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Topic
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Hi all,
My name is Mike and I am a tool addict. I though I would share my latest project(s). The story is; there is a lady in my area who inherited some tools through her late husband. The husband’s great grandfather (from New York) started in the carriage maker’s trade and got into the funeral business as the result of making a hearse and presumably some coffins. At some point he created this tool box and stocked it with some of his tools. Please forgive me for the lack of details of what all is in the box because I just got it home and it is basically as it was found. In going through it, there are three Disston keystones (one rip, one cross cut, and one rip panel) with spilt nuts and nibs, a couple of coffin (literally and figuratively) planes about the size of short #3s, a wooden jack and a fore or short joiner plane. There is a spokeshave, two drawknives, a fret saw, two braces and numerous Jennings style bits along with numerous countersinks and specialty bits, three expansion bits, three squares, four marking gauges, a Langdon/ Miller Falls miter saw, two hammers, a roofing hatchet, and about 24 chisels (including a few carving chisels, Addis, Buck Brothers), files, bradawls, calipers, dividers, inside calipers, a bevel gauge, a plumb bob, one hollow, one round, a rabbet plane, and a tongue and groove set, some old keys and a lock, some sharpening files (stones) along with some other curious odd bits.
The collection is not specific to the carriage maker’s trade but contains tools one would expect for general woodworking, a little carpentry, a little cabinet making, and most of it seems to date from 1910(or so) or before. Again, I sorry for the few details but I will try to include more as I work through the restoration process.
Have fun
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Update
Any time I work on a “lot” of tools I generally do it in phases. I have completed what I think of as the “discovery and research” phase where I look the tools ( and the container, box, etc.) over, catalogue and document what I find and begin to try and understand the general context. As part of that phase I may do some primary cleaning in order to help locate and determine any markings. The tools with patent dates run from the 1860’s through the 1890’s but a few of the tools are later add-ons (such as a Craftsman line level). While each tool has to be considered separately, the collective also often holds some interesting information about the past of the group.
The box is obviously designed as a wall case (not a portable carpenter’s tool chest) of relatively simple tongue and groove pine boards nailed together and painted. The pattern of the tongue and groove work seems to match the planes in the collection and the general work is utilitarian and is of a quality typical of carpentry as opposed to fine cabinet work. Even at that, care was made to carefully fit tools into specific storage places so that many of the tools present were part of the collection at the time the case was made. Much care in construction is evident from the details such as where the holes for the various bits were squared to match the tapered shanks of the brace bits (as opposed to simply boring round holes). The original lock mechanisms are gone and have been replaced with a hasp and padlock, The original lock mortises show careful work.
The overall impression of the group is more toward carpentry (firmer chisels, no bench chisels, hatchet, plumb bob) with some nods toward some joinery (rounds, tongue and groove planes, rabbet plane, miter box saw) , and a few more refined tools ( nice marking gauges and carving chisels).
Items that would normally be expected for bench work, such as mallets, various appliances etc. are not present and there is no place established in the case for them. The condition of the firmer chisels (chipped and broken edges and extremely dmaged handles) indicates hard use while the condition of some of the finer tools ( knife shapes of the mortising gauges and marking tools) indicate a more refined hand. It could very easily be that the condition of the chisels indicates the practices of later users.
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Carving Tools
I admit that I have a weakness for carving tools. That was the reason I choose this group out of the case for my first serious effort. There are various gouges from W. Butcher, Buck Brothers, Charles Buck, a couple of flat carving chisels, and two 60 degree V tools (one straight and one long bend) from Addis. The handles were solid, a couple of minor splits, and there was little pitting that doesn’t affect the edge. They were cleaned and sharpened nd are ready for work now. -
Odd Bits
One of the things I enjoy in a project like this is all of the odd bits, those strange little things down in the bottom of the box or in the back of the drawer that either offers clues or causes you to scratch your head. I bet the cork screw and the ice pick (not pictured)
could tell some tails.
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Brace Bits
Sorry about the double post but I can’t seem to get it off the system. Here are the brace bits from the different manufacturers, but they still need to be sharpened. I am also having issue with the system accepting some of the photos even there is no indication with issues until the posting is submitted.
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Last Of The Series
Sorry about taking so long on these but there are quite a few items to work through and the rest of life (sitting grandsons, mowing the grass, etc.) seems to happen. I struggled on whether to repaint the case or simply clean it and make it more functional. I elected to simply clean it, remove or add any hardware as necessary to make it better able to store the tools, and apply a light coat of shellac. I wanted to preserve the notations scribbled by previous owners to help with maintaining the history. I found the original owner’s initials stamped into the case and it matches the markings found on many of the tools.
One thing that had me puzzled was an illegible thin metal plate prominently tacked inside the box. I originally thought that it might be a manufacture plate that that didn’t make sense with the other evidence of the case having been made by the craftsman. Not being able to read the rusted plate and given the age of the tools, I decided it originally could have been a tintype picture of the craftsman’s wife or family.
The tools are pretty well done now, sharpened and ready to work, with the exceptions that the brace bits are not sharpened, I need to find a thumbscrew for the fret saw and I have one chisel with a bad crack that may not be repairable. I may elect to re-mouth one or two planes at some point even though them are performing ell at the moment. I didn’t do before-and-after photos of all of the individual items because this thread would have been way too long. Here are some additional group photos, some before but most after, and this will be the last posting for this thread unless anyone has any questions. Ignore the new tools in the background.Have fun
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