such devices. Designed for convenience, few tools 

 illustrate better the aesthetic of the purely functional 

 than this pair of 19th-century American calipers. 



Intended to establish proportion and to insure pre- 

 cision, it seems a natural consequence that dividers 

 and calipers should in themselves reflect the same 



Figure 20. — Early 19TH century: The double 

 CALIPERS of the woodturner permitted double 

 readings to be taken without changing the set of the 

 tool. Inherent in this practical design is a grace- 

 fulness of line seldom surpassed. (Private collec- 

 tion. Smithsonian photo 49793-C.) 



sense of balance and grace that they were designed to 

 govern. Still, even the most prosaic examples of 

 woodworking tools, completely divorced from the 

 quasi-mathematical devices of measure and propor- 

 tion, have this quality and can be admired solely as 

 decorative objects. This is most evident in the three 

 European bench planes illustrated in figures 21,22, 

 and 23: one Norwegian, dated 1704; one Dutch 

 (accession 319562), dated 1756; and one German, 

 dated 1809. The Norwegian and German examples, 

 with their elaborately carved bodies and heart-shaped 

 mouths, are typical of the type that Swedish and 

 German colonists in America might have used in the 

 17th and 1 8th centuries. They are important for 

 that reason. Also, all three exhibit elaboration fr>und 

 on other material survivals from these countries in 

 their respective periods. For example, the incised 

 rosette of the Dutch plane (fig. 22) is especially sug- 

 gestive of the rosettes found on English and American 

 furniture of the 1 750's and 1 760's, specifically on 

 high chests. 



The decorative motifs that characterized European 

 tools of the 17th and i8th centuries obscured technical 

 improvement. By contrast, in England and America, 

 tools gained distinction through the directness of 

 their design. Following English patterns, tools of 

 American make were straightforward. Only later, in 

 new tool types, did they imitate the rococo flourish 

 of their European predecessors. In America, as in 

 England, the baroque for things functional seemingly 

 had little appeal. This is particularly true of wood- 

 working planes on which, unlike their continental 

 cousins, embellishment is rarely seen. Exemplifying 

 this tradition are three early i gth-century American 

 planes: a plow, for cutting channels of various widths 

 on board edges, marked "G. White, Phild"" (fig, 

 24); a rabbet, for notching the margin of boards. 



Figure 21. — 1704: The floor plane or long jolner of 

 Norwegian origin exhibits the characteristic decora- 

 tion of the stock and mouth, patterns common on tools 

 of northern European and Scandinavian origin. 

 {Courtesy of the Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo, Norway.) 



PAPER 51: WOODWORKING TOOLS, 16 00-1900 



222-412—66 13 



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