Older Sample Articles

Editor’s Note: Please keep in mind that the information contained in some of these articles may be out dated. It is being presented here as a part of preserving the heritage of MWTCA and the antique/traditional tool world. The section on Useful Reference provides more current information.

These articles are in text format. (Our Current Articles are in pdf format to give you a feel for what The Gristmill looks like when you receive it.)  They contain a lot of great information so we encourage you to browse through them.

Article Title

1 Disposing of a Tool Collection

2 Don’t Bodder Me

3 Eighteenth Century French Coopers

4 For Iron Plane Collectors: Announcing the publication of “The Stanley Plane” By Alvin Sell

5 How Thick is “Extra Thick”?

6 How to Clean Wood Tools

7 Intermittent Boxing

8 Keeping Tools in Sets

9 Knowles-Type Tools: Planes, Spokeshaves and a Scraper

10 Mary Lou Stover Tribute

11 Notes on New England Edge Tool Makers, I: Edge Tool Makers, Hinsdale, NH, 1840-1900

12 Notes on New England Edge Tool Makers, II: Oliver Sawyer (1794-1836), (O. Sawyer), Edge Tool Maker, 

13 Phillips’ Shingling Clamp: A Whatsit Identified

14 Photographing Old Tools with a Digital Camera

15 Procedure for Identifying Whatsits

16 Recent Updates for the Naming and Datings of Spokeshaves

17 Restoration vs. Fakes

18 Spiral Screwdrivers of Decatur, Illinois

19 The American Patented Brace Database

20 The Dating of Tools

21 The Four Legged Apprentice

22 The Hamler Technique for Copying Stamp Made Markings

23 The Hedge/Clark Connection: An Unusual Rule Joint

24 The Pricing of Tools

25 The Soot Method of Copying Stamp Made Markings

26 The Stanley No. 239-1/2 Special Dado Plane

27 Those Nordic Braces

28 Tools of the Trade

29 Victor Planes: 1103, 1104, 1105, 1120

30 What’s in a Name: Surnames and Occupations

31 Woodrough and McParlin Panther Brand Saws

32 Yankee Tools Checklist