rve of the bitstock, never
identical from one early example to another, is lost in later
factory-made versions; so too, with the coming of cheap steel, does the
combination of wood (walnut) and brass used in the cabinetmaker's bevel
slowly disappear; and, finally, in the custom-fitted pistol-like grip of
the saw, there is an identity, in feeling at least, between craftsman
and tool never quite achieved in later mass-produced versions.

[Illustration: Figure 49.--EARLY 19TH CENTURY: THE DESIGNATION
"GENTLEMAN'S TOOL CHEST" required a chest of "high-style" but
necessitated no change in the tools it held. (Book 87, Cutler and
Company, Castle Hill Works, Sheffield. _Courtesy of the Victoria and
Albert Museum_.)]

[Illustration: Figure 50.--19TH CENTURY: THE SCREWDRIVER, which began to
appear regularly on the woodworker's bench after 1800, did not share the
long evolution and tradition of other Anglo-American tool designs. The
screwdriver in its early versions frequently had a scalloped blade for
no other purpose than decoration. (Smithsonian photo 49794.)]

[Illustration: Figure 51.--1870: THE USE of a new material prompted a
departure from the traditional in shape and encouraged surface
elaboration. The tendency, however, was short lived and the
mass-produced metallic plane rapidly achieved a purity of design as
pleasing as its wooden predecessors. (Private collection. Smithsonian
photo 49789.)]

Occasionally, ruling taste is reflected in the design of the carpenter's
equipment. Notable is the "gentleman's tool chest" (fig. 49) advertised
in the pattern book of the Castle Hill Works. The bracket feet, brass
pulls, and inlaid keyholes imitate the style of the domestic chest of
drawers of the period 1790 to 1810--undoubtedly, features included by
the manufacturer to appeal to a gentleman of refined taste. In contrast
to this Sheffield product is the plate from Shaw's _The Modern
Architect_. The concept of the builder-carpenter as a gentleman still
prevails, although the idea in this American scene is conveyed in the
mid-19th century through fashionable dress. The tools and in particular
the tool chest reflect only the severest of functional lines (fig. 19,
p. 196).

In deference to ruling taste, some tools lost for a time the clean lines
that had long distinguished them. The screwdriver, simple in shape
(accession 61.46) but in little demand until the 1840's, occasionally
became most elaborate in its factory-made form