Carpenter/woodworking tools

[M. Demetrius]

Here's a partial list of carpenter/woodworking tools:

Large saw for trees and limbs, small saw for closer work
Wood mallet or maul for chisels, etc
Froe for splitting boards from logs
chisels and gouges
hammer for metal (nails, wedges) perhaps with claw for nail removal
drill, cutting sort and burning sort
some kind of table clamp (what kind??)
adze
level
measure stick
rasp, flat and round
small knife for whittling
carrying box

Pictures of any or all of these would be helpful for those wanting to put together a tool box.

[M. Demetrius]

What units would the measure stick be divided into? A Roman foot was what, about 11 inches US? So what submeasure would they have used? Tenths? It's apparent from the small, accurate measures that they must have used for boxes and furniture, that they had something repeatable.

Calipers will help transfer a size to a new board, but surely they had some kind of standard reference. The inch as we know it is a medieval unit, the meter later than that.

Calipers, straight and curved, would be needed for a complete tool kit, too. And probably a set of inside-measuring calipers.

[P. Clodius Secundus]

Don't forget block planes and a drawknife, both very useful.
For those seriously interested in the subject Roger Ulrich's "Roman Woodworking" is a must have. If you don't have access to a copy, PM me with specific questions and I'll try to hook you up.
According to him a one-foot (29.6 cm) folding Regula (ruler) could be divided into palmae (4ths), and either unicae (12ths) or digiti (16ths) as indicated by dots lines or crosses (and you thought Constantine was the first Christian Ruler) :lol:
He has a sketch of a wooden caliper from a wreck in 600 BC that would make a great rainy day project.

[Nemonius Agricola]

Plane
Axe
Auger
Lathe
Drawknife
Spokeshave
Plumb bob line
Joiners dog

Some more to add to your list.

The measurement I find on rulers are pulmae, unciae or digiti. It is not numbers but marks like lines or symbols

[M. Demetrius]

Do you have a photo of the measurements that you could share.
Yes, an axe. With a flat side opposite the blade, so it could be used as a wedge or a hammer to drive wooden wedges.

[Neuraleanus]

Wood working tools from herculaeum:

[jvrjenivs]

For those interested in replica roman tools, I would suggest Daegrad:
[url:3kk4fjuz]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/daegrad_roman-equipment_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ685243016QQftidZ2QQtZkm[/url]

I've already some of his tools and they are great.

[Nemonius Agricola]

I also have some of his tools as well. Not just a show piece. I have used several of the tools already and worked well.

For the clamps they was a painting from Herculaneum with erotes using bucksaws and a device at the end of the table that looks alot like a modern version of a c clamp. The painting is now lost so its hard to tell. Joiners dogs have also been found at the Fishbourne excavations. And look like a giant metal staple.

[Tarbicus]

David, do a search on Daegrad and you'll find plenty of comments. Also, I'm sure I linked a Google book on Roman woodworking here a while back which goes into a lot of detail.

In fact, just found it:
<!-- l <a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=19213&p=165871&hilit=roman+woodworking#p165871">viewtopic.php?f=13&t=19213&p=165871&hilit=roman+woodworking#p165871<!-- l

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-Woodworki ... 197&sr=1-1

[AuxArcher]

Guys, thanks for posting all this info on tools, including those wonderful reproductions! I was just lusting after them, and see I have to find extra funding now. Those tools were all very familiar to today's hand tools. A woodworked would have no issues at all using those repros. Personally, I find using a draw knife or a hand plane very slow, relaxing, centering work.

Dane

[Tarbicus]

bow drill
dowel iron for making dowels
sharpening stone for the chisels
bucksaw

[M. Demetrius]

Yes, and a flat-edged scraper, and perhaps curved scrapers for edge treatments, inside and outside curves. Maybe a tool which has a couple of different shapes on its 4 edges? Too obvious not to include. Good scrapers can take the place of most "sanding" operations.

What kind of tool box, do you folks think? One of the wooden board ones with a handle across the top? Dividers for keeping tools in order inside? Any pictorial evidence of a workman's toolbox? Once some tools are assembled, that's a pretty good first project, I'd think.

[Tarbicus]

The Herculaneum soldier apparently had a leather(?) bag. It's been discussed on RAT, David.

[AuxArcher]

Most useful to me as a toolkit would be:

hand axes and adz
drawknife
sledgehammer and mutiple wedges wood splitting
scrapers and steel to role an edge
Comprehensive collection of chisels, mallet, and sharpening stone
hand saws
Large saws for processing timber
workbench!
clamps and dogs
froe
hammers of different sizes
gouges
measuring tools
caliper
level
something to mark wood with - Roman requivalent of a pencil, and a small knife for same purpose (also for small work, like splitting tiny stock, making dowels, etc.)
bench planes
files
wood rasps
drill

[M. Demetrius]

Herculaneum soldier apparently had a leather(?) bag

Right, and I think bags are useful especially for a group of gouges/chisels, to protect them from rougher things like hammers and such. I guess the whole bunch of bundles could be put in a bag, but some items seem better suited to a box, at least in my mind. A bucksaw and right angle level (like in the other thread) bag would be pretty big, for example. I guess things like that could be carried in the hand, or better yet, in the hand of an accompanying apprentice. :wink:

I'm still looking around for a picture of a Roman measuring stick. I think I'll just make one, probably a brass strip tacked to a hard wood, and call it right, unless I can find one soon.

Another good tool to add is a plumb line with a lead bob on the end. Handy, simple, and doesn't take much space. Also, a special cord marked with the famous 3, 4, 5 measurements to mark out a large right triangle. The Egyptians and Greeks used this, so it's reasonable to believe the Romans did, too.