I expect that many members here will already have heard of the "Seaton Chest."
On 15 December 1796, Joseph Seaton, a cabinet maker, bought his 21 year old son Benjamin a set of tools from Christopher Gabriel in London. On New Year's Day in 1797 Benjamin started making a chest to keep them in; on April 15th, he finished it. What happened next is open to speculation - maybe he had been intending to emigrate to America but changed his mind. The really unusual thing is that the tools, many of them unused, stayed with the chest and their original, priced inventory, until they were presented to the Guildhall Museum in Rochester, Kent, in 1910.
The chest and its contents were described in a booklet published in 1994 which has been frustratingly out of print for some years. This book is an updated and expanded new edition of the original publication.
It's a thorough, scholarly description of the origins and contents of the chest - its 76 planes, 60 chisels and gouges, saws, marking tools and the rest, giving a unique glimpse into the equipment needed to work as a cabinet maker in the late eighteenth century. There are some colour photos, some black and white, covering most of the tools.
New in this edition are measured drawings, prepared when the chest was loaned to Colonial Williamsburg in 1994-5.
It also includes an account (with drawings) of the making of a replica of the chest - the most practical way of understanding it.
Some of the content is a bit dry (the historian's urge to describe every detail) but it is strong on historical understanding, and efforts are made to relate the tools to the methods of work. Although the kit of tools was comprehensive, and Seaton made a beautiful job of the chest, they are not all the highest quality tools - maybe the total cost of £15 10s 4d was enough for even the most indulgent of fathers, when a decent tradesman's wage would have been around a pound a week.
The book is well-presented, 179 pages, large format paperback, and is available from the Tools and Trades History Society for £19.95 +p&p.
Anyone with more than a passing interest in old tools and their use should order a copy now.
On 15 December 1796, Joseph Seaton, a cabinet maker, bought his 21 year old son Benjamin a set of tools from Christopher Gabriel in London. On New Year's Day in 1797 Benjamin started making a chest to keep them in; on April 15th, he finished it. What happened next is open to speculation - maybe he had been intending to emigrate to America but changed his mind. The really unusual thing is that the tools, many of them unused, stayed with the chest and their original, priced inventory, until they were presented to the Guildhall Museum in Rochester, Kent, in 1910.
The chest and its contents were described in a booklet published in 1994 which has been frustratingly out of print for some years. This book is an updated and expanded new edition of the original publication.
It's a thorough, scholarly description of the origins and contents of the chest - its 76 planes, 60 chisels and gouges, saws, marking tools and the rest, giving a unique glimpse into the equipment needed to work as a cabinet maker in the late eighteenth century. There are some colour photos, some black and white, covering most of the tools.
New in this edition are measured drawings, prepared when the chest was loaned to Colonial Williamsburg in 1994-5.
It also includes an account (with drawings) of the making of a replica of the chest - the most practical way of understanding it.
Some of the content is a bit dry (the historian's urge to describe every detail) but it is strong on historical understanding, and efforts are made to relate the tools to the methods of work. Although the kit of tools was comprehensive, and Seaton made a beautiful job of the chest, they are not all the highest quality tools - maybe the total cost of £15 10s 4d was enough for even the most indulgent of fathers, when a decent tradesman's wage would have been around a pound a week.
The book is well-presented, 179 pages, large format paperback, and is available from the Tools and Trades History Society for £19.95 +p&p.
Anyone with more than a passing interest in old tools and their use should order a copy now.
