The Fascinating World of Early Tools and Trades: Selections from the Chronicle

By Emil Pollak

Book Overview

Fifty-five fascinating and informative articles on early tools and trades, selected from several thousand published in the journal of the Early American Industries Association over the past 60 years. Some written by experts, others the first hand accounts of early craftsmen, pioneers, and travelers, they cover a wide variety of subjects including: Lumber rafting down the Delaware in 1896; How tinsmiths used their tools; Cutting, hewing and squaring a beam; Traditional soapmaking on the frontier; Making horsehair sieves; The many uses of horn education of apprentices in New England; Household irons, spinning wheels and the hay burner; Nail making in early Virginia; Making barrels by hand; Harvesting ice-from nature to the consumer; Old time fences, gathering sawdust, and the charcoal burner; Building a New England home in 1831; Another tool classification, early burglar tools; The wooden leg of Gouverneur Morris...and many more.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 187933500X
• ISBN13: 9781879335004
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Astragal Press
• Length: 407 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Extracts from "The Chronicle"

The Early American Industries Association, Inc. "preserves and presents historic trades, crafts, and tools, and interprets their impact on our lives." The Association publishes a number of items in the area, including the quarterly "The Chronicle". This book collects 55 informative articles on early tools and trades, selected from several thousand published in the journal over the past 60 years. Experts contribute scholarly articles, and there are first hand accounts by early craftsmen, pioneers, and travelers, Some of the topics include "lumber rafting down the Delaware in 1896; America's largest tool store -- Hammacher Schlemmer in 1900; how tinsmiths used their tools; the bygone cobbler and clogmaker; cutting; blacksmiths' hammer signals; traditional soapmaking on the frontier; making horsehair sieves; education of apprentices in New England and more." A typical entry [citations indicated but not duplicated]: "Stanley decided to manufacture tools for the "do-it-yourself" or household tool market in the 1920s. This line of household tools, named Stanley Four-Square Household Tools, consisted of thirty-two tools.1 To promote this new line, Stanley had an extensive merchandising campaign. Part of the campaign consisted of Four-Square advertisements in many magazines, including the The Literary Digest and The Saturday Evening Post. The advertisement in TL Saturday Evening Post appeared every other week through 1924 and 1925.2 The nickel promotion, however, was only used in conjunction with the The Saturday Evening Post. "In 1924, Stanley made up a three-by-five-inch poster-board card that had been punched out to hold a U. S. five-cent piece - the Buffalo nickel (Figures 1 and 2). One side was blank, and the other side stated "Use this [nickel] to buy the next Saturday Evening Post -out April 12th and look on page 102."3 "The Four-Square advertisement for April 12, 1924 stated that the tools were a new product line and that the four red squares was a new mark. The nineteen different types of tools that were sold under the Four-Square mark are illustrated in the ad (Figure S). The tools were manufactured and sold both in the United States and in Canada. In the lower left corner of the ad is the statement "prices slightly higher in Canada." "Stanley manufactured Four-Square tools in New Britain, Connecticut, and other plants in the United States and at the Stanley Tool Company of Canada facility located at Roxton Pond, Quebec, Canada. "The size of the card was perfect for mailing; either Stanley or the hardware dealer could place it in an envelope and mail it to a prospective customer. Customer appreciation was gained when the patron could secure a "free" Saturday Evening Post and see the advertisement and have some leisure reading after a hard day at work." ***** All the issues of "The Chronicle" (the first 75 years) from volumes 1 through 61 are available on DVD directly from the Association. The entire contents are fully searchable