Antique Woodworking Tools

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, virtually all furniture and homes were built without the use of machinery, depending solely on hand workmanship and specially designed tools. Now Michael Dunbar, a professional woodworker who practices the techniques of pre-industrial woodworking and who is the author of Windsor Chairmaking, brings together information about the toob of the period for amateur and professional woodworkers and collectors of antique woodworking tools. He is a craftsman who loves his work and wishes to share his experience with others.

In his own words, “The reason why a modem woodworker would want to practice his craft with antique tools is a very subjective one ... a matter of his personal preference ... a person who is able to use these more demanding implements is rewarded by a tremendous sense of satisfaction ... using pre-industrial tools is a more contemplative approach that deeply involves the practitioner with both his craft and his medium.”

In order to understand antique tools thoroughly, one must place them in history and then examine their role in the society that uses them. Therefore any explanation must consider three things: the medium they were used to work, the men who owned them and the products made by these craftsmen. The author covers these subjects in a way to interest a variety of readers. For those who wish to carry their interest into practice he explains that the tool boxes, once carefully maintained by proud American woodworkers, have long since been broken up, their contents destroyed or scattered. What survived has lain about idle for as long as half a century. Consequently, pre-industrial woodworking tools always require some restoration and regular maintenance. The author not only describes how these tools were used, but also the techniques of rehabilitating and servicing them.

(Text from front flab)