thur
Museum's uniquely documented Dominy Woodshop Collection. This extensive
collection of tools--over a thousand in number--is rich in attributed
and dated examples which range from the early 18th through the mid-19th
century. The literature of the subject has been greatly enhanced by the
English writer, W.L. Goodman. Extending a series of articles that first
appeared in the _Journal of The Institute of Handicraft Teachers_,
Goodman has put together a well-researched _History of Woodworking
Tools_ (London, 1964), one particularly useful for its wealth of
illustration from antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Specialization

Given the limitations of precise dating, uncertain provenance, and an
uneven literature, what can be learned about woodworking tools after
1600? In some instances, design change can be noted and documented to
provide at least a general criteria for dating. Frequently, the original
appearance of tools can be documented. For some hand tools,
characteristics can be established that denote a national origin. Not
infrequently a tool's style, decorative motif, or similarity to other
objects that coexisted at a given time can suggest, even in relatively
modern times, the values of the society that produced it. The source of
such information derived from the hand tool is generally visual,
recorded in the tool itself or in pictures of it and supported by
manuscript and printed material.

Survey the principal printed sources of the 17th, 18th, and 19th
centuries. The first thing that is apparent is a remarkable
proliferation of tool types without any significant change in the
definition and description of the carpenter's or joiner's task. Begin in
1685 with Charles Hoole's translation of Johann Amos Comenius' _Orbis
Sensualium Pictus_ for use as a Latin grammar. Among the occupations
chosen to illustrate vocabulary and usage were the carpenter (fig. 1),
the boxmaker (cabinetmaker), and the turner (fig. 2). "The Carpenter,"
according to Hoole's text, "squareth Timber with a Chip ax ... and
saweth it with a Saw" while the more specialized "Box-maker, smootheth
hewen-Boards with a Plain upon a Work-board, he maketh them very smooth
with a little plain, he boarth them thorow with an Augre, carveth them
with a Knife, fasteneth them together with Glew, and Cramp-irons, and
maketh Tables, Boards, Chests &c." Hoole repeated Comenius' plates with
the result that the craftsman's tools and his work have the same
charac