The tools at Skokloster Castle

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I found this great blog with some really cool history of Swedish tools and workbenches, including a bench found in an old shipwreck.


Some amazing wooden planes from the mid 1600's
https://hyvelbenk.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/tools-from-skokloster-castle-in-sweden/

More cool stuff on the full site.
https://hyvelbenk.wordpress.com

[Jim Koepke]

Great stuff Malcolm, thanks for sharing.

The planes look like they had more time to embellish there work during the 17th century. Probably didn't have heavy traffic and television eating into their time.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

People always ask me how I have so much time to build stuff and restore a house. I ask them how they have so much time to watch TV.

I am am going to duplicate that plane with the scroll in the throat... One of these days.

[Daniel Rode]

I need to steal that quote!

People always ask me how I have so much time to build stuff and restore a house. I ask them how they have so much time to watch TV.
I recall watching TV for hours when I was younger. Now, I rarely turn the TV on.

[george wilson]

About the 17th. C. tools in the Swedish castle: We made some of those "umbrella " handled saws for Jamestown years ago(We didn't know what else to call them). They were surprisingly comfortable to saw with. The correspondingly period English style saws we also made for them were ugly as sin. I failed to take any pictures of that batch of saws.

[Stewie Simpson]

The bench planes look to be of an early dutch design. Wonderful workmanship within their carving. Corneel could add a more qualified comment to their makers ancestory.

Stewie;

[Kees Heiden]

A little late reply due to the soummer hollidays. But indeed, these tools are Dutch. There is a bill in the collection which documents the sale of 200 tools from the Amsterdam tool dealer Trotzig to the Swedish general Wrangel. The planes have the namestamp I:A from Jan Arendtzen Wijssijch from Amsterdam.

The Duth at that time dominated the trade routes in the East sea, so it is no wonder the tools came from Amsterdam.

[george wilson]

Remnants of Dutch saws were excavated at Jamestown from 1607. The state of English tool making at that time was pretty crude.

[Kees Heiden]

But the English overtook pretty quickly after that! I'm a big fan of the English 18th century style in tool making.