A large number of web sites supply information on antique tool collecting, identification and use. The following list is not intended to be all-inclusive but simply to provide a starting point for your search. Send suggestions or corrections to us via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Jump down to:
ORGANIZATIONS
United States
ATTIC Antique Tools and Trades In Connecticut
BTCA Blow Torch Collectors Association
EAIA Early American Industries Association
ICCC International Coleman Collectors Club
The Oughtred Society (Slide rules and other calculating instruments)
PNTC Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors
PAST Tool Collectors (formerly Preserving Arts and Skills of the Trades)
PATINA The Potomac Antique Tools and Industries Association
PITCA Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors of America
WNYATCA Western New York Antique Tool Collectors Association
International
ISMCS International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society
TOOL AUCTIONS
TOOL PUBLICATIONS
Periodicals
The Tool Shed (comes with membership in CRAFTS)
The Gristmill (comes with membership in Mid-West Tool Collectors Association)
Books
MUSEUMS
In New Jersey:
Historical Society of Haddonfield (Haddonfield, NJ) – tool museum in cellars of Greenfield Hall; tours by appointment
The Mahan Collection of American Trucking History (Basking Ridge, NJ)
Space Farms Zoo & Museum – including antique/primitive tool barn and blacksmith shop (Sussex, NJ)
Elsewhere:
The Farmers' Museum (Cooperstown, NY) – includes tools from the collection of William B. Sprague, a founder of the Early American Industries Association
Kelham Island Museum with the Hawley Gallery featuring the Ken Hawley collection of Sheffield tools, cutlery and silversmithing industry history (Shefflied, UK)
Smithsonian (Washington, D.C. and New York, NY)
INTERESTING SITES
Alloy Artifacts Museum of Tool History "Exploring Ingenuity in Iron"
BladeForums.com – "The leading edge of knife discussion"
Brace Whisperer (Stan Morgan) – "Braces, bits and other boring tools"
ChapticoWood.com (Eric Bensen) – Early American try squares, miter squares and sliding bevels
Dreams of Wood and Steel – "An exploration of late 19th Century life, tools and firearms"
Electronic Neanderthal – one of the earliest sources of information about tools. Still useful, but is out of date.
The E.W. Carpenter Project and other Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, planemakers of the 1700's & 1800's
Hand and Machine Tools in the Collection of The Science Museum Group (UK)
Henry Cheney Hammer Company – history of the company with timeline and list of products
L'Herminette – collection of French adzes
Peter McBride Antique and Old Tools – jewelry maker in Melbourne, Australia, who makes and restores woodworking tools
Medical Antiques – The Arbittier Museum of Medical History
Oldandinteresting.com – antique domestic & housekeeping equipment
Positive Rake (blog by Joe Federici of Second Chance Saw Works on eBay; not updated since April 2018 but there's much to read about hand saws in the archive)
Scales & Weights – collection of historical scales and weights from the past 3000 years
Trinders' Fine Tools (including guides to Norris and Mathieson planes)
Vintage Machinery (including classified ads for machines)
J. Wiss & Sons Co. – Digitized catalogs, ads, and other ephemera related to this manufacturer of shears, scissors, razors, etc. in Newark, NJ
ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE TOOL SELLERS
Falcon-Wood (Peter and Annette H., SW Massachusetts)
LeToolman (Verner, Ontario, Canada)
Olde Trade Tools (Doug Evans, Fergus, Ontario, Canada)
Tooltique (Norwich, Norfolk, UK)
Used Tools Plus (Charlie's 2nd Hand Store, Denver, CO)
VintageSaws (Broadview Heights, OH)
Vintage Vials (Stephen Sedor, Mechanicsburg, PA)
Whitney House Tool Shop (Linda Mariconda, The Lafayette Mill Antique Center, Lafayette, NJ)
MODERN TOOL MAKERS and RETAILERS
Anvil Brand Shoe Company (Lexington, IL) – retailer of farriers' tools and supplies
M.S. Bickford (Haddam Neck, CT) – reproduction 18th Century molding planes
Elia Bizzarri (Hillsborough, NC) – chairmaking tools and supplies
Brese Plane (Ron Brese, Thomaston, VA)
Centaur Forge (Burlington, WI) – retailer of farrier and blacksmith supplies
Rob Cosman (Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick, Canada)
Crown Planes (James S. White, South Portland, ME) – Etsy store
Daed Toolworks (Raney Nelson, Greenfield IN)
Great Lakes Toolworks (Pierre Rousseau, Ontario, Canada) – handsaw maker
Iida Tool (Osaka, Japan) – Japanese tools
Joseph Haesche (Branford, CT) – old world plumb bobs
Heartwood Tools (Georgetown, TX) – US sales of H.N.T. Gordon and other makers
Hida Tool Co. (Berkeley, CA) – retailer of Japanese tools
Kestrel Tool (Lopez Island, WA) – crooked knives and adzes
Scott Meeks Woodworks (Asheville, NC) – fine wooden planes; offers plane-making classes
MetMo (Leeds, UK)
Mujingfang (made by Woodwell Tools Manufacturing Ltd., Hong Kong)
Nano Hone (Harrelson Stanley, Pepperell, MA) – advanced abrasives for sharpening
NC Tools Company (Pleasant Garden, NC) – farriers' tools
Nihonsan Tools (Brooklyn, NY) – Japanese tools and hardware
North Bay Forge (Jim Wester, Waldron Island, WA) – edge tools for carving; cutlery
The Old Tool Store (Ray Isles, Horncastle, UK) – retailer of new tools as well
Ben & Lois Orford – bushcraft knives, woodcraft tools and leather work
Pfeil (Langenthal, Switzerland) – woodcarving tools
Philly Planes (Phil Edwards, Dorset, UK)
Red Rose Reproductions (Dan Schwank, Sterling, IL) – traditional woodworking tools & molding planes
REED (James Wright, Loves Park, IL) – planes and accessories
Rockler (US) – retailer
Skelton Saws (Shane Skelton, North Yorkshire, UK)
Stewmac (Stewart-MacDonald Manufacturing Co.) – luthier tools and supplies
Timberwolf Tools (Chicago, IL) – retailer of timber framing power tools
TrueTrac (Manchester, OH)
ULMIA (Langenenslingen, Germany)
Vergez Blanchard (Romilly sur Andelle, Normandy, France) – hand tools for leatherwork, upholstery, slate roofing and rubber work
Vesper Tools (Chris Vesper, Carrum Downs, Australia)
Voigt Planes (Steve Voigt, Lehigh Valley, PA)
Dennis Wayne (Buffalo, NY) – custom built hand saws
Jeremiah Wilding (Colorado) – reproduction wooden hand planes
BLACKSMITH AND WOODWORKER ASSOCIATIONS & OTHERS
In New Jersey:
Elsewhere:
Tin Tinkers Group Promoting Historical Tinsmithing and Coppersmithing
CRAFT SCHOOLS
In New Jersey:
Maplewoodshop woodworking instruction for children (East Orange, NJ)
Elsewhere:
Lohr School of Woodworking (Schwenksville, PA) – Jeffry retired and closed his school but website has good content
SawSharp (Superior, WI) handsaw sharpening seminars & training
Sawyer Made (South Woodbury, VT) chairmaking classes
School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology, College of Art and Design (Rochester, NY)
International
The Urban Woodworker (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
MISCELLANEOUS
TradesUp their mission: to support the development of the next generation of trades and crafts people
