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
BTCA Blow Torch Collectors Association
ICCC International Coleman Collectors Club
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
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)
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:
Historical Society of Haddonfield (Haddonfield, NJ) tool museum in cellars of Greenfield Hall – tours by appointment
Space Farms Zoo & Museum incl. 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"
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 Still useful, but is out of date.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)
Henry Cheney Hammer Company - History of the company with timeline and list of products
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)
Woodworking History Narratives of Woodworking Epochs in America and Britain
ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE TOOL SELLERS
Falcon-Wood (Peter and Annette H., SW Massachusetts)
Jonesport Wood Company, proprieters of two stores and Davistown Museum (above):
LeToolman (Verner, Ontario, Canada)
ReToolCo.com (online marketplace with multiple sellers)
Sydnas Sloot (Sandy Moss, SE Massachusetts)
Tooltique (Norwich, Norfolk, UK)
Used Tools Plus (Charlie's 2nd Hand Store, Denver, CO)
VintageSaws (Broadview Heights, OH)
Vintage Tools (J.D. Isaacs, Richland, WA)
Vintage Vials (Stephen Sedor, Mechanicsburg, PA)
Whitney House Tool Shop (Linda Mariconda, The Lafayette Mill Antique Center, Lafayette, NJ)
MODERN TOOL MAKERS and RETAILERS
(more to come)
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
Crown Planes (James S. White, South Portland, ME) – Etsy store
Daed Toolworks (Raney Nelson, Greenfield IN)
Forge de Saint Juery (Ipswich, UK) – home of Auriou Toolworks
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
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
Rockler (US) – retailer
Skelton Saws (Shane Skelton, North Yorkshire, UK)
Stewmac (Stewart-MacDonald Manufacturing Co.) – luthier tools and supplies
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)
Jeremiah Wilding (Colorado) – reproduction wooden hand planes
BLACKSMITH AND WOODWORKER ASSOCIATIONS & OTHERS
In New Jersey:
Elsewhere:
CRAFT SCHOOLS
In New Jersey:
Maplewoodshop woodworking instruction for children (East Orange, NJ)
Elsewhere:
International
The Urban Woodworker (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
MISCELLANEOUS
Touch A Trade their mission: to support the development of the next generation of trades and crafts people
