The shoemaking group has been having scheduling issues, so rather than wait for that before continuing on, I thought I’d catch up on some of the projects that are waiting in the wings…

If you’ve been around long enough, you might recall my series of posts near the beginning of this project (back when I was still lying to myself about it only taking a year to complete) going down the list of tools in a joiner’s toolbox. We got through chisels, hand planes, the plough plane, and axes before I got distracted by something else. I kept the discussion pretty surface-level “This is what this tool does, how it’s used, and how mine differ from the period versions”.

I always intended to someday come back and make some of them for myself in a more period-appropriate manner. The problem with “someday” is that it eventually arrives. Usually, it sneaks up behind you and clears its throat politely before stabbing you repeatedly in the third and fourth intercostal spaces with a shiv artfully-crafted of your own best intentions.

For me, that happened last summer while this blog was still on hiatus.

Inspired in part by the fantastic and fascinating book on 17^th century woodworking, Joiner’s Work by Peter Follansbee, I decided to assemble a chest of period-appropriate tools and return to the guild of artisans I’d founded long ago near the beginning of this project in time to present at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire last August.

I was mostly successful. It wasn’t perfect, but at the very least I was able to give a good impression of what kind of tools and techniques were in common use during the period. I have every intention of getting closer to the unattainable goal of period-perfection as time goes by.

It all happened very quickly and though I at least remembered to take photos while I worked, I still have yet to go back and document it all. (Sigh)

So… coming up:

• Measuring and marking: before the globally standardized measurements we know, there were standardized measurements we’ve forgotten, just on a different scale.
• Boring: Making consistent holes in a work piece is a key activity, especially in timberframing, which was adjacent to joinery. A boring subject worthy of discussion.
• Saws: The bowsaw is a fiendishly simply device to hold a thin piece of steel in tension, allowing an artisan to make all manner of cuts with a fraction of the steel used in modern saws.
• Axes and hatchets: There are any number of period tools that fall into this category that cannot be had (modernly) for love or money and quite a few that can, if you’d care to part with an arm and a leg. I cheated on this one and I’ll get into how and why and why you might want to cheat this one too.
• Hand Planes: At its root, a plane is just a chisel held in a frame at a specified angle. They’ve been around since at least Roman times. Making them is weirdly addictive, so I’m going to go over the one I’ve already made and then we are going to make some more.

There will probably be more. All manner of shop paraphernalia are necessary to get things done from work holding devices to mallets, but that’s a good list for getting on with.