Some Interesting and Favorite Old Tools of Mine
Where to begin? There are so many…
- Hewlett hatchet
- Bronze plane
- Richardson Brothers saws
- Stanley #93 shoulder plane
- Stanley #50 plow, match and beading plane
- Moving fillester plane
- Stanley Number 18 Eureka Flush T-bevels
Let's start with a very cool handmade reproduction of a hatchet found in the 1773 William Hewlett gentleman's tool chest, in the Colonial Williamsburg collection. While attending the 2008 Woodworking in the 18th Century conference at Colonial Williamsburg, I saw the Hewlett chest and the hatchet, and when I visited the blacksmith shop, one of the smiths had made a copy of the hatchet's head. It was so lovely I instantly wanted one. So I contacted Jay Gaynor, Director of Historic Trades at CW, and asked if it would be possible to have one made. Sure enough, he put me in touch with Ken Schwarz, master blacksmith at CW, and he had one of the journeyman smiths make this beauty for me.
It took them several weeks to get to it, so I had to make a return trip to pick it up. After spending the day walking all over CW with it in my hand, I decided I needed to either get or make a leather sheath for it. So I swung by the harness-makers shoppe and asked them if they could make a sheath for me, or if I could buy a piece of leather from them. One of the men picked up a decent-sized hunk of vegetable-tanned leather and said "here!" and handed it to me. Which meant I was going to have to figure out how to make a sheath myself.
The Hewlett hatchet is one of the more expensive hand tools I have (I'm typically a bottom-feeder) but it's just so nice I had to have it.
An interesting old bronze plane. It's got some heft. The only mark is an owner's stamp, but it's possible that owner also was its maker. I don't think it was a commercially manufactured plane; it has more of the feel of a one-off, perhaps made by a patternmaker. The iron is bedded at an extremely low angle, resulting in an overly large mouth. But with a very sharp iron in it, it actually works quite well. As you can see, the iron it came with was totally used up. But I got a replacement iron that is made of excellent steel and after a little bit of judicious filing on its edges, fit the plane quite nicely. The best part is - I was given the plane for free, and then was given the iron for free. How much better can it get?
I have developed a "thing" for Richardson Brothers saws. Richardson Brothers manufactured saws in Newark, NJ from about 1840 until the 1870's, at which point it was acquired by the Henry Disston company. Disston grew by eliminating the competition - usually by buying them out and then either convering their operations over to make his saws, or just shutting them down. So if you find a saw marked Richardson Brothers, you can be guaranteed it dates to no later than 1880's.
A lovely Richardson Bros. backsaw:
The letters in the Maltese cross logo spell out "B E S T".
This is absolutely my favorite hand saw. A Richardson Brothers 26" 5-1/2 pt. rip that I found in a junque shoppe for $7. I swear the thing had been unused. It was covered with a light layer of orange rust and the handle was all dusty and grungy, but it cleaned up beautifully and makes a great user. Yup - a nearly 130 year-old saw that I use regularly.
A simple skew rabbet plane - I got it at an auction in the Harrisburg, PA area sometime around 1999-2000 or so, think I paid $19 for it. Somebody along the way installed a piece of angle steel along the wear surface. It was razor sharp when I got it and only now is finally getting dull enough that I need to do something about it. Works great.
Stanley #93 shoulder plane - bang for the buck. Especially with that sweet Hock iron in there.
Stanley #50 plow, match and beading plane. An under-appreciated tool. Simple and effective.
A Stanley #48 - same comments as the #50. Works great - almost foolproof. Almost.
Moving fillester plane. Ain't it purty?
Stanley #18 Eureka Flush T-Bevels. It's just fun to say the name.
A lowly Stanley #20 square - a very common square, but how often have you ever found it in this 4-1/2 inch size, with a Sweethart logo, in nice condition like this? Plus, it came from my grandfather. It's a total keeper. And a very nice user.