The “combination plane” was developed to create a woodworking tool that would perform multiple functions and free a workman from having to own a large number of individual planes.  Over a 50-year time span in the second half of the 19th century numerous inventors patented and produced a broad array of combination planes.[i] Many of […]

As part of the overall initiative to bring woodworking and cabinetmaking back to prominence at Old Sturbridge Village, the Village is hosting an all-day Woodworking Forum “Tools, Techniques and Traditions” on Saturday, October 19. The Forum is one of the activities leading up to the construction of the new Cabinetmakers Shop on the OSV Common. […]

We came, we were busy, we saw and learned a lot, and we had a great time! That pretty much sums up the 2019 Early American Industries Association’s Annual Meeting in Lowell, Massachusetts.  After a Spring filled with rain and cold weather the clouds finally broke, the sun appeared and tailgating started in earnest on […]

In almost every woodworking class I teach in Covington, Ky., there’s at least one student who has driven through Ohio to get there who has stopped at Colonial Homestead in Millersburg. Every one of them tells me it’s among the most awe-inspiring stores for vintage tools they’ve ever seen (along with Hulls Cove Tool Barn […]

The first yearly antique tool auctions bring tool collectors out of their winter hibernation as surely as the vernal equinox marks the coming of Spring. One of the highlights of this “Rite of Spring” is Martin Donnelly’s “Live Free or Die” spring tool auction.  This long-standing tradition rekindles friendships young and old, provides a chance […]

Apologies for the pun, but, this long hard winter will come to an end, the snow will melt, the trees will bud out and the flowers will bloom, and Early American Industries Association members will gather for our 2019 Annual Meeting May 15th thru May 18th, 2019.  If you haven’t already done so, it’s time […]

Here it is at only the second post of this blog and I’ve gone off the subject of Stanley Model Shop tools in my collection to discuss a Sargent prototype plane that joined the collection recently.  This plane (Figure 1) suggests that Sargent was considering a successor to its Shaw’s Patent line of planes.  As […]

The Stanley No. 97 Cabinet Maker’s Edge Plane In late 1869 or early 1870, shortly after Leonard Bailey started working at the Stanley Rule & Level Company, he produced the “chisel plane” shown in Figure 1 below.[i] This heavy bodied plane is 9 15/16” long and 2 3/8” wide and the body is a cast […]

Leonard Bailey appears to have begun experimenting with  and manufacturing vertical post planes sometime in 1860. These planes are called “vertical post” planes because of the two vertically positioned threaded rods located behind the rocking frog. The rocking frog is held in place by a pin that is inserted through the sidewalls of the plane […]

The Blacksmith Interest Group (BIG) of EAIA held a regional meeting at the reconstructed Moses Wilder Blacksmith shop in Bolton, Massachusetts on July 28th. The purpose of the meeting was to provide hands-on demonstrations and give participants an opportunity to try basic blacksmithing using coal forges. There were 30 participants which was the number that […]