Acarpenter's Chest: Tools of the 15Th Century

A CARPENTER’S CHEST: TOOLS OF THE 15TH CENTURY

Lord Findlaech mac Alasdair

As originally published in The Oak, The Arts and Sciences Newsletter for the Kingdom of Atlantia, Issue #12. 2

or those who would recreate To a modern tool user, relying Fthe past, it is an unfortunate on a handful of iron and wood- fact that many common articles en tools may sound daunting. of everyday life, whether hand Few medieval carpenters are tools, household goods, or un- around to tell us how they derwear, often do not survive hewed their timbers and joined their age. While the material their planks. Fortunately, at culture of the courts and high least two craftsmen of note did clergy were cherished and pre- leave their mark. Noah and Jo- served, a simple item such as a seph were both carpenters (if we carpenter’s chisel was used un- include shipwrights) and popu- til it could be used no more, lar subjects for medieval then discarded or taken to the illustrations. These Biblical fig- local smith for remaking into ures are often depicted at work something else1. with their tools. Artists in the Middle Ages tended to draw Recreating the artifacts of an era what they saw in everyday life, poses a challenge: not only must and just as the ancient Greeks we catalog those objects, we were portrayed in full Gothic must also root out how those plate armor, Noah and Joseph objects were made. Learning were shown using the chisel, medieval carpenters’ tech- plane, and saw of the medieval niques tells us not just about the carpenter. Period illustrations artifacts they produced, but also are therefore a promising something about their daily source for the artifacts that did lives. It also helps us produce not survive, especially when objects that are closer in form compared to contemporary de- and function to the original. An scriptions and surviving oak chest styled after a medieval artifacts from somewhat later artifact, while a beautiful and eras. Until the 19th century and useful piece of furniture, is still the rise of industrial produc- glaringly modern if it is cut, tion, tools evolved slowly—a shaped, joined, and finished refinement of shape here, a with modern tools and tech- more resilient material there. niques. By examining 15th century illus- 3

trations and literature, and com- and its close cousin the hatchet. paring them with surviving The Bedford carpenters use at artifacts, we can come of a fair least four axes of differing sizes approximation of what medi- to hew timbers square and fit eval tools looked like, and the ambiguously illustrated develop reasonable theories joints. about how they were used.

A picture of Noah building the Ark in the early 15th century Bedford Book of Hours is par- ticularly illustrative of medieval tools2. While Noah and his sons are ostensibly depicted con- structing the ark, the picture more likely depicts the con- struction of a timber frame Axes generally fall into two building, joined with wooden types: felling axes and broad pegs and topped with a wood axes. As the name implies, the shingle roof. What makes this felling axe, or belte4, is used to picture remarkable is the range bring down trees and cut logs to of tools represented. All the length, as well as notch the sides tools shown are common to car- of logs in preparation for shap- penters as well as shipwrights, ing them into square timbers. and its likely that building con- The cutting edge of a felling axe struction, rather than a ship is beveled on both sides, like a dock, was the inspiration for knife edge. This lets the edge this illustration3. cut across the wood fibers.

AXES The broad axe, or side axe, is used for squaring the sides of In a world without precut lum- timbers and for precise shaping ber, a carpenter needs to shape along the direction of the and fit timbers on any job, and wood’s grain. The broad axe dif- for this he would use the axe fers from a felling axe in that the 4 blade is beveled on one side the edge. The blades are set in only. Such an edge is used for handles of a hard-wearing wood cutting with the grain, separat- such as beech. Chisels come in ing the fibers along their all sizes, from small joinery tools lengths. The carpenter squaring to large framing slicks. a timber at his feet is probably using a broad axe. The broad Chisels are usually beveled on hatchet (hatchett or chip ax5), a one side, though they can also smaller version of the broad axe, be beveled like a knife. A one- is used for both rough and fine sided edge can be used to shave shaping of smaller pieces of smoothly along the grain, or lumber. chop across the grain to make a precise hole, or mortise. When Medieval axes the chisel has a curved cutting have a head edge, it is called a gouge. Most made of iron, chisels depicted in period illus- with a steel bit trations have a rounded fish-tail embedded in the edge so that it shape, with the end of the chis- will hold an edge and not de- el being somewhat convex, as form as would an all-iron head6. opposed to the square end nor- All Noah’s axe heads have sock- mally found on modern chisels. ets to receive the axe handle; in This can make it difficult to tell more modern axes the handle if the tool is a chisel, gouge, or passes through the head and is knife. held in place with a wedge. PLANES CHISELS AND GOUGES A plane is, in essence, a chisel The chisel is close kin to the held in a wooden block. By broad axe. Medieval chisels are keeping the blade (called an easily recognizable to modern iron) at a constant angle to the eyes; the form has changed lit- wood, its relatively easy to pro- tle in 500 years. Noah’s chisels duce a smooth surface. Planes are, like his axes, probably made date back to at least the ancient of iron with a steel bit to hold Romans, and perhaps earlier7. 5

Few specimens of medieval SAWS planes are known to survive, but the planes in “Building the Ark” Noah’s crew bear an uncanny resemblance to uses two kinds those commonly used into the of saws. One is 20th century8. a curved blade set on a wooden handle, not unlike a large version of a modern pruning saw. A work- er, somewhat improbably dressed in parti-colored tights, uses it to cut a timber to length. Early saws of this type cut on the pull stroke so that the blades would not kink or bend9. By the Planes can perform a myriad of 15th century, iron and steel were functions: smoothing flat sur- sufficiently strong that blades faces, squaring edges, creating could be made to cut on the intricate shapes for moldings, push stroke, as do most modern and cutting slots (dados) for saws. joinery. Noah’s crew uses two types of planes—a large joiner’s The other style of saw in the il- plane and two smaller bench- lustration is a bow saw. A bow planes. One carpenter uses the saw uses a wooden frame to joiner’s plane to square the edge hold the ends of the blade un- of a large panel. The plane’s der tension. This tension is length lets it take down high adjusted by means of a twisted spots without riding the con- cord parallel to the blade. Keep- tours of the surface. Such planes ing the blade under tension are essential when trying to join allows for a thinner and more two boards by their edges or delicate blade, and prevents the create a smooth surface. The blade from bending if it gets smaller planes lying on the caught. A bow saw may allow ground are used for fitting the blade to be turned relative joints and finishing surfaces. 6 to the frame, permitting the might start it with a small chis- user to move the frame out of el, or a smaller version of an the way of the piece being cut. auger called a gimlet or wym- bylle10. He then carves out the Both of Noah’s saws are crosscut hole by turning the auger’s han- saws, meaning that they are in- dle in a circular motion, tended to cut across the grain of stopping frequently to remove the wood. Crosscut saw blades the shavings that accumulate in are actually a series of knives, the hole. Unlike modern drill slicing through the wood fibers. bits, his auger is not shaped like This contrasts with a rip saw, a screw; instead, it is similar to a which is used to cut along the gouge or to the spoon bit still grain of the wood, as when rip- used by chair makers. Augers ping boards from a timber. Rip were common tools in ship and saw blades are more like chisels, house building, wearing out of- separating the fibers by cutting ten and requiring frequent a channel parallel to them. replacement11. Noah’s timbers may have been ripped with a two-man pit saw, Another tool used to but no pit saws are included in drill holes was the the illustration. brace and bit (or piercer). Believed to have AUGERS, GIMLETS, AND BRACES been brought back to Europe by returning Noah’s Ark Crusaders12, the brace is held to- and bit is recognizable to mod- gether ern eyes; its modern with metal-and-plastic descendant is wooden readily available at most hard- pegs, and ware stores. Unlike augers, the the auger bits of piercers could often be is the tool the carpenters use to removed when they wore out or bore holes for the pegs. A sim- the user needed a different size ple tool, it consists of a bit bit13. None of Noah’s piercers are attached to a perpendicular being used, perhaps they are re- handle. A man drilling a hole served for finer work. 7

MALLETS AND HAMMERS CONCLUSIONS

The local smithy is long gone, and the neighborhood hardware store isn’t likely to be forging axe heads out back. But Striking tools such as mallets fortunately, the tools of the me- and hammers were a necessity dieval carpenter, joiner, cooper, for a medieval carpenter. Sever- and shipwright were relatively al of Noah’s workers use mallets few, and many have modern ap- to drive home the pegs (trenails proximations. Learning to use or trunnels) that hold the tim- even a few of these tools can ber framing. Mallets have enable you to build simple me- wooden heads, in contrast to dieval furniture such as chests hammers, which have an iron and benches. Often antique striking head. Hammers are tools can be found at auctions, used primarily for setting nails, flea markets, and estate sales. If such as the roofing nails for the you cannot find a source for old Ark. Because iron nails are soft, tools (or reproduce them your- a pilot hole is often made with a self), you might try these sources gimlet. Contrary to popular for modern counterparts: myth, nails were not rare in medieval carpentry. In 1413, Highland Hardware Henry IV’s storehouse invento- 1-800-241-6748 ry reported 10,902 nails in store14. Broadaxes and hatchets, bow The English had at least 50 saws, spoon bits, chisels, goug- names for differing types of es. nails (though the same nails may have had different names for Lee Valley Tools different uses)15. But nails were 1-800-8771-8158 not cheap; in the 15th century, Cut iron nails, square-shanked one hundred nails might cost copper rosehead nails with the equivalent of several days roves. wages for a skilled tradesman16. 8

Horton Brasses Underhill, Roy, The Wood- 1-800-754-9127 wright’s Work Book. University Hand-forged iron hinges, latch- of North Carolina Press, Chapel es, and pulls. Cut wrought head Hill, North Carolina, 1986. nails and rosehead clinch nails. Virgoe, Roger (ed.), Private Life William Alden Company in the Fifteenth Century. 1-800-249-TOOL Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New Wooden bodied and metal York, 1989. planes, spokeshaves, draw- knives, auger bits to 1-1/4 inches, NOTES bow saws and blades. 1 For a discussion of medieval BIBLIOGRAPHY recycling of iron tools, see Long, pg. 40. Bealer, Alex W. Old Ways of 2 Friel, pg. 60, Hack pg. 12. Working Wood. Castle Books, 3 While shipwrights had recog- Edison, NJ, 1980. nized guilds, carpenters often contributed to ship construc- Friel, Ian, The Good Ship; Ships, tion by building deck Shipbuilding, and Technology structures and cabins, and in England, 1200-1520. The Johns were often better paid than Hopkins University Press, Balti- shipwrights. Friel, pg. 45. more, Maryland, 1995. 4 Underhill, pg. 6 5 Underhill, pg. 6. Hack, Garrett, The Handplane 6 Underhill, pg. 10 Book. The Taunton Press, New- 7 Hack, pg. 15. town, Connecticut, 1997. 8 Underhill, pg 12. 9 Bealer, pg. 83. Long, Pamela (ed.), Science and 10 Underhill, pg. 6. Technology in Medieval Soci- 11 Friel, pg. 59. ety. Annals of the New York 12 Underhill, pg. 10 Academy of Sciences, Volume 13 Underhill, pg. 10 441, New York, 1985. 14 Friel, pg. 172. 15 Friel, pg. 72. 16 Friel, pg. 72, Virgoe, pg. 46. 9

ARTISTS

Front Cover: Lord Michael Limner, Noah Building the Ark. From the Bedford Book of Hours. Friel, Ian. The Good Ship; Ships, Ship- building, and Technology in England, 1200-1520. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, (1995). p. 60. Pages 2-7: Lord Michael Limner, ibid. Page 6: Lord Findlaech mac Alasdair, Piercer.