Toolemera Blog

It was a dark and stormy night...

It was a dark and stormy night... No, really, it was. It was 1997 and I was attending the North American Print Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts. Pouring rain and Worcester signs meant getting lost. In Worcester, directions are typically given as "turn left at the big oak tree, then when you see the Texaco Station go about another minute and take a right at the yellow house with the green shutters." You are expected to do this at night, in the rain, with minimal street lights while surrounded by Massachusetts drivers.

What does this have to do with tools? Well, here I am, once again, shilling for the Early American Industries Association. The March, 2008 issue of The Chronicle, the quarterly publication of the Association, features an article near and dear to my collectors soul:

The Development of the Illustrated Tool Catalog. By Elton "Toby" W. Hall, who is both the Director of the Association, an avid Sailor, an avocational Letterpress Printer and an all around evangelist for all thing Early American Industries.

Chapter titles:

• The First Tool Catalog
• Catalogs in America
• Promoting American Toolmakers
• The Illustrated Catalog
• The Printing Process

Heavily illustrated, carefully crafted, this article was originally presented as a paper at the 1997 North American Print Conference. The presentations never made it into print, at least until now. If you like reading old trade catalogs, it is your responsibility to read this article.  The only way you are going to get to read this paper is to join the Early American Industries Association. Soon.

Till next,
Gary

Who's On First?

File under "There ain't nothin' new under the sun". While looking up sources for the term "tabling" (yes, I am still harping on that Table Saw), I came upon an instance of the sort that gives bookworms and librarians headaches. A simple quote:

"But many seem to aim at making the beam stronger that if it were one piece: and this inconsiderate practice has given rise to many whimsical modes of tabling and scarfing, which we need not regard."

You'ld think that a statement as peculiar as this one would appear once and then fade away. Whimsical is not your everyday woodworking term, unless your specialty are toys or weathervanes. So let's take a look at this one simple phrase...

1822 - A System of Mechanical Philosophy. Robison, John; Watt, James. Page 531
1824 - Encyclopedia Britannica. Page 638
1827 - Introduction to the Mechanical Principles of Carpentry. Hale, Benjamin. Page 165
1853 - Elementary Principles of Carpentry. Tredgold, Thomas. Page 176
1867 - Treatise on Architecture... Hosking, Ashipitel and Tredgold. Page 224
1888 - Encyclopedia Britannica. Page 478
1907 - Encyclopedia Britannica. Page 427

What is most annoying about this viral plagiarism is that no one, and I mean No One, explains how to do it! Why? Because everyone was too busy lifting the quote from someone else to actually put the effort into spelling it out. Msrs. Robinson  & Watt must surely have known of whence they spoke. All the rest thought this was a nifty quote and so included in their treatises.

Which brings me to my complaint. You can't trust what you read any more. I wonder just how much of the 'experts' such as Tredgold lifted from earlier works without verifying the content? Makes you stop and think for a moment. We base so much of our current "knowledge" on the so-called classic books of carpentry and joinery yet we don't know how much the authors actually wrote and how much they borrowed. Holtzappfel is responsible for so many engravings of tools and processes that it's impossible to track the authors who borrowed his work. Or to fully track from whom Holtzappfel borrowed his stuff.

Here and there we find a quote or an image that clearly was created by an earlier author. The unsettling part is knowing what is bona fide good practice and what is simply filler to make the book more impressive. Let's not blame the authors of the classics. This kind of plagiarism is rampant today in research. I can't count how often I come across some thesis or scholarly article that has a stack of referenced quotes of which some are bogus. Upon tracking those quotes back to the original author, it sometimes happens that many of the latter authors have simply lifted the quote.. and the referenced article... from someone who made a mistake in the attribution. The mistake proliferates. So what's the big deal? It means that the latter authors may never have read the original work, instead relying on another author for some level of veracity. Oops, one of those experts didn't read the original work. My bad.

Upon graduation from the Simmons College of Library and Information Sciences, we were all given diplomas and a coupon for a lifetimes supply of tylenol.

So know I can safely say that Tabling is a verified term for joining two pieces of wood, particularly used in ship-building (mast making used this technique) and in timber framing. But I still haven't found a reference that explains why there is a Table Saw and even if this saw has a clear relationship with Tabling. And it's all their fault.

Till next,
Gary

Full Chisel Blog - Hand Tools Only Need Apply

Just the other day I received an email from a fellow, Stephen Sheperd. Seems Stephen has a fairly new blog, Full Chisel, in which he discusses his life as a hand tool woodworker. That's 35 years as a woodworker folks. Stephen was simply was asking if it was ok to add a link from his blog back to mine. Being the nosey bloke that I am, I skipped over to check out Full Chisel. If you have just checked on that link and are no longer reading this, that's ok. If you are reading this and have not checked out Stephens' blog, then why not? If you have left to check out Full Chisel, then how are you reading this?

I'm wondering now if there exists a forum, or email list, or some kind of central meeting place for folks who practice early woodworking. Folks like Stephen Shepard and Adam Cherubini. Folks who are not caught up in the latest greatest but in the figuring out of how to use hand tools without the modern appurtances of sandpaper sharpening, surface plates, micrometers and carbide tipped things. Now don't get me wrong, I do love my Milwaukee 3/4 inch Hammer Drill. Ok, not love, but I do appreciate it's marvelous capacity to make mincemeat of masonry. And I would give an eyetooth (what is an eyetooth?) for one of those new infill planes. However, on the shelf next to my desk are three smooth planes, one of ebony, one of boxwood and one of apple. Behind me are a few plow planes, one of boxwood, one of beech and one of rosewood. Now what does that tell you?

For now, I'll add Full Chisel (hint hint) to a new side bar list of Hand Tools Only.

If you have net yet checked out Full Chisel, do not complain to me about your hum-drum life. You have only yourself to blame.

Till next
Gary

Postscript: I have duly corrected Stephen's Familial name to read as it should... Shepherd not Shepard.

Table Saw Conundrum

Not the Atom Powered Table Saw, I'm talking about the meat and potatoes powered table saw. The one that we always argue about. Why is this called a table and pruning saw? Sold by the big guys, Disston, Simonds, Atkins and others, in the 19th Century and the early part of the 20th Century, makers termed this peculiar beast a Table and/or Pruning Saw. All kinds of theories have been advanced as to how and why this saw came to receive two names.

One theory is that the saw was used to cut out the tops of really large round tables. Well, it does have sort of a narrow blade. But I suspect that the table top would have to be King Arthur's round table in size in order to accomodate the minimum circumference this blade would handle.

Another Theory is the saw was used in the ship-building industries to shape the gentle curves of planks destined to become part of the Tall Ships. Given the importance of ship-building, I could never see why the manufacturers wouldn't have given this poor saw it's own label, not a shared one.

A little thinking and searching turned up an interesting tidbit:

table (n.) c.1175, "board, slab, plate," from O.Fr. table "board, plank, writing table, picture" (11c.), and late O.E. tabele, from W.Gmc. *tabal (cf. O.H.G. zabel, Ger. Tafel), both from L. tabula "a board, plank, table,"

To my way of thinking, a pruning saw must have a fairly narrow blade that is also stiff enough to reduce flexing while cutting through wet, sticky, grainy woods. What sort of saw would you use if you had to cut, by hand, a very green plank of milled lumber? I wonder if the Table Saw, aka the Pruning Saw would have sufficed? Ok, so that may be a jump in supposition.

What do you think? What possible relation could the Table and Pruning Saw have to the original work, Table?

Till next
Gary

Here is an image from Hodgson, who by any means is not the last word on most anything. A prolific author and editor, but I can never be sure what words were his and what words were 'borrowed'. I guess this could be an answer. Grimshaw also describes the saw as used for cutting curves. Perhaps the typical placement of the Table saw with the Pruning saw was just a habit that caught on and never left?

Any shipwrights out there who can shed light on this question?

Gary

.....................

Yet more on the Table Saw...

On a tip from Stephen Shephard of the Full Chisel Blog, I checked Holtzappfel:

"The table-saw, and the compass or lock-saw... which only differ in size, resemble the hand-saws in their general structure and in the forms of their teeth, except that the blades are smaller and narrower, to allow them to lie as a tangent to the curve. ... Pruning Saws are often made exactly like the table and compass saws... but with teeth which are coarser, thicker and keener than those for dry wood." Same blade, different teeth.

To further confuse the matter, there is this definition from a compendium of shipbuilding terminology:

TABLING.    

Letting one piece of timber into another by alternate scores or projections from the middle, so that it cannot be drawn asunder either lengthwise or sidewise.

From Daryl over at Woodnet comes these images:

 

You can't always get...

Warning! Digital Archives Rant Follows!

Got up real early (for me) on a Saturday morning and hightailed it down to a tool auction, about an hour away. Unfortunately, a snow squall slowed things down so it took nearly two hours to get there. Nice scenery though, what with all the snowy trees and everything. There was one particular item I was interested in, a mid 1800's hardware store ledger complete with numerous entries for local tool makers. Edge tool, Plane, Saw, etc. I thought to myself "Self, this would be a great item to scan and make available online". Instead of the more usual, though still rare, tool makers catalogs and price lists, this would be an opportunity for some Reverse Archival Engineering. A chance to see what the tool maker purchased from the local hardware store, and what was sold to that hardware store.

Alas, there was another gentleman (with whom I am acquainted) there to bid on behalf of a local museum. This particular ledger was from the proper geographic area and topical realm for inclusion in the holdings of this museum's library. Shouldn't I step aside and not bid against such an august institution? That thought crossed my mind for but a moment. You see, the problem was that once in the collection of this museum, the ledger was destined to be carefully preserved and housed, waiting for some interested person to go to the Museum and examine it. "Go to the museum" is the operative phrase.

I find myself at war with myself over this situation. On one hand, I work in a library and archives. On the other hand I collect. On the other other hand I try to digitize and make available similar material online for public consumption. The ledger is now held safely and securely for anyone who wants to travel to examine it. But it could have been fully digitized and made available as an online resource (by me). Of course, the ownership part of collecting did not come into play (Hah!). What a quandry. Good old Google Books is busy digitizing tons of books. How I wish that there was a similar project to digitize the massive holdings scattered throughout the USA in town and museum archives and libraries.

At least I got to hold the ledger for a few minutes and examine it. But I still have this itch that I can't scratch and it's really bugging me...

Till next
Gary