The question of the saw nib.

[Matt Knights]

So as we all know there is an uncertainty as to what the nib on the end of the saw plate was actually used for, some say decoration, other say to secure a batten in to which the teeth sat to protect them. Well while surfing youtube this morning I found a gent who calls himself Mr Chickadee, he builds timer frame cabins and the such using trad methods and tools, while watching this fine fellow I spotted that he uses the nib to start the cut??? I don't think I've heard that one before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ar6ikn4EVc about 1.10 in.

Interesting.

Matt

[george wilson]

That is ridiculous. Original saw nibs are a rounded lump,NOT tooth shaped. Also,the saw is much thinner along the back,and there CANNOT be any SET to a single tooth!! Did he RE FILE the nib into a tooth ? Even if he did,the saw is very much thinner than on the tooth side.

MUCH less so in the 18th. C.. But,their nibs were STILL just round.

This would be like using a small dovetail saw cut from a fifteen thousandths thick dovetail to start a 42 thousandths thick saw!!!!!!!

I recommend just learning how to accurately start a saw!!! And NOT by watching woodworking TV shows.

[Steve Tripp]

It doesn't have to be the original intended use for the nib, but if it works, I'd say more power to him. It is interesting to see it used that way. I might even try it on one of my saws to see how it works.

[Scott Dorrer]

Marking (not actually starting) a cut is what I've always been taught it was the purpose of the nib.

[Tony Zaffuto]

As George said, nibs are rounded, and such, were designed for the workman to safely scratch his/her back with it.

Seriously, the nib discussion has been around forever, and if I remember correctly several web saw pundits went so far as to post drawings on ancient saws that had nib-like adornments, so I'm of the camp that nibs were simply a decorative touch (but also to use to scratch an itch).

[george wilson]

No, the nib is not a cutting or marking tool. Nor is it a FRONT SIGHT(as has been suggested):) REALLY!!! Many things have been ascribed to the nib. But, in their original form,they are quite round in shape. We had original,unused 18th. C. saws to reproduce dozens of. The nibs were ROUNDED.

Carpenters in England carried their tools around in BASKETS. Having a loose saw in there would scratch who knows what. The alternative was a tool chest. I have seen old jointer planes with rip saw teeth firmly and DEEPLY imprinted down their sides. They were in tool boxes,but transportation in wagons was a very BUMPY and harsh, teeth jaring experience.(ever ride in one ? ,I have,many times. How about on cobble stones! Or rutty dirt roads? ). A tool chest carried about in a wagon had better have a protective batten on the teeth, if you value your tools. Some didn't.

As a sad aside,I read about an old man,retired,who BURNED all his tools,because they had caused him so much work!! That person was never suited to be a woodworker. Possibly forced into it by his father.

[Mark AJ Allen]

I couldn't tell from the video if he started the cut with the nib, but it's clear he's marking the cut with the back of the saw. I guess that could work. If I HAD to mark the cut with the nib, I don't doubt it could be sharpened to do so; it wouldn't be unreasonable for someone to modify their tools for fit, form or function. In fact, people should do that.

[Pat Barry]

No, the nib is not a cutting or marking tool. Nor is it a FRONT SIGHT(as has been suggested) REALLY!!! Many things have been ascribed to the nib. But, in their original form,they are quite round in shape. We had original,unused 18th. C. saws to reproduce dozens of. The nibs were ROUNDED.

Carpenters in England carried their tools around in BASKETS. Having a loose saw in there would scratch who knows what. The alternative was a tool chest. I have seen old jointer planes with rip saw teeth firmly and DEEPLY imprinted down their sides. They were in tool boxes,but transportation in wagons was a very BUMPY and harsh, teeth jaring experience.(ever ride in one ? ,I have,many times. How about on cobble stones! Or rutty dirt roads? ). A tool chest carried about in a wagon had better have a protective batten on the teeth, if you value your tools. Some didn't.

As a sad aside,I read about an old man,retired,who BURNED all his tools,because they had caused him so much work!! That person was never suited to be a woodworker. Possibly forced into it by his father.
I think it has been discussed many times that the nib was a feature intended to secure some kind of tooth protector to the saw plate. I can only imagine that tooth protector was a leather device of some sort and that the device was secured to the saw plate front and back by elastic / bungee cords. One around the handle of the tool and the other smaller one hooked over the top of the nib.;)

[lowell holmes]

I think the nip is there to give "creekers" something to talk about.:)

[george wilson]

Not leather. The tooth protector was a long stick with a groove down it that was cut with the same saw. Then,it was tied behind the nib and around the lamb's tongue with grocery twine,or whatever. They didn't have bungee cords in the old days. Leather would sag and expose the teeth.

I have seen leather HOLSTERS that look like rifle scabbards that protected the whole blade. But,they aren't common. Someone with particular pride in a saw might make something like that.

I hope this is not going. to turn into a 12 page debate. I don't know how many times we have to discuss the same thing.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Not leather. The tooth protector was a long stick with a groove down it that was cut with the same saw. Then,it was tied behind the nib and around the lamb's tongue with grocery twine,or whatever. They didn't have bungee cords in the old days. Leather would sag and expose the teeth.

I have seen leather HOLSTERS that look like rifle scabbards that protected the whole blade. But,they aren't common. Someone with particular pride in a saw might make something like that.

I hope this is not going. to turn into a 12 page debate. I don't know how many times we have to discuss the same thing.


At this past year's "Patina" gathering in Damascus, I got a full plate, shiny #12, private labeled for a hardware store, in a leather scabbard. Scabbard looked to bed professionally. Saw was also sharp and both cist $20.00. Downside was that the saw was a coarse rip. This was outside in the tailgating part of the show. Inside, I found an identical scabbard, priced at $40, and without a saw.

Oh yeah, the nib was present in all its glory on the saw!

[george wilson]

So,we can address you as "your Nibs"!

[Frederick Skelly]

i think the nip is there to give "creekers" something to talk about.:)

+1.

And dont sweat it Matt - this is a perennial topic here at the Creek. It'll come up again in 6 mos. ;)

[Brent Cutshall]

All of the old Disston and Atkins catalogs that I've collected say they are only for decoration, but if you find another use for it I guess it's just icing on the cake,A SAW CAKE!!:eek:

[Mel Fulks]

"Nor is it front sight"...Sounds like somebody missed a great episode of Mac Gyver quickly making a pistol.

[James Pallas]

A mentor of mine gave me a definitive answer on the nib. It is a "trap for meddlers" and you all got caught again.:)
Jim

[Tom M King]

It's hard to find a good yawn picture. I found some good ones with good looking girls, but they didn't seem to fit.

http://previews.123rf.com/images/Fotosmurf/Fotosmurf0609/fotosmurf060900237/524743-Yawning-cat-Stock-Photo.jpg (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYxInz3sHNAhXD8CYKHRpTAI0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.123rf.com%2Fstock-photo%2Fadorable_yawn.html&psig=AFQjCNFlgNdiy9lP9h3ehMjnALwcKLkiYA&ust=1466894615959635)

[Tony Zaffuto]

So,we can address you as "your Nibs"!

George,

i can be called anything, except late for supper.

T.

[Tony Zaffuto]

A mentor of mine gave me a definitive answer on the nib. It is a "trap for meddlers" and you all got caught again.:)
Jim

Nah, we actually like the talks.

[george wilson]

I have a cat those colors,except he is FAT as a PIG. We got him dumped on us by my wife's
friends.

[george wilson]

McGyver took a rolled up magazine,and 2 watch crystals jammed in each end. Presto,a TELESCOPE!!! It was perfectly focused,etc..Whoever writes this crap should be made to go to a science class!!! It is DISGUSTING.

I was given an old telescope by my customer. It would not work. I had to make it work. I had to call in a physics professor who taught optics($100.00,please!) She didn't care! He told me that it was 2 antique telescopes married together. A wonder the slides fitted! After figuring it out,he told me what lens to order. I was able to make a pretty,finely knurled lens cell(that which a lens is mounted in) from brass,to match the rest of the telescope,and install it. Worked fine. I am not an optician.

But,I never could make it with a rolled magazine and 2 watch crystals. You know,I don't know where he got TWO watch crystals anyway. Neither of which was a lens anyway! But then,I never knew when James Bond knew exactly what gizmo he would need for a sudden death trap(like the jet pack,or the mini underwater breathing thing made from 2 CO2 seltzer bottle type cartridges).

[Brent Cutshall]

You see everybody, this is why we like the talks here. We take saw nibs, move it to McGyver, then to chubby cats, and then back to McGyver. Who knows what will come up next.

[Tom M King]

My best friend that I grew up with, and I, built telescopes when we were teenagers. The largest was a 12-1/2" f6. We built a 12x12 house for it that the roof rolled off of. I ground the mirror in my bedroom, which was a combination telescope mirror production facility, and darkroom. I got started in photography by taking pictures through our telescopes. The yearbook my Senior year won first prize in some national yearbook competition for photography. My friend is now one of the lead scientists at NASA on the JWPT, and other stuff. He was on a team that won the Nobel Prize a while back.

We have campfires often in cold weather. One night Pam's (my Wife) Father showed some guys that showed up how to find the North Star. When they left, Pam's Dad asked who those guys were. I told him they were some of the world's top astronomers. He never lived it down.

[Phil Mueller]

Back in the day, tool buyers were very suspicious of old tools sold as new...recycled if you will. Unscrupulous salesmen abound. So Henry (Disston) and others in an attemp to "prove" their saws were, indeed, new and not recycled used saws, created a projection on the top of the saw that they figured would never last with use. So the presence of this projection would be proof that it was, indeed, a new and unused saw.

After much contemplation, they came to be called the NIB...or New In Box.




:rolleyes:

[Stanley Covington]

Back in the day, tool buyers were very suspicious of old tools sold as new...recycled if you will. Unscrupulous salesmen abound. So Henry (Disston) and others in an attemp to "prove" their saws were, indeed, new and not recycled used saws, created a projection on the top of the saw that they figured would never last with use. So the presence of this projection would be proof that it was, indeed, a new and unused saw.

After much contemplation, they came to be called the NIB...or New In Box.




:rolleyes:

The Mystery is Solved! Call the Smithsonian.

[David Carroll]

I have one or two things to add. I have a c.1850 tool chest with a nice panel saw. It has wooden edge guard with a loop of twine around the nib and it shoelace-ties over the lower horn. This may not be the intended purpose of the nib, but as others have suggested, it is a common use, and based on the one in my chest it has been common a long time.

While ripping some long, wide and thick sycamore, another use occurred to me. I was getting into the rhythm of cutting, concentrating on taking long, even, strokes, I was concerned that the plate might jump out of the kerf and I'd kink it. But I got into the habit of watching for the nib to poke out of the kerf on the upstroke and this was the signal to reverse thrusters and drive the cut down. Since the nib is located a few inches from the tip, I could safely use the longest strokes possible. Of course after a short time, muscle memory kicks in and looking for the nib becomes unnecessary. But it helped at the beginning.

Different saws all have different length plates, but if they have nibs, it's easy to transition between them to get full strokes.

So, I don't know what they're for, but that's a good use for them as far as I am concerned.

DC

[george wilson]

Nice NIB(new in box) story. But,the nib goes back hundreds of years. They even dug one up at Jamestown 1607. Bigger nib. We made replicas of 18th. C. Kenyon saws with nibs for the Historic Trades craftsmen. The original saws were never used,nor even sharpened by the wealthy owner who aspired to take up woodworking as a hobby,but never got to it.

[Phil Mueller]

Well, maybe the origin was earlier than I theorized...but the fact that you indicated the saws were never used makes them like NIB. Story holds...just more historic than I realized...those clever Engleshmen!

[Patrick Chase]

That is ridiculous. Original saw nibs are a rounded lump,NOT tooth shaped. Also,the saw is much thinner along the back,and there CANNOT be any SET to a single tooth!! Did he RE FILE the nib into a tooth ? Even if he did,the saw is very much thinner than on the tooth side.

I think this is the best/key point in this thread - As George said, even if you tried to optimize a nib as a kerf starter it wouldn't work very well, unless you did something drastic like mushrooming it to the same width as the base of the sawplate plus set (I'm NOT recommending anybody try that as it would probably just break the nib).

[Patrick Chase]

My best friend that I grew up with, and I, built telescopes when we were teenagers. The largest was a 12-1/2" f6. We built a 12x12 house for it that the roof rolled off of. I ground the mirror in my bedroom, which was a combination telescope mirror production facility, and darkroom. I got started in photography by taking pictures through our telescopes. The yearbook my Senior year won first prize in some national yearbook competition for photography. My friend is now one of the lead scientists at NASA on the JWPT, and other stuff. He was on a team that won the Nobel Prize a while back.

You grew up making telescopes with Mather? That must have been a hoot...

[george wilson]

I had a celestial telescope sitting in my living room. My friends accused me of watching the neighbors!:)

[James Pallas]

I had a celestial telescope sitting in my living room. My friends accused me of watching the neighbors!:)
Must have seen the glint thru the window George, not the one off the telescope, the one off your eyes.
Jim

[James Pallas]

Hey George, Kidding aside. I spent some time around Williamsburg in the late 60s. It was a peaceful place to spend Sunday afternoons away from Ft Eustis. In conversations with people there I was told that they had warehouses full of all kinds of things from18th c. You must have been able to see lots of tools including saws with nibs. Do they still have all that that the public doesn't get to see.
Jim

[george wilson]

Yes they do. They rotate items in the Wallace Gallery. But,t is just not possible to display everything at once. Even worse at the Smithsonian,where I have been able to go behind the scenes and see their full collections of things like musical instruments., They have been given(as well as having purchased) all manner of things. Some things are odd ball one offs that someone made,and not fit to display.

[James Pallas]

Thanks George. I know a job is work but it must have been nice a times to go to storage for an example and than make a musical instrument or a plane or anything like that. Your knowledge of these things is a great asset to this forum.
Jim

[Tom M King]

You grew up making telescopes with Mather? That must have been a hoot...
No, not with John. He never built telescopes before going to work for NASA. He was one of the guys that Pam's Dad showed how to find the North Star though. That was around when they were working on COBE, but before he won the Prize. My friend's name wasn't on the Prize because it was John's idea, but was on the team.

I was eating dinner with some of those guys, and someone asked me who I was. I told them I grew up with Harvey, and we built telescopes together when I was a teenager. He replied, "Yeah, he still is."

[george wilson]

Three days in the storage areas and conservation shops of the Smithsonian were exhausting to me,even in my early 30's! There were no windows,and these places were deep in the buildings. I don't know where the air came from! Interesting to be sure,though. I learned many things,and taught a few things too.

A great benefit was when I was building a copy of the single manual(keyboard) Kirkman harpsichord in the Governor's Mansion. These were mass produced in the 18th. C.,and were quite alike. They happened to have an identical Kirkman turned upside down,and with the bottom off in the Smithsonian instrument conservation shop. I was then able to get first hand data on exactly how the bracing,etc. was made.

[James Pallas]

[QUOTE=george wilson;2579389]Three days in the storage areas and conservation shops of the Smithsonian were exhausting to me,even in my early 30's! There were no windows,and these places were deep in the buildings. I don't know where the air came from! Interesting to be sure,though. I learned many things,and taught a few things too.
George That covers a lot as far as what you have to say. To see something from 6 feet away or having your eyes 1 foot away makes huge differences in perception. i.e. It would be very difficult to see if a saw had never been sharpened from 6 feet away. Keep doing what you do even if you ruffle a few feathers at times.
Jim

[george wilson]

James,I appreciate your faith in me,but am having trouble relating what you said to the quote. Can you please explain? Thank you.

[James Pallas]

George, Not many people get a chance to see history up close. It is very different to see things that way. When you describe things it is from that up close perspective. I don't think most people have any idea of what the Smithsonian actually has in those storage places. When you talk about things like that harpsichord you got to see or other things it is from experience. That is all I meant by it.
Jim

[george wilson]

Thank you,James. I did get to see a lot of things. In much later years I made a trip there with the Apothecary Shop to see medical instruments. That was before I made that big,curved amputation knife for them. They have an incredible amount of surgical and medical things in their collection.

This was freehand ground to nearly the thin ness of a razor along the cutting edge,and about 3/16" thick along the back. I wasn't sure I could pull it off with a flat faced grinding belt wheel,but did.

My journeyman Jon made the handle of ebony.

[Keith Mathewson]

George,
'you remind me of a cranky old curmudgeon I worked under many years ago when I was a kid. Most didn't care to deal with him but he was very skilled and I spent as time with him as I could, I wish he was still around.

[James Pallas]

You forgot the nib George. That is what I mean about all the things you have seen and done.
Jim

[James Pallas]

George,
'you remind me of a cranky old curmudgeon I worked under many years ago when I was a kid. Most didn't care to deal with him but he was very skilled and I spent as time with him as I could, I wish he was still around.
Keith I don't think I would call George a curmudgeon. He may choose to use that tool in the picture on you. Lol
Jim

[Bill McNiel]

It has a nib for the same reason men have nipples. Case closed!

[george wilson]

I thought Nibs were little cheese crackers!:)

[Tony Zaffuto]

I thought that was the nickname given to Major Hoople by the boarders in the old comic "Out our Ways" (actually called "His Nibs").

[george wilson]

Actually,the crackers are NIPS!!:)

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

Well, this post is of substantial interest, at least to me. I very much want to keep to the exact topic and not vary even a smidgen from the topic or go "off topic" even by a single word, a practice clearly shown by the fine "on topic" discipline shown all of the above posters........as Major Hoople used to say "Um, yas boys."

Edit addition: A bit ago, after writing the above earlier today, I thought I should add that if I could have thought of something clever that was off topic, I would have added it.

I too have seen scans of old Disston catalogs on the net that clearly state that the Nib was for decoration only. Henry Disston started learning the saw making trade as an apprentice in 1833, according to Wikipedia. Having worked in industry for many years, I know a little bit about how questions get asked and information gets passed on. I am quite sure he probably asked about the Nib and it's purpose as an apprentice, and that information would almost certainly have been passed along to others who worked at Disston, and who knows how far back it would have been traced from the master craftsman that trained Henry Disston. Also, Henry encouraged immigration of skilled craftsmen from England to staff his saw works, so their history would also have gone back a long way. What I am saying here is that I think the statement in the catalog, which if I remember was a catalog from right around the beginning of the last century, that the nib was for decoration only, likely goes back a very long time, probably, as George showed, well back into the early 1700s, 1600s, or possibly even a little earlier.

I think the essence of what George and others pointed out, if my understanding of the comments is correct, is that if you were going to add a nib for a practical purposes, it would not have been shaped as they were, nor made a fragile as they were. I am in complete agreement with such thoughts. I am sure that a nib could be used to start a saw cut, or to mark for a saw mark, and as a place to tie on a scabbard or something similar to protect teeth and other tools, etc. However, if that was the original intent, it would not have looked like the historic nib.

I have even read the nib was used as a mark for a purchaser to use as a truth mark to bend the saw to a certain point to "test the temper," or something similar. I think such, especially the "test the temper" theory, makes little sense, as again for such purposes you would make the saw nib a different shape, and it would certainly be a more robust design. Also, if I were a saw maker or shop keeper, and some idiot wanted to "test the temper" of a saw by bending it nearly double, I would advise him he could test it in that manor all he wanted after he paid for it, and there would be no refund after he completed his testing.

With regard to the "New In the Box" theory, there are a lot of rust hunters on this site, including me....although I don't get to go rust hunting very often, and it is hard for me to believe that a seasoned rust hunter could not tell the difference between a new saw and one that has seen much use.

Stew

[Kees Heiden]

A discussion of the sawnib should start in The Netherlands in the early 17th century when the first saws with a wide saw blade and a decoration on the nose appeared. You find a collection on this website: http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/media/basic/images/plugins/collection/detail_1409_0_1391070219.jpg

Example: 340158

Before that time they used framesaws and a saw that looked like a large knife with sawteeth, like you can find on Durer's drawing "Melancholia".

I really think the nib is a decoration that was partly inspired by the decoration on those Dutch saws. It might not look like much to some, but it is the typical decoration of a blacksmith made with just a few strokes with a file.

All the other theories are not very plausible.

- A kerf starter. How clumsy do you want to work with a saw?
- A gauge to watch when the saw nears the end of the cut. Well, I don't know about you, but I watch the saw line when sawing vigourously, not the other side of the plate where the nib is. And of course, an experienced worker knows the length of his saws intuitively. And on the Dutch saws the decoration is too close to the end anyway.
- A ty point for a ribbon to keep a teeth protector in place. I thought this was the most plausible explanation, but you don't really need the nib for this. The lowered part cut into the top of the sawplate is enough to keep the ribbon in place. The nib is something extra.

[george wilson]

Aw shucks! I knew them Dutchies would try to claim credit!!:):):)

I don't have access to the pictures,but they dug up at Jamestown 1607 a saw with a larger nib,and a large ogee curve to terminate the front end of the blade. I believe it was an English saw. I can't be sure. Too long ago.

We were asked to make some 17th. C. English saws,and a few Dutch types,though,for Jamestown museum. The "Umbrella Handle" (as Jon and I called them) Dutch saws we made were surprisingly comfortable to saw with.

The purpose of the saw nib is lost to the long history behind it. But,the fact still remains that other tools in a box or a basket still needed protection from their scratching teeth. Craftsmen did tie sticks over their teeth,or risk damage to other tools,or the basket. More advanced tool chests did not need this protection,but not everyone had them,and many did carry tools about in a light weight basket for local work.

[Kees Heiden]

Jamestown 1607, even it was a true English saw it could still have been made by a Dutch, or better, Flemish imigrant! At that time England was still under strong continental influence. BTW, The Netherlands received a lot of knowledge from refugees from Portugal, Spain and France where anything not Catholic was strongly suppressed. Being relatively tolerant was smart business practice!

[george wilson]

They did dig up a Dutch saw as well,hence we were asked to make some Dutch saws too. But,my history is not clear: Weren't England and the Netherlands engaged in a very long war at that time? The Dutch even sailed up the Thames,wreaking destruction,didn't they?

I know that Earlier on,Henry the Eighth,rankled by the gift of a very elaborate suit of armor from Maxmillian of Austria(which can be seen in the tower of London),had imported Flemish armor makers to start English armor making(at the very bend of wearing armor!) in Greenwich. English gunmaking was in a primitive state until Hugenots (some of my ancestors) immigrated to England,bringing their gun making skills with them. Nothing much uglier than an old English "dog lock"!

[Kees Heiden]

The wars with the English were a bit later. The first (of four) was 1652 to 1654. Sailing up the Thames was in 1665. Those wars were mostly fought out at sea.

About 1607 we were still struggling with the Spanish king who of course didn't aprove of the freedom of those lowlands and the introduction of protestantism.

[Stew Denton]

George (and all),

I have made at least one sheath for a saw, that I remember, maybe more. The best one was just three pieces of 1/8" paneling glued together to fit over the lower part of the blade, and tied onto the blade. It wasn't too long after getting more carpenters tools, however, that I made my first regular carpenters tool box, you know the type, sides going about 1/2 way up the end pieces, and a wooden rod for the handle. I built a saw till in it so the saws could not wander around and do damage.

What I was wondering is do any of you know a bit of the history of that type of tool box. The comment George made on baskets for carrying tools made me think about that. I know this is a bit off topic, but considering the trend of this topic, decided it wouldn't hurt too much! (Don't want to hijack the thread, but we have been doing pretty well about getting back on topic each time we go off.)

Stew

[george wilson]

I haven't studied the history of tool boxes that much. But,those big heavy tool boxes were more for traveling,and yes,they do have provisions for protecting the saw's teeth. But,consider the carpenter who is doing more local work with fewer tools needed,and carrying his tools in a basket. Baskets were hand made and cost money. A hand made basket made in Williamsburg is not cheap like those Asian imports are going to be. He needed to keep the basket from getting shredded.

As I have said,I have seen jointers with saw teeth DEEPLY beaten into their sides from not being properly protected. Everyone did not have an elaborate tool chest,or the time and means to build one. Remember,early on,wood was hand sawn. You had to pay for that sawing. Everything cost more. Your average poor craftsman was already working long hours 6 days a week.

[Stew Denton]

George,

Your thoughts on this are much appreciated, and gave me pause for thought. I had not thought about the amount of labor involved back then to turn logs into lumber. That puts an entirely different perspective on the matter.

As a poor college student just working summer jobs, I could even afford to buy lumber to build a tool box, and tools (although most were garage sale and auction versions that cost a fraction of their original cost, but needed some TLC to bring them back to good condition.) After thinking about your comments it made me realize that they probably used baskets because they were probably more affordable than tool boxes because of the cost of materials.

It may have very well been that many carpenters of that day may have only had a few more tools than I had late in my college days. On the other hand I also think that back in the day before power tools, it didn't take a huge number of tools to build a house or other building. It also explains why shops were small....besides only using hand tools and not a lot of room was needed, the cost of the building was large in terms of the labor it took to prepare materials, etc.

Am I on target on this?

Stew