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..
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ORGANIZATIONS
United States
ATTIC Antique Tools and Trades In Connecticut
The Oughtred Society (Slide rules and other calculating instruments)
PAST Tool Collectors (formerly Preserving Arts and Skills of the Trades)
PATINA The Potomac Antique Tools and Industries Association
International
TOOL AUCTIONS
TOOL PUBLICATIONS
Periodicals
The Tool Shed (comes with membership in CRAFTS)
The Gristmill (comes with membership in Mid-West Tool Collectors Association)
Quercus Magazine "for anyone working wood by hand" (published six times a year in Oxford, England by Nick Gibbs)
Books
Astragal Press (acquired by Rowman & Littlefield)
MUSEUMS
In New Jersey:
Elsewhere:
Smithsonian (Washington, D.C. and New York, NY)
Bahr's Mill (website is not accessible)
INTERESTING SITES
BladeForums.com - "The leading edge of knife discussion"
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 Still useful, but is out of date.
Hand and Machine Tools in the Collection of The Science Museum Group (UK)
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 had 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)
ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE TOOL SELLERS
Falcon-Wood (Peter and Annette H., SE Massachusetts)
Jonesport Wood Company, proprieters of three stores and Davistown Museum (above):
NH Plane Parts and The Vintage Tool Shoppe (Eric Robinson, Fremont, NH)
Sydnas Sloot (Sandy Moss, SE Massachusetts)
Used Tools Plus (Charlie's 2nd Hand Store, Denver, CO)
VintageSaws (Broadview Heights, OH)
Vintage Tools (J.D. Isaacs, Richland, WA)
Whitney House Tool Shop (Linda Mariconda, The Lafayette Mill Antique Center, Lafayette, NJ)
MODERN TOOL MAKERS and RETAILERS
(more to come)
M.S. Bickford Reproduction 18th Century Moulding Planes (Haddam Neck, CT)
Elia Bizzarri Chairmaking tools and supplies (Hillsborough, NC)
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
Richard Kell (Northumberland, England)
Philly Planes (Phil Edwards, Dorset, UK)
Red Rose Reproductions - Traditional Woodworking Tools & Molding Planes
Skelton Saws (Shane Skelton, North Yorkshire, UK)
Vesper Tools (Chris Vesper, Carrum Downs, Australia)
Jeremiah Wilding Reproduction Wooden Hand Planes (Colorado)
WOODWORKING ASSOCIATIONS & OTHERS
In New Jersey:
Elsewhere:
CRAFT SCHOOLS
In New Jersey:
Maplewoodshop woodworking instruction for children (East Orange, NJ)
Elsewhere:
International
MISCELLANEOUS