University of Virginia Library

Appendix C:
List and Description of Carpenter's Tools
James Dinsmore's Tool List

Memdm of Carpenters tools belonging to Mr. Jefferson April 15th 1809

• 15 pair hollows & rounds & 1 plane for making spouts


• 1 pair hollows & quarter rounds, 1 Do Snipe Bills


• 1 Do Side rabbit planes--dorabbit planes & astragal


• 3 philasters & one Spring plane--


• 4 pair groveing planes & 1 Cut & thrust--


• 2 Plow planes & 9 plow bits


• 5 bead planes 9, ogees & 2 quarter rounds--


• 2 Sash ovolos, 2 astragal Do--


• 1 Scotia & ovolo & 1 ogee & ovolo


• 1 raising plane 2 pair Base & Surbase planes--


• 1 architrave Do--14 Cornice planes of different kinds


• 3 Straight & 3 Circular Smoothing planes--1 toothing Do


• 4 Sets of Bench planes--5 in each set & 1 double Iron Jointer--


• 3 try planes for Circular work 3 steel blade Squares--


• 1 bench vise 2 plated gages * *1 mitre Do--brace & 15 bits--


• 2 pair pincers & 1 pair cutting plyers--


• 2 drawing knives 2 pair compasses--


• 4 Sockett chishels 4 mortise Do & 13 firmer Do--


• 19 gouges, 2 rasps 4 files, 15 gimblets & 45 Do


• 3 pair hand screws, 3 iron Screws for joining up work


• 6 augars 3 hand Saws 1 pannel Do 1 table Do 1 tenon Do--


• 1 Sash Do 1 dove tail Do 1 frame Do & 2 lock Saws 9 new plane irons


• 3 Saw files 1 axe 1 adz a bevel 1 mitre one turkey wet Stone--

James Dinsmore

planes borrowed by Jas. Dinsmore Dinsmore James

• 1 Tuscan Cornice plane--


• 1 Sash astragal--


• 1 ogee & quarter round--


• Bit


• 1 screw worth 9/. by J. Dinsmore £0.9


• 2 flooring __ worth 4/______ by J Nelson _________

Memdm of Carpenters tools

ADS, DLC:TJ, 1p.

Tool Descriptions

• Frame saw, or two-man pit saw: rip or cut plank out of a log


• Back saw: for precise miters, dovetails, mortise shoulders and butt joints


• Tenon saw, and dovetail saw: for cabinet makers


• Adze: shaping joists and timber


• Gimlet: for small holes for a screw


• Auger: for boring


• Scriber, or marking gauge: for marking boards


• Squares and plumb lines: for squaring


• Drawing tools: drawknife and spokeshave, to rough out shapes


• Lathe: pole lathe, operated by foot, or wheel lathe, two-man operation


• Chisels: for lathe work or cutting groves


• Gouges: to carve, or reach in hard to get places


• Planes: for preparing lumber, smoothing edges and faces, creating mouldings


• Jack, or fore planes: ridding of thick shaving


• Try, or trying plane: smooth away tracks or furrows of fore plane


• Jointer: used on long boards, 26-36 inches long


• Block or smoothing plane: for small areas or irregular grain, like knots, short
  and wide


• Moulding planes: produce intricate decorative strips of wood


• Shaping planes: hollows and rounds, named after outlines of their soles;
  hollow is concave; round is convex. 16 to 24 graduated sizes in a progression by quarters of
  inch


• Rabbet plane: for cutting rabbets


• Banding plane: for cutting dado


• Grooving plane: cut grooves


• Match planes: tongue and groove


• Sash Planes: make window and door sashes

Note: Because hand tools from the period generally were of high quality and very efficient,
surprisingly little expenditure of energy was required on the worker's part when the right
tool was selected, provided that the tool had been properly maintained and its blades
sharpened. The worker's technique of use also should be considered as an integral part of the
character of a tool.