"A craftsman is
one who understands his tools and uses them with skill and honesty. It
does not matter whether his tool is a chisel or a planing machine, it
is the work that he does with it that counts and you today can be as
good a workman in the carpenter's craft as any who ever lived if you
will learn to know your tools and to use them well."
— Thomas E. Hibben
When it comes to learning woodworking, sometimes it's nice to treat yourself like a child.
While
researching old tool chests for a future project I kept stumbling over
a book in people's bibliographies: "The Carpenter's Tool Chest" (J.B.
Lippincott) by Thomas Hibben. On a lark, I picked up a copy last week,
even though it kept showing up as a piece of non-fiction for juveniles.
The
book is indeed for children. The Junior Literary Guild recommended it
for boys and girls age 9 to 11 when the book came out in 1933. But as
soon as I opened the book I was sucked into it and spent the weekend
devouring its contents.
"The Carpenter's Tool Chest" is designed
to introduce children to the world of hand work, and Hibben explains
exactly what each tool is used for in simple terms. But what really
hooked me was the way that Hibben explained the craft and tool
development from pre-history to the early 20th century.
The
book opens with a series of delightful plates that trace the history of
each form of tool from its earliest known forms to the modern day. The
simple hand illustrations by Hibben (his father was an artist) are
obviously based on photos and illustrations from earlier works. You'll
see Andre Roubo's try square in there as well as some familiar pieces
that are obviously from Joseph Moxon, plus some that are taken from
works of art.
And though there is no bibliography to the book
that will allow you to track down all his sources, the plates are still
great fun to look at. His two plates on saws show the parallel
development of frame saws and our English/Dutch-style saws, and how
both Eastern and Western cultures used both forms of saws. The
evolution of the hammer and gouge are also particularly interesting.
After
illustrating and explaining the functions of all the tools, he takes a
stroll through history that starts in the Stone Age and explains the
woodworking tools that were in use then. Then he walks through the
Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages and Renaissance. There are hundreds
of illustrations and fun facts (such as why the use of adhesives were
banned by governments for a time in the Middle Ages).
Woodworking
scholars will discount this book because of some of its notable errors
– he calls a marking gauge a "measuring gauge," and his drawing of an
eggbeater drill shows a tool that would work only in M.C. Escher's
dimension. And new scholarship would poke some holes in his timeline.
But
still, what a cool book. The original is beautifully printed on nice
heavy stock. It's great fun to read. And it puts our craft in a
historical perspective that I think a lot of us don't think much about.
The history of humanity and wood are as intertwined as the kudzu that
tangles the farms of the South.
Hibben himself is an interesting character (read more about him at the Bear Alley blog).
Born in Indianapolis, he studied architecture and engineering and had a
fascinating life overseas until he was cut down by a heart attack.
I
won't say this book is a must-read tome for woodworkers, but if you
stumble across a copy in a used bookstore, it's definitely worth
picking up. My copy is going into the hands of my 8-year-old daughter.
— Christopher Schwarz