# Hand Tools Research



## firemedic (Jun 4, 2012)

I've recently begun working with the Louisiana State Museum of Rural Life to get their tool collection properly organized and refurbished

This is the first box I've gone through and catalogued. It's mostly moulding planes and of those mostly side beads. There is still plenty to go through as the other pictures portray. In Sept I'll be doing demonstrations of log felling, hewing, picket splitting, shingle splitting, a pit saw, two man cc saw and more. 

In December I'll be demonstrating traditional furniture building with hand tools and hope to have regular classes on hand powered wood working by next year.

Thus far, every tool I've looked at has been in need of attention and the plan is to train a student intern or two presently employed there on properly restoring the tools.

The first picture is the first ones I've truly gone through, labeled and listed needed work. The other pictures are various items of interests.

I'll update with progress as this goes along. As I go along I'll give detailed info on any tools of particular interest or rarity.


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## Mike1950 (Jun 4, 2012)

Hey Tom, I changed it for you but in the future just go to edit at the bottom of thread-click it and click full edit and you can do it yourself cool tools- now I will have to read post.


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## LoneStar (Jun 4, 2012)

Tom, thats awesome ! If I was closer, I'd try to make some of those classes.


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## txpaulie (Jun 5, 2012)

Wowsers!

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you!

Labor of love, fer sure!

p


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## Brink (Jun 5, 2012)

This one! 

There's writing on the side! What's it say?


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## firemedic (Jun 5, 2012)

Brink said:


> This one!
> 
> There's writing on the side! What's it say?



I'm trying to pace myself! :) I just took a picture of that plow because it was so unique. When I go back I will take more pictures than you care to see of it and relay all of the info from it. The maker was one I've not come across before and it didn't stick in my memory. 

It's in terrific shape though. It appears that all of the wood is some fruit species like apple or pear even the threaded arms.

Roy, you have that same plane that Brink asked about???

Joe, I plan on using each and everyone of em! :)


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## Mike1950 (Jun 5, 2012)

Tom, I want to see your bottle of Advil before and after useing that treadle lathe- make my leg burn just thinkin about it.........


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## Shop Dad (Jun 5, 2012)

OK, I'm doubling down. Don't want to miss anything.

Tom, maybe you should set up one of those Google+ video hangouts so you can show us around! We could ask all our pesky questions then and you'd be done with it!


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## Brink (Jun 5, 2012)

bigcouger said:


> :no dice. more please::no dice. more please::morning2: Yap 100% positive, there in Murry County with the hand saws an more hand Planes there in my Granddads shop which is mine now, when I get up there Ill get some pictures together for ya, if I remember right there like 2 of them there in there orginal boxes to. Granddad loved his hand tools an so do I
> Roy



Roy, who made it?


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## firemedic (Jun 6, 2012)

Been flipping through a few plane books and haven't seen it yet... I'll be back at the museum soon.


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## Brink (Jun 7, 2012)

Silly yewts! Find something so friggin' unique, but neglect to note the name on it. So now I have to sit around and wait 'till who-knows-when. :(


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## firemedic (Jun 7, 2012)

Brink said:


> Silly yewts! Find something so friggin' unique, but neglect to note the name on it. So now I have to sit around and wait 'till who-knows-when. :(



Haha. I noted the name... just ain't rememb'r it.


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## Brink (Jun 7, 2012)

Senior moment...?


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## firemedic (Jun 7, 2012)

Brink said:


> Senior moment...?



:) I suppose!


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## firemedic (Jul 11, 2012)

There were some questions about a plow plane pictured above so I took more detailed pictures for y'all while I was at the museum early this week.

Happy, Brink? lol


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## Brink (Jul 12, 2012)

firemedic said:


> Happy, Brink? lol



yup, guess it's better than an a mean angry vengeful Brink. Lol

I can't get over the mix of steel, bronze and wood on that thing.


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## firemedic (Jul 12, 2012)

Brink said:


> I can't get over the mix of steel, bronze and wood on that thing.



I know, or the simple genius of three points of contact on the depth stop to keep it parallel! It's a very well made plane except for the poor fit where the arms fit into the sliding fence... I had to reseat them and there was thin cotton cloth between the arm and bronze fittings with the hide glue.


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## firemedic (Sep 9, 2012)

Two weeks, guys!

I'll be doing demonstrations on Early American logging and lumbering as well as talking about the history of it at the LSU Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge Sept 22nd & 23rd.

A helper and I will have a working pit saw set up, I'll be hewing logs, using a two man cross-cut saw, splitting shakes with a froe, cutting timber frame joints and making pegs for them on a shave horse. 

It should be a lot of fun! I'm currently still waiting on my custom made pit saw to arrive. It's being made in Sheffield by the same company responsible for the Pax line of saws amongst others. So I'm anxious about getting it in time!

I will definitely have plenty of pictures but I hope to also have video to upload.

If anyone is in the area, come check it out. There will be black smiths and other early American labor/crafts going on as well. Sort of like a mini Colonial Williamsburg.


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## NYWoodturner (Sep 11, 2012)

Looking forward to seeing what you find and what you do with and to them. 
Definitely keep us posted. I also have a lot of "Parts planes" that are beyond restoration if you need - just shout out
Scott


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## Brink (Sep 11, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Custom pit saw? oh man that is too  but how do you dig a pit in la. and it not become a frog pond faster than you can dig



Hahaha.

I got some high ground I can send down. Lol


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## firemedic (Sep 11, 2012)

Haha, well, there ain't going to be an actual pit. Down here the log is held off of the ground on a frame that looks like two giant saw horses.

Brink, send all the high ground you want! but stuff a bunch of yuengling in with it! :lolol:


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## firemedic (Sep 13, 2012)

Camero68 said:


> Talk about plates being full. This is going to be an interesting read from time to time.



Interesting... watching me struggle! haha


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## firemedic (Sep 21, 2012)

Pictures are working again!!!

Here is the pit saw o got today, the timber frame saw dogs I built yesterday and the broad axe handle I got steam bent today!

it all kicks off tomorrow! Have a two man CC saw to sharpen first thing in the morning then web rolling on through sun...


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## firemedic (Sep 21, 2012)

Ok... Pictures?


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## firemedic (Sep 21, 2012)

And the example timber frame joints I cut out yesterday morning for people to play with...


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## Brink (Sep 21, 2012)

Just a couple sleepless hours, and you get to play with all this stuff. 

Good luck with it all!


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## firemedic (Sep 21, 2012)

Thanks, Brink... It's gonna be a long week-end!


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## Brink (Sep 23, 2012)

Weeellll? 

How'd the first day go?


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## firemedic (Sep 23, 2012)

It was a long day... A very long day.

I did 9 rotations that lasted about 45 min each with good crowds each time. Each rotation consisted of half talking and half demonstrations. I barely had time grab a bite for lunch!

According to the guys hosting the event I was the only station consistently accumulating a crowd.

The on-lookers were good too, very interactive and interested in the history I had to offer about early Louisiana and the "German Coast" as it related to the cypress and lumbering.

Over all, a great day! One more day to go! No video yet, the camera guy didn't show up :( Going to see what I can do today. 

Thanks for asking.


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## firemedic (Sep 23, 2012)

lol, Joe you realize I'm the guy up top side (the Tillman) of the log... The guy at the bottom (the Pitman) does all the real work.

:lolol:


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## Brink (Sep 23, 2012)

Way cool. 

I shudda took a ride to see this. A bunch more interesting than what I got to see this weekend.

Is Brad about ready to pack it in and become a weldor?


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## firemedic (Sep 23, 2012)

Nother long day... It was great all the same though. The video thing fell through so ya'll will have to settle for a few more pictures. Sorry :(

I'll do a write-up with the entire history story for y'all this eve or tomorrow being y'all don't get to hear it.


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## firemedic (Sep 24, 2012)

I'm nearly done typing the history and story of it all. This will be the first time I put the whole thing down in writing as until now it's been a jumble of historical facts, dates and techniques swimming around in my head.

Oddly enough I didn't have que cards, didn't go over or rehearse my story... I just spoke and demonstrated to the first group on sat morning and it didn't change a bit afterwards... even over two days and 14 times doing it all!

If there are any questions after I'll be happy to answer them! I'm thinking about getting everything back out and doing a short documentary that the plantations can show. If I do, that will be online for y'all to see!... Need to see if LSU will back it, but from the looks of things I think they will. 

I was already told that from here on I'll be responsible for lecturing to the architecture student from LSU and Tulane twice a year when they make site visits to study timber frame construction.

I was also given the green light to establish a class schedule there for classes on any related subject I wish. The best part is I was asked to head a project to build a new timber frame building to house an instructional wood shop with steam power and over head shafts and belts in addition to hand tool work stations. 

My next push will be for a steam powered sash gang mill 

A lot of doors were opened to me this week-end and they all lead in the direction I hoped for. I'm very pleased with the outcome :yes:

Thank you all for the support and encouragement along the way.


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## firemedic (Sep 24, 2012)

Lol, thanks. It's funny you bring up "the most interesting man in the world"... I told the audiences that he had nothing on those early German settlers.


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## firemedic (Sep 24, 2012)

Here's the bulk of the history. I left out the tool techniques described and explained during the demonstrations. I will eventually get those together as linked documents along with pictures. 


*******
Circa 1716 the first of the French settlers arrived in Louisiana. They were trappers - fur traders. These men were not farmers and relied upon hunting for food. The French government decided it was necessary to have active agriculture if they were to establish a successful new colony. 

They chose to bring immigrant German farmers to Louisiana to provide their know-how and strong work ethic in order to cultivate this new territory and make it suitable for a settling. The first Germans arriving here would have been in 1722. They settled upon what is called the German Coast and lays along the banks of the Mississippi River in the parishes of St Charlse, St John the Baptist and St James. Some of these farmers were German only in the language they spoke as they came from German speaking regions of France such as Belgium and Alssas Loraine. This made for a smooth integration into the existing French culture. They would inter-marry and and one would assume this explains the lack of Germanic cultural clues prevalent today.

The Germans arrived to a rich fertile land excellent for agriculture. Their first task was the felling of trees to build structure and make way for the crops they were soon to grow. Imagine walking through the woods, look around at all of the trees, many of them far larger than those today. Now imagine felling all of these trees by axe and imagine them out of the way... What's left behind? Stumps, and plenty of them! These early settlers would have removed these stumps by digging and cutting around them then using leverage from large timbers. It was no easy task to say the least.

The Germans built square houses with square timbers, so another task they faced was the processing of round trees into square timbers. This was done by hewing the the logs with an axe, a method called juggling. Next the logs were further refined by use of the much heavier finishing tool, the broad axe. Indications of the use of broad axes in this process can be found in the early surviving buildings along the German coast. Later buildings however show a change in this process as the foot adze, the tool of choice for the French, became the tool used for finishing logs. The broad axe is a much faster and easier tool to use and this transition can only be explained by the lack of skilled blacksmiths available. The adze is a far simpler tool to smith and they likely were more easily imported by the governing French.

In addition to hewing timbers, smaller lumber was needed to build a house or barn. These timbers were sawn using the pit saw. Pit saws got their name from the pits in the ground over which a log was placed. With one worker in the pit (the pitman) controlling the saw's "box" or handle and another standing above (the tillman) steering and controlling the till or top handle of the saw. Now in Louisiana the prospect of digging a five to six foot deep pit is out of the question as the water table and sea level of the land would not allow for the pit to remain dry. A compromise was made with a shallow pit and a low supporting structure to elevate the log further and allow this sawing work to be performed. The less energy required to raise a log from the ground required the better for the workers. Evidence of these pits is present in areas along the German coast but have mainly been erased by the continuing expansion of modern commercial farming.

Once these smaller timbers were sawn they must be held together to form the structure. This construction style is referred to as timber frame construction... A system of mortices, tenons, half laps and other joints held together by both physics and wooden pegs. These pegs were made by rieving green oak or hickory into small billets with a froe and beetle then allowing them to dry. It was important to use dry seasoned wood for these pegs as green wood would shrink leaving the joints week. And exceptionMRI this was likely made on early structures. Building the structure with all green timbers would mean the timbers would also shrink compensating for this. The pegs were then shaped on a shave horse, a form of foot operated clamping bench, with a draw knife. These same tools wod have also been used to produce shakes, or wooden shingles, to cover the roof.

The 1780's & 90's would have been the first period of real commercial prospect of Cypress lumbering. At this time Louisiana was not yet a part of the American states and was under Spanish rule. This was the early days of the New Orlean's Cooperage industry, the trade of building barrels and crates and cisterns. The major market for Cypress was in the form of empty sugar boxes exported to the Spanish Caribean for the packaging and sale of sugar. Louisiana had small crops of sugar cane here and there for use in syrup making but the process of granualization had not yet been introduced. As the end of the 90's approached this export industry all but stopped due to political upheavals. While the export of Cypress dwindled the domestic use of cypress experienced a massive upswing due to the Good Friday Fire. 

New Orleans was a well establish port city and in 1788 on Good Friday, a day of reverence observed by the wholly Catholic state the Friday before Easter, resulted in the burning of approximately 80% of the city. 956 building and residencies burned to the ground. Six years later in 1794 another fire broke out consuming approx 20% of the city or 206 buildings. This sudden need for lumber in the rebuilding of businesses and homes meant a rappid growth of the lumber industry. The demand for lumber was so high that many lumber yards in New Orleans were unable to acquire lumber quick enough and many builders resorted to using green, unseasoned lumber - a practice frowned upon by architects and builders alike. This shortage also lead to extensive poaching of lumber by unscrupulous fellers.

The pit saw was the predominate means of cutting lumber until the early 1800's. While the rest of the country was employing water wheel driven sash mills this wasn't an option for Louisiana Lumberers. The lack of mountains or hills here meant a lack of moving water sufficient to power a water wheel. In 1803 an industrious individual had the brilliant idea of digging a trench from the swamp to the river's levee. After the spring flood came and crested the levee's banks the water trapped in the swamp would normally find it's way out through the swamps. This time though after the river receded this man cut a trench through the levee as well causing this trapped water to rush back to the river. This allowed him to power a water wheel! The other ingenious aspect of this design was that this rapidly moving water gave him an excellent means of moving his logs from the draining swamp to the mill that would saw them!

1816 saw the first steam powered saw mill however the high price of steam engines made this cost prohibitive to most mills. As an illustration of this in 1835 an inventory of Evergreen Plantation in Edgard was done following a bankruptcy proceeding. In this assessment of assets the beautiful plantation home along with it's large furniture items was valued at $10,000. Compare this to the 16 horse power steam engine on the property assessed at $7,600! This was a poor quality steam engine from New York at that, the more reliable steam engines came from Pa and cost as much as $20,000.

Despite the high cost of steam power it eventually dominated the lumbering industry and was Louisiana's own Industrial Revolution. 

Eventually almost every virgin Cypress tree in Louisiana and the entire South East was felled. Now all we have left of those old days are the subtle reminders found across the South. The once lost but found again sinker Cypress logs. Archeological excavations and most importantly the timber frame buildings which still survive and the tool marks found within.


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## Brink (Sep 24, 2012)

Excellent write up. Liked reading it lots.


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## Kevin (Sep 24, 2012)

That was a great read. Very well done.


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## firemedic (Sep 25, 2012)

Thank y'all!

All that, and a lot more, has been swimming around in my head until sat morning at the first demonstration when I had to put it into an understandable story. 

Glad y'all were interested enough to read it.


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## Kevin (Sep 25, 2012)

firemedic said:


> y.
> 
> Glad y'all were interested enough to read it.



I have to admit I started to just skim it because of time constraints, but then I reminded myself how much time you put into not just this article but the whole field of hand tools and so I read every word. I'm a history nut anyway and so the anecdotal history of the region which must be told along with the tools made it a great read for me. Thanks for sharing it with us here.


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## Shop Dad (Oct 10, 2012)

Just came back to this and saw Kevin's post which reminded me I had just skimmed your write up too and planned to read later. Finally did and it's a great lesson of history. I read it imagining you bringing it to life with the tools used at the time. A great experience for you and they are lucky to have such knowledge and enthusiasm doing justice for the history. Nicely done Tom. Look forward to your next adventure.


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## firemedic (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks guys. I can't even begin to tell you how many unrelated books and historical documents were smashed between my ears to put that together... Still can't get enough though and the research continues. I fully expect my history to change a bit as I uncover other opinions and facts from the past. 

I'm trying to get a meeting with an abandoned saw mill museum at the site of an old mill about 30 min from where I live. I'm going to attempt to either raise interest enough to get it going again or reallocate the artifacts to the LSU museum. We shall see!


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## Twig Man (Oct 11, 2012)

Good read. Wonder if any of those pit saws are still around?


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## firemedic (Oct 11, 2012)

Twig Man said:


> Good read. Wonder if any of those pit saws are still around?



Twig, 

Yeah, we have two at the museum, one of them being period and regionally correct.

Otherwise I do see them here and there... with swamp and sun sets painted on them... (palm to face).


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