"high dollar tools..."

[Frank Fusco]

Reading this thread has made me chuckle. I have largely given up neanderthal tools because the old energy motor is getting rusty. I now enjoy using (a new term to me) "tailed" tools. But this thread, with just a few word changes could have been used on other forums I belong to. I have long been a reenactor/buckskinner and user of traditional style muzzle loading firearms, particularly flintlocks. Many discussions on those lists end up with some one saying "if they had it, they would have used it". 'they' meaning those who lived in the pre-1840 era. That's not the point. The point is/was to learn from experience how our predecessors lived and forged lives, and America, using what they did have back then. From that use came enjoyment. By turning on a band/table saw, powered lathe or whatever, I will never understand what was involved in making items necessary for living with just a few simple hand tools. That said, enjoy what you will, your way. As far as I know, there are no Neanderthal Police watching.

[Mike Henderson]

Reading this thread has made me chuckle. I have largely given up neanderthal tools because the old energy motor is getting rusty. I now enjoy using (a new term to me) "tailed" tools. But this thread, with just a few word changes could have been used on other forums I belong to. I have long been a reenactor/buckskinner and user of traditional style muzzle loading firearms, particularly flintlocks. Many discussions on those lists end up with some one saying "if they had it, they would have used it". 'they' meaning those who lived in the pre-1840 era. That's not the point. The point is/was to learn from experience how our predecessors lived and forged lives, and America, using what they did have back then. From that use came enjoyment. By turning on a band/table saw, powered lathe or whatever, I will never understand what was involved in making items necessary for living with just a few simple hand tools. That said, enjoy what you will, your way. As far as I know, there are no Neanderthal Police watching.

I agree. One thing I'd like is a book that really described what it was like to work in a furniture shop in the 1700's. One that described the tools, the working conditions, finishes, and the people who did the work. Could even be a novel.

Try as we might, most of us can only approximate what it must have been like. We have modern shops with lights, modern glue, etc. We have modern knowledge in our heads. I use old tools but it's piecemeal. I know that it's not really what our ancestors lived through.

Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Mike, There is actually more about how those shops operated than you would think. Unfortunately it's all in bits and pieces in dozens of different books and periodicals. American Furniture, the Chipstone Foundation annual publication, had a great article a while last year on shops in Newport, RI. The best source however is a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and a lot of questioning of Mack Headley, Kaare Loftheim, and David Salisbury in the Hay Cabinet Shop. Mack in particular has spent over 30 years researching this very topic.

[Jeff Farris]

.... The best source however is a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and a lot of questioning of Mack Headley, Kaare Loftheim, and David Salisbury in the Hay Cabinet Shop. Mack in particular has spent over 30 years researching this very topic.

I was going to add Colonial Williamsburg to this thread, but Dave beat me to it. On one visit one of the fellows was putting the last coat of wax on an exquisite harpsicord. They had been working on it for over a year. Two guys behind him were roughing out some large timbers. I asked him what they were working on. "The next one", he said.

[Mike Henderson]

Hi Mike, There is actually more about how those shops operated than you would think. Unfortunately it's all in bits and pieces in dozens of different books and periodicals. American Furniture, the Chipstone Foundation annual publication, had a great article a while last year on shops in Newport, RI. The best source however is a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and a lot of questioning of Mack Headley, Kaare Loftheim, and David Salisbury in the Hay Cabinet Shop. Mack in particular has spent over 30 years researching this very topic.

Thanks for the suggestion. The reason I mentioned a book is that Colonial Williamsburg is a long ways from me (completely across the US). I've visited quite a long time ago, but that was before I really started woodworking.

I think there's a lot of interest in how things were done back then - maybe Mack Headley will write a book on his research one day.

Mike