Registry of Maine Toolmakers

H.G. Brack
1st edition, 2010

Documents toolmakers working in Maine from 1607–1900 and offers discussions of their historical milieu and important roles in the industrial and maritime history of Maine and New England. Includes maritime Canadian toolmakers and the whalecraft manufacturers of New Bedford, etc.

Softcover, 8" x 10"
$15.00
Available on Amazon.com

Hand Tools in History Publication Series Summary

Volume 10: Registry of Maine Toolmakers fulfills an important part of the mission of the Center for the Study of Early Tools, i.e. the documentation of the Maine toolmakers and planemakers working in Maine. It includes an introductory essay on the history and social context of toolmaking in Maine; an annotated list of Maine toolmakers; a bibliography of sources of information on Maine toolmakers; and appendices on shipbuilding in Maine, the metallurgy of edge tools in the museum collection, woodworking tools of the 17th and 18th centuries, and a listing of important New England and Canadian edge toolmakers working outside of Maine. This registry is available on the Davistown Museum website and can be accessed by those wishing to research the history of Maine tools in their possession. The author greatly appreciates receiving information about as yet undocumented Maine toolmakers working before 1900.

Amazon.com description

This volume in the Davistown Museum Hand Tools in History series, the Registry of Maine Toolmaker, documents toolmakers working in Maine from 1607–1900. It lists information about edge tool- and plane-makers who supplied tools for Maine’s ship carpenters and timber harvesters, including blacksmiths who specialized in toolmaking, as well as toolmakers for other trades, such as cooper, carriage-maker, cobbler, and farrier. Essays explore the historical milieu of these toolmakers, discussing the toolkits of colonial settlers; 18th century New England’s prosperous ironworking, planemaking, and shipbuilding industries; and Maine’s vigorous 19th century edge toolmaking industry. The Registry offers an invaluable and unique resource for historians, tool buffs, and anyone interested in these important contributors to the industrial and maritime history of Maine and New England, many of whom have gone undocumented before the publication of this work.