The first woodworking tools were made of stone about 300,000 years ago. Stone axes, wedges, scrapers, saws, and drills, used at that early age, have been found all over the world. The oldest of these tools were very crude, but the ones made during the latter part of the stone age were ground to beautiful shapes, on other stones, and some of them were even polished. See full list on Metals were first used by the people in that part of the world now called the Middle East. The first metal tools were made of copper. Then someone discovered that, by adding a small amount of tin, the metal became harder and therefore more serviceable. This was the beginning of the bronze age when the ancient cities of Troy, Babylon, Ur, Thebes, and others were built. The first bronze tools were cast in one-piece stone molds and were rather crude. The next step in the development was the two-piece mold with both halves alike. Tools and utensils found duringparative recent excavations show that these ancient peoples — Sumerians, assyrians, Egyptians, and others — possessed a high degree of manual and a contribution to the advancement of civilization. Written records and pictures describe how carpenters, smiths, and other artisans worked and what tools they used. When the bronze age began is ont definitely known, but aplete set of carpenters’... See full list on During the Middle Ages, the early iron tools, especially the saws, were improved in quality. Not until the fifteenth century, however, were the brace and boring bits invented. In the Middle Ages workemn in the different trades group themselves and formed trade associations or guildes. There were three stages or grades in the guilds: the apprentice, the journeyman, and the master. An apprentice usually began to learn his trade at the early age of twelve. His parents made a contract with a master, to whom they paid a fee for which the master in return fed and clothed the boy and taught him the skills and knowledge of his trade. In the early days a master could have only one apprentice besides his own son or nephew. An apprenticeship lasted from one to twelve years, depending upon the necessary skills and knowledge to be acquired in a particular trade. At the end of the time of learning, the apprentice had to pass a stiff examination before he could be a journeyman and receive wage... See full list on The development of woodworking machinery began around the turn of the 19th century. While some primitive sawing machines, driven by hand, water, or wind power, had been used in different localities during the Middle Ages, it was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the forerunners of our present woodworking machines were build. The greatest inventions in this field were made in England by Sir Samuel ple of rotary cutting, which is used in all modern planers, jointers, shapers, and molders. The machines built by Bentham were very crude according to modern standards, having only heavy timber frames bolted together to support the cutting element and its bearings. Not until the middle of the nineteenth century were woodworking machines made entirely of metal. An interesting fact is that this crude machinery was first used in prisons where it enabled unskilled men to plane, saw, and bore as well and much faster than skilled woodworkers. The m... See full list on
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