner / Designer / Craftsman ------------------------- Bear Paw Woodworks From: doug_brunner at om.cv.hp.com (3/28/95) To: markh at sphinx RE>Medieval Tools Info???? Well Mark, This could be your lucky day. I just got this and I'm glad to pass it on. I'll let you do the same for me if you hear of something. Bruno >Lucky Bruno! woodworking tools are fairly well documented due to a >twist of fate, St. Joseph was a carpenter, so he is portrayed with >the appropriate toos in much christian iconography. Most of the >pictures I list can be found in a large number of places, I've listed >my sources just to help. (Keep your eye out for Noah building >the Ark, building of the Tower of Babel and building of various >cathedrals) > >_Daily Life in the Middle Ages_ by Clara and Richard Winston, > pg 31, brace&bit, auger, chisel, saw! from "The Annunciation with >Donors and St. Joseph" Robert Campin > pg 32 bad repro axe + ? note baby walker! "The Holy Family at Work" >from "Hours of Catherin of Cleves" > pg 33 building scene > >_A Medieval Book of Seasons_ by Marie Collins and Virginia Davis > pg 53 building scene with pit sawing, hewing, a crane and a >level! British Library, London, ADD MS 19720 f27 "Rustican", French, >late 15th century > >_Antiques_, edited by Elizabeth Drury > pg 20, planes, saws, dividers, chisels, mallet, try squares, >braces&bits, lots of good stuff, (inc: lady spinning), from "Work" by >J. Bourdichon, 15th century > pg 22 spring pole lathe from a book of trades published in >Zurich in 1548 by Johann Stumf > >may I also comment to your attention: > >_On Divers Arts_, Theophilus, trans by J.G.Hawthorne and C.S.Smith > Dover reprint, pg 26 cheese glue and a discription of a drawknife > 12th century > >"The Debate of the Carpenter's Tools" anon, 15th century, Bodleian Library, >Ashmole 61, also found in the back of _The Woodwright's Work Book_, >by Roy Underhill. > >and from his bibliography: >_The History of Woodworking Tools_, W.L.Goodman >_The Development of Carpentry, 1200-1700, An Essex Study. Cecil Hewitt; > Newton Abbot, David & Charles Devon >_Ancient Carpenter's Tools_ by Henry Mercer > >and two last ones: >_The Carpenter's Tool Chest_ Thomas Hibben, tertiary at best; lots of >un documented line drawings > >and one to inspire work > >_Masterpieces_, Richard Ball & Peter Campbell, subtitle: Making Furniture From >Paintings, 20 projects: ISBN 0-688-02488-2, Hearst Books, New York >copyright 1983 From: aodhan at dobharchu.org (Aodhan Ite an Fhithich) Date: 18 May 95 08:14:12 Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Blacksmithing materials? Organization: Lough na Dobharchu' BBS - Loch Soilleir, Ansteorra Dia duit! [Replying to a message of PATSY DUNHAM to All] PD> We are searching for sources for tools & materials for a small smithy PD> operation which we are setting up (if you want period hardware for PD> your woodwork, you have to make it yourself, eh?) PD> We are seeking _period_ equivalent tools, too, not 18-19th century. PD> Also looking for materials sources: coal, bronze, etc. Chimene Write to the following and request their latest catalog. While I cannot vouch for how period their tools are, they offer a great many, as well as supplies and books. Centaur Forge, Ltd. 117 North Spring St. PO Box 340 Burlington, WI 53105 Feicfidh me' ari's thu', Aodhan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Baron Aodhan Ite an Fhithich aodhan at dobharchu.org Master of the Laurel Lough na Dobharchu' BBS 1-713-338-2570 Dobharchu' Herald "Your Information Roman Road" mka David H. Brummel 1:106/22 180:11/22 762:2200/2 SCA Member 02245 Barony of Loch Soilleir, Ansteorra http://www.phoenix.net/~dbrummel --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gerekr at aol.COM Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Woodworking (was How Do You Know?) Date: 28 Sep 1995 14:57:42 -0400 McNutt at gateway.ce.utk.edu wrote: >You said it. Try and find documentation on the nature and use of woodworking >tools prior to 1600. > >Oh, there's stuff to be found, but the way the secondary references run, you'd >think woodworking started in 1700! Try this: Goodman, W.L. _The History of Woodworking Tools._ New York: David McKay Co., 1964. I would be willing to pay a fair amount for a copy of this. It's a little dated due to more recent archaeological finds, but for structure and general information it is definitive. Meistari Gerekr Gerekr at aol.com From: Bill McNutt Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Woodworking (was How Do You Know?) Date: 29 Sep 1995 14:24:36 GMT Organization: University of Tennessee Gerekr at aol.COM wrote: >McNutt at gateway.ce.utk.edu wrote: >Try this: Goodman, W.L. _The History of Woodworking Tools._ New York: David >McKay Co., 1964. I would be willing to pay a fair amount for a copy of this. > It's a little dated due to more recent archaeological finds, but for >structure and general information it is definitive. I have it on my desk right now. I've been through it, and it's looks like a real good secondary survey of woodworking tools from the Roman era up through the 19th century. While informative, he jumps all over eastern and europe, wherever he can find the best evidence of a trend. His treatment of 16th century england is almost non-existent. I'm currently digging for references regarding 16th century London. From: afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu (Ronald L. Charlotte) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Woodworking (was How Do You Know?) Date: 3 Oct 1995 03:35:38 GMT David Mann (uccxdem at okway.okstate.edu) wrote: : Greetings, : I, myself have tried to find a book or series of books comprehensive enough : to cover the tools of woodworkers in period. But so far no such luck. I even : asked our rabid researcher to help locate books, but it seems sofar no one : has even bothered to compile one. About all I have is some copies of : manuscripts, woodcuts, and miserichords showing tools. A few of the tools : are not well shown to guess their usage. The only thing I can suggest to : anyone interested in period tools is to start perusing manuscripts and the : like for the information they seek. A very good resource, if you can locate a copy, is _Handtools of Arts and Crafts_ by the Diagram Group (1981, St. Martin's Press). The book has sections on crafts ranging from calligraphy to upholstery including wood and metal work. Where possible, each section has examples of historical and ancient tools of that craft. It only touches lightly on the individual topics, but the information presented (and the bibliography) are good starting points. -- al Thaalibi -- An Crosaire, Trimaris Ron Charlotte -- Gainesville, FL afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu From: brettwi at ix.netcom.com (Brett Williams ) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Woodworking (was How Do You Know?) Date: 5 Oct 1995 15:20:59 GMT uccxdem at okway.okstate.edu (David Mann) writes: > > Bill McNutt says: >> >>uccxdem at okway.okstate.edu (David Mann) wrote: >> >>About all I have is some copies of >>manuscripts, woodcuts, and miserichords showing tools. >>I lust for your manuscripts, woodcuts, and meserichors showing tools. >>I'm just starting to get to that stage. I would humbly ask for >>anything that you can fax, mail, e-mail, or send me. >>Examples. A bibliography. Anything. >>I am a desparate man. >> >I am currently a very busy man. I will put it on my to do list, it >might be a month till I can dig all the stuff up. This is item number >12 on the list, and that doesn't include the MVS update for work. > >Marke >Mooneschadowe >Ansteorra If I might point the way to some help-- in "Saints, a Book of Days" put out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (I bought it for all the handsome illuminations), there is a painting of St. Joseph using a number of carpenter's tools in the early part of May. He is shown using a drill, with an axe, saw and what looks to be a wooden dowel at his feet, and another blade, pliers, small peened hammer, chisel, bowl of nails, an auger and a mysterious little box that just could be a plane on the table beside him. "Saints, a Book of Days", ISBN 0-87099-716-5 (MMA) OR ISBN 0-821202173-6 (Bullfinch Press), 1994. ciorstan From: priestdor at vassar.edu (Greg E. Priest-Dorman) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Woodworking (was How Do You Know?) Date: 6 Oct 1995 01:28:32 GMT Organization: Vassar College Greeting from Thora Sharptooth! About the Campin altarpiece (popular subject this week!), ciorstan (brettwi at ix.netcom.com) wrote: >If I might point the way to some help-- in "Saints, a Book of Days" put >out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (I bought it for all the handsome >illuminations), there is a painting of St. Joseph using a number of >carpenter's tools in the early part of May. He is shown using a drill, >with an axe, saw and what looks to be a wooden dowel at his feet, and >another blade, pliers, small peened hammer, chisel, bowl of nails, an >auger and a mysterious little box that just could be a plane on the >table beside him. It's a mousetrap. My husband makes them. *********************************************************************** Carolyn Priest-Dorman Thora Sharptooth Poughkeepsie, NY Frosted Hills ("where's that?") priest at vassar.edu East Kingdom Gules, three square weaver's tablets in bend Or *********************************************************************** From: afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu (Ronald L. Charlotte) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: How Do You Know? Date: 29 Sep 1995 11:44:29 GMT Bill McNutt (McNutt at gateway.ce.utk.edu) wrote: : You said it. Try and find documentation on the nature and use of : woodworking tools prior to 1600. : Oh, there's stuff to be found, but the way the secondary references run, : you'd think woodworking started in 1700! Not really my field, but while looking for leatherwork documentation, I stumbled upon "The Merode Altarpiece" which is at the Cloisters. The right panel depicts St. Joseph seated at a carpenter's bench with a wonderful variety of tools about him, and using a brace and bit. It's one of better 15c. documentations of tools of any type I've found. -- al Thaalibi -- An Crosaire, Trimaris Ron Charlotte -- Gainesville, FL afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu From: afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu (Ronald L. Charlotte) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: How Do You Know? Date: 30 Sep 1995 11:29:45 GMT Greg E. Priest-Dorman (priestdor at vassar.edu) wrote: : Greeting from Thora Sharptooth! : About a particular painting, al Thaalibi (afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu) : wrote: : >Not really my field, but while looking for leatherwork documentation, : I : >stumbled upon "The Merode Altarpiece" which is at the Cloisters. The : >right panel depicts St. Joseph seated at a carpenter's bench with a : >wonderful variety of tools about him, and using a brace and bit. It's : >one of better 15c. documentations of tools of any type I've found. : Um, that's the "Campin Altarpiece." My husband and I visit it often : down in New Jorvik; we think St. Joseph is making pegboard! I don't doubt you one whit. The reference that I'm using; the _Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin_ Vol.XVI #4 is dated Dec. 1957, shortly after the piece's acquisition and restoration. Merode was the family that had held the painting for 2 generations before the museum got it. At the time, the painting was attributed to "The Master of Flemalle" whom they were certain (but not at that time, proven) to be Robert Campin. The detail work in the painting is lovely, and I used it to design a variant of the belt purse that the donor wears in the left panel of the triptych. I think you may be right, though, it _does_ look for all the world like S. Joseph is making pegboard, you can even see the pattern marked on the plank. -- al Thaalibi -- An Crosaire, Trimaris Ron Charlotte -- Gainesville, FL afn03234 at freenet.ufl.edu Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 13:22:12 -0700 From: Brett Williams To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: Apothecary box gcarnegi wrote: > Since I know there are several very good woodworkers on this list, I'm > hoping someone can help with this. > > I'm trying to locate an apothecary box about 1300 to 1600. I plan to use it > for keeping misc items in. It should have a hinged lid and several > comparments. I'd prefer to work from a archival photograph but a good > period art source will do. > > It'll be a big project, I know. > I've got access to Master Malcom MacPherson's shop and his unlimited > patience as I fumble through this ; - ) > I've even got local access to a forge. > > Does anyone have a resource for this they'd be willing to share? > > Gwyndolynn Anne the Obscure, OL > West Kingdom Master Gerekr's webpages have a link to a Scandinavian page showing a photograph of an honest-to-goodness medieval tool box, complete with tools. While it isn't an apothecary's box, might that be similar enough to get an idea of what was built? Alas, we have a newly reformatted hard drive (loss of all bookmarks and saved files! [whine]) and my IP's web connection seems to be temperamental at the moment, otherwise I'd supply the URL. However, it can be easily found by going through: http://www.yahoo.com and doing a search on Ravensgard or Gerekr. The pictures of Master Gerekr's Viking bed are Really Cool, too. ;) ciorstan From: foxwhelp at mindspring.com (John Hutchins) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Medieval carpentry tools Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:53:33 GMT Organization: MindSpring Enterprises seanclan at aol.com (Sean Clan) wrote: > I am hoping that this is a joke! But the Art of carpentry had advanced > quite far by our Period. I would think that most simple hand tools were in > use. I would stick to what Gunnbjorn Gunnarsson Said and > use that as a basis for your personal research. Sounds like a good article, > if not a Complete Anachronist peice. But medieval artists, were, as C. S. Lewis has written "happily ignorant of archeology and therefore compelled to see the past as if it were part of their own present." The tools depicted in medieval paintings of St. Joseph are the tools which would have been used by a carpenter during the period in which the picture was painted. In fact, Meyer Schapiro discusses one such painting in one of his books (_Late Antique, Early Christian and Medieval Art_). It wasn't an English painting, but I don't remember who the artist was (maybe van der Weyden?) and don't have the book to check. From: powers at woodstock.cis.ohio-state.edu (william thomas powers) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Medieval carpentry tools Date: 10 Oct 1997 22:30:59 -0400 Organization: The Ohio State University, Department of Computer and Information Science >Roy Underhill, host of "The Woodwright's Shop" on PBS, has written >several books as "companions" to his TV series. One of these contains a >period poem called, I believe, "The Debate of the Carpenter's Tools." He >has analyzed the poem and identified nearly all of the tools named, as >well as giving illustrations of the tools themselves. If I remember >correctly, the poem was translated from Middle English. the original >text was also provided. "The Woodwright's Work Book", Roy Underhill, isbn0-8078-4157-9 "The verse that follows is adapted from an anonymous fifteenth century manuscript (copy in the Bodleian Library, Ashmole 61). The original text appears in the appendix of this book." Original is 288 lines! "The Carpenter's Tool Chest" Thomas Hibben copyright 1933 has many line drawings of tools starting from the stone age until "modern"; but this is a tertiary source---at best. wilelm the smith---you can't make them if you don't know what they look like From: gerekr at aol.com (Gerekr) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Medieval carpentry tools Date: 11 Oct 1997 20:06:36 GMT You could try: Goodman, William Louis. _The history of woodworking tools._ New York : D. McKay, c1964. He includes a chart of woodworking tools through various periods. It's a little dated, some fill-ins from newer finds, but quite good. Some day in my Copious Free Time(TM) I'd like to do a more up to date and intense version on the Middle Ages. Meistari Gerekr From: priest at NOSPAMvassar.edu (Carolyn Priest-Dorman) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Medieval carpentry tools Date: 12 Oct 1997 01:13:40 GMT Organization: Vassar College Greeting from Thora Sharptooth! Quoting Nahum, John Hutchins (foxwhelp at mindspring.com) wrote: >>One piece that comes to mind immediately (maybe because I've gone to see it >>so often) is a Northern Rennaisance Triptich in the Cloisters museum >>showing the Announciation in the central "room", Joseph working in his shop >>on the right, an the guy who paid for the painting, with his girlfriend and >>an attendant on the left. > >This is the painting I had in mind -- the one Shapiro wrote about. > >Do you remember who painted it? As I remember, the shop and tools are >shown in van Eyckian detail. It's Robert Campin's work, late fifteenth century Flemish. The whole work is scarcely the size of a modern scanner bed, but you can photocopy/enlarge a print of it to about 600% resolution and still see the details in the tools and equipment remarkably clearly. ******************************************************************** Carolyn Priest-Dorman Thora Sharptooth capriest at cs.vassar.edu Frostahlid, Austrriki http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/thora.html ******************************************************************** From: wireharp at ix.netcom.com(RWM) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: re: Carpenter's Tools Date: 11 Oct 1997 04:17:54 GMT I remembered a source, but of a different time period. As I mentioned, it would appear that hand tools remained essentially the same from Roman times right up through the 18th century. I own (and use) an all- metal 17th century corner chisel that is the same pattern as one found at an excavation at Bath England from it's early tenants.You might want to do a search at Amazon for a book , I think the title is, The Mechanick's Excercise by Joseph Moxon. It has a description and some illustrations of 17th century woodworking tools, as well as some others. There is also the famous encyclopedias of mechanical trades published by Diederot in the 18th century. I know that Dover used to put out a paperback version of these. Good luck. Slán Robert Mouland wireharp at ix.netcom.com From: jklessig at slip.net Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: period carpentry tools, source for pictures of Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 03:55:40 GMT ALBAN at delphi.COM wrote: >(Did carpentry tools really change all that much? Mallets are mallets, >chisels are chisels, and such, after all; and even today a lot of hand- >working wood tools must look a lot like their predecessors (with the >exception of power tools, and certain odd items like mortising drills of >course). I suppose the materials used might be different (oh, for >example, rubber-coated handles on hammers, fiberglassoid handles for >chisels) - but have the basic shapes changed all that much?) >(Carpentry itself did change, of course, with the invention of, and >different uses for, a number of things like new joints, and new styles, >and new buildings/furniture/etc. - but did the tools change?) As far as I can tell there were two distinct changes, the hand tools today are not as well made (overall) and use more metal, and the saws are much better now. All of the period hand saws I have seen pictures of, look like large serrated kitchen knives. I am talking about hand saws, not bow saws, which look much the same now as then. The museum of london has some tools dated to the late roman, The mary Rose has some carpenters tools, and the Plantain Museum in Antwerp has some tools from the 1600s (as I recall) all very similar. Chandra From: Esther Heller Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Early wood turning site Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 10:45:01 -0400 Organization: Eastman Kodak Company Chas wrote: > I've just updated some pages I set up with images of early turning > machines. It's located at > http://www.historicgames.com/lathes/ancientlathes.html > > I'm also toying with the idea of setting up a bulletin board connected > to it for users of historical lathes since rec.crafts.woodturning seems > to be all motorized turners. Feel free to let me know if you are > interested in such a bulletin board. Well before we have too much duplication of effort, may I point out some resources already available? 1. The oldtools listserv. This is a spinoff from rec.woodworking several years ago, when the hand tool community (Neanderthals) felt unwelcome by the power toolers (Normites from Norm Abrams). It is archived at http://mailmunch.law.cornell.edu/mhonarc/OLDTOOLS and it is recommended that one monitor the web site for a while before subscribing. There are about 1,000 members and several are gentles. If you have no web access email me for the FAQ. Most of the tools discussed are post period (Stanley planes) but there are users of everything and periodic discussions on how to make your own tools, all of which are of SCA interest. It is also the best place I know of to find out how to _do_ something. Strongly recommended for all potential members of the interkingdom woodworking guild. They and we are on the same page. 2. The Electronic Neandethal This is the grandaddy of all hand tool websites, and has links to essentially eveything else available that the owner knows about, and many people feed the owner Neat New Links. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html If you set up a bulletin board I would suggest telling the Electronic Neanderthal owner so that he can set up a link. But I think there would be far more efficient information transfer if those interested connected to the larger handtool community of oldtools. There is also a side list of about a dozen people on the oldtools listserv who are building/have built foot powered lathes that discuss _details_ of stuff like how to connect your treadle to the wheel.... Note that the automatic reply is munged. Otelia d'Alsace mka Esther Heller eoh at kodak dot com Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 20:06:01 -0500 From: rmhowe To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: "Tooling" tools ..8-) If you can get your hands on a copy of Lester Griswold's _Handicraft - Simplified Procedures and Projects_, Prentice Hall, multiple editions, you will have an excellent book on many crafts. For leather it gives details on stampmaking, tooling, stitching, whipmaking, knotting, shoe making, and many projects in its 128 pages on leather alone. Other subjects include Basketry, Bookbinding, Ceramics, Fabric decoration, Plastics, Metalwork, Cordweaving, Woodwork, Archery, Lapidary, Weaving, etc. 480 pages. For the leather stamps it has them being made of simple 16 and 20 penny nails. Where a vise is not available to hold them the nails are driven into a short piece of wood, one can presumably split it to get them out. The basic outside shape would be filed / ground before driving into the wood to punch. Driving into the endgrain of a small piece of limb would be fairly ideal. Big enough to hold easily in your hand to work on, green enough not to split on driving the nail in initially. Tools used to punch and shape the nail heads might include some jeweller's needle files, regular three sided taper files, small round files, flat files, punches - center and nail punches, grinders and rotary tools. All that really needs to happen is that the steel be harder than the leather and not to bend badly under impact. One could also use various sizes of steel rod cut to length with a hacksaw and filed/sandpapered smooth before use. I've personally got a bunch of stainless steel rods and old punches laid up to tool for various projects. Those will have to be ground. But ordinary nails don't have to be ground, they can be filed and punched. I think the idea of using wood for stamps is fairly brilliant Marc. There are a lot of modelling tools found on various sites but I can't recall leather stamps. OTOH I can recall quite clearly that lead, as soft as it is, is used for punching designs into wax for ceremonial drum casting in S.E. Asia. It is also speculated that lead was used as a removable, alterable model for lost model castings in pre-Viking Scandinavia. I don't think it would hold up too well for punching leather though. The point is to use a material harder than that you intend to impress with it. Personally, I have seen damn few woods harder than walnut. If I were going to carve and beat on a wood common to much of the continent, I think I should choose that one. I'd just make sure I rounded the beaten end over, and perhaps wrapped it to prevent splintering. Hitting with a leather or wooden mallet or striker would help it last too. You shouldn't even strike regular metal punches with a metal hammer. Last week we were discussing wood and linoleum blocks. On looking in an Index to Handicrafts by Lovell I notice that there is a reference to an article on embossing leather with linoleum dies. It also occurs to me that there was an article in Tournaments Illuminated about 10 years ago in which a stone mold was used to make gesso? models to fit under the leather of a shield which had multiple copies of it. I have also read of shapes of leather or paper fiber being made to place under the leather (fairly thin) to mold shapes over. Just recently I got a new book on Medieval Love which had a numeber of carved and tooled caskets, some of which were leather. In one case from Switzerland the leather was both tooled and cut all the way through before being applied to a wooden casket and painted. In some others the leather was embossed out by having something placed presumably under it. I should think that the pressure might be applied much the same way it is in non flat wood veneering - using a sandbag clamped under a board over the object covered with the wet leather. (Modern jewelry metal forming dies use a whole lot more pressure and a polyurethane pressure pad of durometer 80 instead, but we are talking twenty tons there.) That book would be _The Medieval Art of Love - Objects and Subjects of Desire_, by Michael Camille, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8019-1554-8. LofCongress 98-17485, 1998. I can tell you now that most of you lot are going to want it. It is full of illustrations of medieval mirrors, caskets, embroidered pouches, illuminated pages, a heart shaped songbook, etc.. I paid about $35 a couple of weeks ago. There is a good bibliography for tracking down further references to those same objects included. Magnus Malleus, OL, Atlantia, GDHorde Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 13:16:44 -0500 From: rmhowe To: ThorThor at mindspring.com, dss10 at acpub.duke.edu, sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu, Subject: Making Engraving Tools from Nails Page http://www.celticknot.com/elektric/techniques/touchmark.html Forgot I had this bookmarked. For those who would like to experiment. Magnus Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 02:52:18 -0500 From: Melanie Wilson To: "INTERNET:sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu" Subject: Medieval Tools >I would like to ask if anyone knows where I might find information on >medieval tools. Specifically, wood cutting tools. Books on traditional English crafts show a range of hand tools many of which have changed little over time, I'm not aware of any book specifically on period tools as the SCA defines period. If you have a more specific period in mind I might be able to think of something relevant if nobody else can! > Were axes and saws period? Axes were around from Stone age period! Saws are also seen from early on. The Complete Practical book of country crafts by Jack Hill is my favorite generally book, it covers materials, tools & devices,horn working, coppering, sticks, rakes, brooms, hurdles, clog making, turning,carving, chair making,wheelwrighting,blacsmithing, harness making, basket making, rush work, thatch & straw work, rope making, brick & pottery, hedging & walling. A real gem of a book and the instructions are really clear- it is more of a doing book than list of tools though. Another general one is The countryman book of village trades and crafts by Seager Some of the Dorothy Hartley books show traditional crafts too. Mel Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 11:51:39 -0600 From: "I. Marc Carlson" To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: RE: Medieval Tools >I would like to ask if anyone knows where I might find information on >medieval tools. Specifically, wood cutting tools... I'd start with Goodman, W. L., The history of woodworking tools., London: Bell & Hyman, 1964 (and later editions to at least 1978) Marc/Diarmaid Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 11:32:49 -0500 From: Tom Rettie To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu, SCA-ARTS at UKANS.EDU Subject: Re: Medieval Tools The gentle Katerina of Dunvegan wrote: >I would like to ask if anyone knows where I might find information on medieval >tools. Specifically, wood cutting tools. Were axes and saws period? If not, >what might have been used to fell trees (diameters of 4 inch or less). I'm >not sure where to begin my search and any help would be appreciated. As has been pointed out by others, axes and saws are indeed period. For felling trees, the axe was far more common (more specifically, the "felling" axe, as opposed to a "broad" axe). While saws were in use throughout the Middle Ages, they were more commonly used for cutting felled timbers and boards to length ("cross-cutting" or "bucking") or cutting boards down their length ("ripping"). I can't recall ever finding a period source where a saw is used to fell a tree (though that doesn't mean there aren't any). Another distinction is that saws are really a hallmark of a professional carpenter, joiner, etc. Saws in period had to be cut and filed by hand, and required specialized tools to maintain. An axe, on the other hand, was a common tool and could be maintained with a simple whetstone. I can offer two works that might be of some use to you. One is an article I wrote on 15th century tools for the Atlantian Arts and Sciences magazine. It is a very high-level introduction to hand tools. The other is a class handout I did for an Atlantian University class that is mostly illustrations. I can send you both in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format -- you can get Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's website, in either Windows, Mac, or Unix). The tools article is about 250 Kb, the Handout is larger, about 800 Kb. If you would like to see them and can handle attachments of that size, please let me know and I will forward them to you. Findlaech mac Alasdair Atlantia Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 22:06:44 -0500 From: rmhowe To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Tools The gentle Katerina of Dunvegan wrote: >I would like to ask if anyone knows where I might find information on medieval >tools. Specifically, wood cutting tools. Were axes and saws period? If not, >what might have been used to fell trees (diameters of 4 inch or less). Another source she might find interesting is Roy Underhill's The Woodwright's Work Book" In it he has an anonymous 15th century verse called the "Debate of the Carpenter's Tools" The tools argue with each other who most valuable, and Underhill goes through them and attempts to indentify them with their modern names, or equivalents Chas Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 22:28:38 -0500 From: Carol Thomas To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: Tools The book _Medieval Life Illustrations_ has quite a number of pictures of axes, but I did not spot any saws (while leafing through it quickly). It is entirely period woodcut pictures. There are at least 2 different ax head shapes shown. Since it is a Dover book, it is probably widely available. 0-846-28862-5. Lady Carllein Small Churl Books catalog: http://www.neca.com/~scbooks/ Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 14:19:34 -0500 From: rmhowe To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Some parts of a discussion on Lathe Books Charles and I trade information back and forth, and he sends some to the Arts list through me, so I don't think he'll mind my sharing this with you. Most of it is my citations. Subject: Lathe Books Chas wrote: > rmhowe wrote: > > Sobel machinery at 201-768-9645 Dave Sobel has at least 50 jeweler's > > lathes and probably several thousand collets of various sizes...... > > no web site. Sells used machinery too. > > This guy is _the_ jewelers / clockmakers lathe specialist as far as > > I have learned from the newsgroups and has an excellent reputation. > > -Actually I was thinking about making a period-style clockmakers lathe > -Driven by a bow pumped back and forth by hand like a bow drill. Do > -you think he might be able to point me in the right direction for > -that? Can't say for sure, see lower citations: > I've been thinking it would be more portable than the spring-pole I've > used for demonstrations at re-enactment events. > > Chas > -- > MacGregor Games > Purveyors of historic pastimes to re-enactors around the world > http://www.historicgames.com There was also a book about twenty years ago on a family workshop of clockmakers, cabinetmakers, furniture and such that survived intact from the eighteenth and early 19th centuries, several generations. I believe it was entitled By Hammer and Hand. I think the Henry Ford Museum may have bought the shop entire as it was a one of a kind survival. I think that is a very good possiblility for your clock making lathe pictures. Wish I could remember the name of the family, similar to Tammany but I know that is not it. I don't have that particular book myself. I suggest Inter Library Loan. You know I was just thinking that you ought to get copies of Diderot's Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industy from Dover Publishing ISBN 0-486-27429-2 and 27428-4. They show all sorts of machiery including some fairly advanced lathes from pre-revolutionary France in great detail. Probably about $45 for the pair which are about 2 1/2" thick combined. Nearly all illustrations. I looked and there are no clockmaker's lathes per se. There are a number of other types. Goldsmith's for example. Volume one was $19.95, volume two was $22.95. 485 plates. Over 2000 illustrations. Fantastic Books. BTW. Parts of Diderot are also on the market independently from the two volume set that Dover Books sells, but they cost about $20 a piece and you'd end up spending several times as much as if you bought the Dover set. Don't be fooled into doing that. You should be very happy with the Dover set. I am. And it should be in print. Dover Publications, Inc. 31 East 2nd St. Mineola, New York 11501-3582 No phone listed. $5 postage for any order. The Book of Trades by Jost Amman (Standebuch) has pictures of gemcutters, woodturners, pewterers, etc. 1568. Also from Dover 0-486-22886 dunno current price. Theophilus' On Divers Arts contains a number of instructions and illustrations of early lathes for such stuff as bellfounding and pewterturning. Circa 1122. Dover ISBN 0-486-23784-2 Roman Crafts edited by Donald Strong and David Brown has pictures of a conjectural Roman lathe for turning metalwork. ISBN 0715607812 probably out of print. Duckworth, The Old Piano Factory, 43 Glocester Crescent, London, NW1 7DY. My edition is 1976. Magnus Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 12:51:55 -0500 From: Tom Rettie To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: Some parts of a discussion on Lathe Books >Charles and I trade information back and forth, and he sends some to >the Arts list through me, so I don't think he'll mind my sharing this >with you. Most of it is my citations. ...snip... One I found recently is in "Venus and Mars, The World of the Medieval Housebook" (the book for the museum exhibit of the same name that leaves DC this weekend and is headed to New York). There is a great period illustration of a lathe circa 1480. It's also the earliest illustration I've found of wooden screws used in shop fixtures (I've also found a German illustration of a workbench face vise circa 1505). Fin -------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Rettie tom at his.com Heather Bryden bryden at hers.com -------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 09:20:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Laura C Minnick Subject: RE: SC - Period Hummus-recipe and a added question On Wed, 28 Jul 1999, Andy Oppenheim wrote: > also does anyone know where I can find information on 16 century tools? > Wasn't shure of where or who to ask You might try either of : Patricia Basing, _Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts_ (New Amsterdam Books, New York, 1990) Jacques le Goff (ed.), _Medieval Callings_ (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1990) Not much but it would be a start. 'Lainie - - Laura C. Minnick From: "Esther Heller" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Midieval Varnish Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 13:24:37 -0400 Organization: Eastman Kodak Company Chris K. Hepburn wrote ... >When did they start using melted amber (gasp choke) as a varnish? > >I seem to recall hearing they melted down quantities of it in the 1800's to >finish furniture. Is this a solely Victorian phenomenon? > >Chris, AB If you really want details check the North American woodworking magazines for the past year or so. The varnish was not _just_ melted amber, but copal ("young" amber), kauri (some ancient gum from down under?) and similar were ingredients in older varnish recipes. There was at least one major article in the past year or so but I don't recall where and don't subscribe to all the magazines. If you are curious the place to start is Fine Woodworking on Finishing (a collection of article reprints from the early years of FWW) or anything by George Frank. Some of the FWW articles point you to the late 18th-early 19th original sources, Frank was the end of the later Victorian traditional training. If you are _really_ curious join the oldtools hand woodworking listserv (FAQ at http://www.mcs.net/~brendler/oldtools/OTFAQ.htm ) and ask. They are at least vaguely aware of the SCA, although most of the people who do the serious study are 100+ years OOP for us. Given the earliest how-to book in English is Moxon circa 1700 (haven't gotten far enough to know if he does finishes, he is the standard source for tools) and a lot more furniture in North America is post 1700 most of the study and interest is OOP. But the tools don't change much from 1700 to post US Civil war, and I think a lot of the technique goes back centuries. The Mastermyr find has instantly recognisable drawknives and a scorp, you can only do certain things with those tools..... and there are some _experts_ on how to use the tools on oldtools. Otelia Subject: Re: [medieval-leather] Re: Anyone know anything about this? Viking Boxes Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 15:32:08 -0500 From: rmhowe Organization: Windmaster's Hill, Atlantia, and the GDH To: medieval-leather at egroups.com (Master Finnr asked a question about a tool box with a sliding lid. That incomplete one was in a Celtic book, he wanted a Viking one to recreate for a leatherworker's tool box.) I can help you on the Viking sliding lid boxes bit, the book has several of them, or bits of them, each decorated, (and even some awls - one with a Dragon head). The boxes were made of one piece for the body, generally under two inches wide (there are cm measurements) with a sliding t-shaped lid that goes into a groove in the box sides. The t-shaped lid is only t-shaped for a short distance - where the sides are cut out to match the box top end. Decorated all over generally. I suppose you could enlarge them or shrink them according to your purposes - pencases, gift boxes, etc. width |<- 5cm ->| or a little less ________________________________________________ ____________ |_______| | |____________| | | | | | side view | | end view | | | | | |________________________________________________| |____________| ______________________|_________________________ ____________ | |______________________________________ | | /________\ | | | | | | sect. | | | O <- hole top view | | | | view | | | ______________________________________| | | |____A___| | |_______|________________________________________| |____________| | A The book also has a number of other artifacts in it like knives with handles, planes, scraper handle, fancy stopper, weaver's swords, carved crooks, spindle, toggles, toys, furniture parts, a winder, shuttle, comb handles (for fiber), saddle bow, strap ends, etc. There are bone objects also. Both in drawings and b&w photos. Found mine at http://www.bookshop.co.uk/ Ref. number 558113 Loc.0/43 PB cost me GBP17.66 last March. National Museum of Ireland (UK) Mediaeval Dublin Excavations 1962-81 series B., Vol 1 (1988) _Viking-Age Decorated Wood, A Study of It's Ornament and Style_ By James T. Lang, ISBN HB 0901714682 PB 0901714690 Royal Irish Academy 19 Dawson St. Dublin 2 Master Magnus Malleus, Atlantia, GDH To: Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 17:05:32 -0500 From: rmhowe Subject: Some recent reprints. For those of you who might be interested in such trivial matters Dover has reprinted Henry C. Mercer's Ancient Carpenter's Tools. "Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumberman, Joiner, and Cabinetmaker in Use in the Eighteenth Century" "Classic Reference describes in detail hundreds of implements in use in the American Colonies in the 18th Century. Over 250 illustrations depict tools often identical in construction to ancient devices once used by the Greeks, Egyptians, and Chinese, among them axes, saws, clamps, chisels, mallets, and much more. An invaluable sourcebook for antiques enthusiasts and woodcrafters alike. 352pp. 6 1/8 x 9 1/4" 40958-9 Pb $18.95 Dover Publications Inc. 31 East 2nd Street Mineola, N.Y. 11501-3582 Woodworkers, we ain't got no steenking woodworkers - do we? ;) Shipping is $5 in the U.S. or 20% of the total overseas. Of course, these folks will catalog you to death. But they reprint some good stuff. Magnus Not to be reposted to newsgroups or the rialto, SCA newsgroups are fine. Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:27:57 -0400 From: "marilyn traber 011221" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] turning hammer?- OT To: Cooks wihin the SCA >> Saint Phlip, >> CoD, who, after having looked fruitlessly for two years for a turning >> hammer, was GIVEN one today at he flea market.... > > I assume this is some kind of special hammer used for blacksmithing, > but all I can think of is a spatula. > > Stefan A turning hammer, Stefan (and Cadoc) is what farrier call it- a rounding hammer is what smiths call it. I started as a farrier, so... All it is, is a hammer with one face convex and the other face flat. As soon as my computer is working again, I'll send a picture. The edges of the face are radiused so ou don't put dings and creases into the hot metal you're working, and it's particularly useful for bending steel, as in horseshoes "the hard way", as in edge on, to help make the curve at the toe of the horseshoe. The head is usually about 32 oz/ 2 lbs-plenty of heft for a hard blow, but not so heavy it will wear you out (the claw hammers that everyone uses for carpentry are usually 16 oz, to give you some basis for comparison). The hammer that you use for actually hammering the nails into the shoe and the hoof is called, oddly enough, a shoeing hammer ;-) and it looks rather like a claw hammer, and is usually 12-16 ozs. The differences are that the head is shaped particularly at the hammer end to hit horseshoe nails without hitting the area around them, and the "claws" are designed to twist and break off the "points" of the nails in preparation for clinching them over so they don't pull out of the hoof. It also has a handle made of apple wood (usually) for additional flex- one of the characterstics of modern horseshoe nails is that, if hit softly, they go in straight, if hit hard, they curve out (of the hoof). Most horseshoe nails nowadays have a rough spot on one side of the head (called "city heads") so the farrier can place the nail into the nail hole by feel, without having to look at it. If you put the nail in so that it bends in the wrong direction, the nail goes into the soft tissue (rather like the quick of your fingernail, except much more structurally specialized) you suddenly have a horse with a very sore foot who now has a puncture wound very subject to infection- not a good thing. Saint Phlip, CoD From: "celia" Newsgroups: soc.history.medieval Subject: Re: Small Things Date: 16 Jul 2006 22:18:44 -0700 William Black wrote: > > >Medieval carpenters didn't have tool steel, they had wrought iron tools. > > > > I don't think so. The smiths knew how to carburise irons to make > > steels and there are many examples of laminated iron tools with steel > > cutting edges. > > Not in Europe. > > I have never seen any mention of a medieval Damacsus steel chissel. > > I'd love to see one, it would make a lot of things much easier for the poor > re-enactors... How's your Latin ? Mine's non existant but in the Evesham Chronicles is an account of a layman working for Abbot Manni and using either a chisel or an engraving tool. (11th c.) It shows something of the frustrations of trying to find anything out with insufficient resources that I tried to translate this passage with a Medieval Latin Word List, an on line translater, the owner of the village shop who did Latin at school and had forgotten most of it and a lady who gave Latin classes once a fortnight in the pub. I gave up before resorting to the visually handicapped retired American lawyer. I don't know what type of steel it was that inflicted a wound considered likely to be fatal when it slipped but the tool was obviously very sharp. I posted Godric's Story to shm on May 25th. As a member of the goldmithing familly he would have worked with metals and probably also stone and wood. Alexander Neckham (Paris late 12th c.) says, " The goldsmith must have a very sharp chisel with which he can engrave figures of many kinds on amber, hard stone, marble, emerald sapphire or pearl..... He must also be as skilled in engraving as well as in bas relief." It's not difficult to think of Anglo Saxon gold work with fine sharp engraving on it, what the tools were made of is impossible to tell, but they could do the job. I'm sure you've engraved metal, there's a knack to it, but a sharp tool is essential Look at Neckham's list, do you believe it ? Hardstone, emerald and sapphire being engraved with steel tools in the 12th c.? How did the Romans produce agate and carnelian cameos ? Fine, sharp edged, detailed work; how hard is modern steel ? I guess about moh 6 these stones were moh 7.5 - 8. My guess is slave labour, a lot of time, and abrasive powder. This is just guesswork, got any information on the subject ? Celia From: mmagnusol Date: August 28, 2007 8:50:26 PM CDT To: - Adrian Empire - NC - Shire of Galloway , - Austlend - Vikings-NA in NC List , - Authenticity List , - Baronage of Windmasters' Hill , - House Bayard , "- MedievalEncampments at yahoogroups.com" , - SCA-ARTS Subject: The Mastermyr Project http://www.netlabs.net/~osan/Mastermyr/ Lots of images of the articles. I was the one who got Norm Larson to reprint 2000 copies of the book. He got permission to reprint shortly before Greta Arwidsson died. The initial printing was only 800 and that was a hardback. The reprint is a paperback. It took me four years to find an original. I got the reprint first. The Mastermyr chest is the greatest assemblage of late Viking Age tools and cookware. It probably sank into a bog when a boat overturned. With time the peat bog became a meadow that was being plowed when the tools were discovered. It is a literal time capsule of locks and keys, the chest, metal and wood working tools, a folding hanging griddle and cauldron. You can probably still buy one for yourself. Magnus Edited by Mark S. Harris tools-msg Page 27 of 28