A couple of weeks ago we were all discussing how many sets of chisels we all had. That got me thinking (a dangerous pastime) about the first set of chisels I ever bought. It was Christmas, 1984 and I came home from College with the 1984 Woodcraft Catalog with items circled as part of my Christmas list, annually passed around to relatives. I had circled virtually everything in the catalog from an awl for a few bucks to a Lion Miter Trimmer for just over $200.

My family didn't get their act together to order from the catalog, so they took up a collection, wrapped up the catalog and an envelope of cash (about enough for the Lion Miter trimmer) and let me pick out what I wanted. By the time I got back to college, the pizza and beer tax had whittled down this ponderous sum to just over $100.

On my list was a set of chisels and a block plane, a set of palm carving tools (swiss made) and with the couple of bucks I had left I threw in an awl.

I remembered wanting a set of Stanley No. 40s, but they were more than double the price of the set of Woodcraft Branded Chisels, and would leave me little to buy the other items. So I went with the Woodcraft paring chisels. This was well before Woodcraft sold Chinese tools under the Wood River brand. The chisels were likely English, Spanish, or by some other European Manufacturer. They are very nice, take and hold a good edge and I've used them regularly for nearly 40 years. But I still longed for a set Stanley 40s, which I just bought, new in the pouch a set of six. They're beauties.

Anyway, I got thinking about that first year I really got into hand tool woodworking and how I used to browse through the Woodcraft, Garrett Wade, and Silvo tool catalogs. So, on a whim I tried looking up available old catalogs online, mostly to reminisce. While there are a lot of old catalogs available online, they are mostly manufacturer's catalogs (Stanley, Sargent, etc.) not retailers.

So I tried eBay and sure-enough I found a copy of the very same catalog I had circled all those years ago. I just received it. What a trip down memory lane! I pieced together that first order and it came out to about $106.00. It's amazing that you could still buy pretty good, American, English, and European tools back then. This was before LN and LV and all the premium tool companies of today. The most expensive bench plane in the catalog was a Primus wooden jointer at $89.95. The most expensive plane of all was a Record Combination Plane at $129.95

Now all I need is a time machine...

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