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A fret saw, and spinning and weaving tools at the Sloane-Stanley museum in Kent, CT

March 1, 2010 By

I have a fascination with old tools, regardless their origin; I know other people love them, too. And I especially love tools that are part of what is called Americana, in particular. At the top of my (personal) list of places to visit to see old tools is the Sloane-Stanley museum in Kent, Connecticut. Acknowledgment: I publish the photos in this article, and in all the other articles about the tools in the museum, with the permission of Ms. Barbara Russ, Museum Assistant.

Although I can relate only the fret saw directly to woodworking, I include three other pieces of Americana because they are of interest to our family: two knitting swifts, and one thread bobbin holder, likely used to dress a weaving loom. I also include them because they are skillfully and precisely crafted of wood. In theory, I should be able to make a knitting swift, for example; I might try my hand at it, but I cannot make any guarantees… The reason these are of interest to our family is that our daughter spins her own yarn; four of her six daughters have even learned to dye the wool themselves! Lastly, Sandy weaves on her Orco 2-harness loom.

One of the (very sharp) followers of the blog spied a small fret saw in one of the photos of an old lathe; his comments suggested to me he would love to see some additional details of the little saw. Here is one view:

Fret saw, Sloane-Stanley museum, Kent, CT

Some additional detail is visible from a little different angle,  especially the blade attachment to the arm:

Fret saw, Sloane-Stanley museum, Kent, CT

Totally unexpected, this umbrella-style knitting swift attached to one of the beams caught my eye; this is a very nice, and also a very old, clamp-on swift:

Clamp-on knitting swift.

Another surprise, not far from the first, was this free-standing knitting swift; I have no idea how its use different from the umbrella model:

Free-standing knitting swift.

This bobbin stand caught my attention, and the attention of one of the readers. I consulted with our daughter, trying to pin down the possible use of this bobbin rack. She mentioned it is likely used in dressing a weaving loom; “dressing” involves wrapping long threads on the spool rack (the thread feed side of the loom). The thread is then run from the spool rack through the reed (the “needle-looking” metal pieces that hold the threads apart on the loom) to the carpet roll on the uptake side. To hold a lot of thread requires large bobbins; this also helps to keep knots to a minimum:

Bobbin stand. Used in dressing a weaving loom?

Our daughter uses an Ashford Traveller double drive spinning wheel (it is made in New Zealand). I selected the following photo from the Ashford web site – this wheel literally comes apart; she carries it easily to workshops and spin-ins, or brings it to our living room:

Ashford Traveller double drive spinning wheel.

It is amazing how personal and family interests can lead us to different things in our travels. Initially interested in woodworking tools, we stopped at the museum for a short visit. And we got involved with much more than early American tools! I would love to hear from you regarding interesting finds in your travels:

  1. Do you and/or your family have similar, special interests in knitting or weaving, in addition to woodworking?
  2. If you do, what are some of the special treasures you have found in your travels?

I look forward to your feedback!

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, Education, museum, Sloane-Stanley Tagged With: , , ,

A display of saws at the Sloane-Stanley museum

February 26, 2010 By

Acknowledgment: I thank Ms. Barbara Russ of the Sloane-Stanley Museum for allowing me to take photographs for publication on this blog. Although her official title is not “Curator”, she demonstrates the knowledge and research ability to be the Museum Curator.

I grew up with power tools around me. And power tools are still prevalent in my shop, although I started incorporating hand tools into my work in the last 2 years or so.

During our visit to the Sloane-Stanley Museum in October 2010 I finally felt the impact that hand tools had in our craft, and in the way things were done “in the old days”. Hand tools were the only way. Tell that to a baby boomer city boy! Today, some still use the methods of old, for various reasons; as a recent example, I invite you to read Peter Follansbee’s entry of early February 2010 in his joiner’s notes, “pitsawing”. Peter wrote:

“…Today the kids & I went for a walk, and stumbled upon this scene. They turned to me and said it seemed like something out of a Bruegel painting…”

During their walk the had stumbled upon the Museum’s carpenters pitsawing an oak (as I mentioned in an earlier article, Peter works at the Plimoth Plantation’s Living History Museum). I am still digesting what his children said…Brilliant!

The following are two images of the same wall display of saws at the Sloane-Stanley Museum. To give you a sense of scale, I guessed the pit saw is approximately 8 feet long. I was fascinated by the variety of bow saws, especially (I own, use, and love a bow saw, too):

Hopefully this angle shot will help discern some additional details:

On more mundane things, and back to reality this morning, my finishing tip for today:

Use wax-free shellac: As you know by now, I primarily use waterborne coatings; I don’t have an explosion-proof spray booth in the finishing room, so using waterborne materials is what I do. But for the times I use either red oak or white oak in my projects, I have found it essential to use an alcohol-based shellac to seal the wood surfaces. This is important: red and white oak are high in tannin content. As a result, avoid high-pH waterborne coatings directly on the raw wood surface of high-tannin woods like red and white oak, as pin-holing and bridging of the coating are likely to develop. This would make it difficult to get a nice, smooth finish. To avoid this problem, I recommend the use of a wax-free shellac:

I would like to hear from you regarding your process to finish a project:

  • Do YOU us waterborne coatings?
  • If you do, which are your favorite materials?

— Al Navas

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Filed Under: Blog, museum, Sloane-Stanley, Tools Tagged With: , , ,

Old lathes at the Sloane-Stanley museum in Kent, Connecticut

February 25, 2010 By

Fellow blogger Bob Easton has started building a treadle lathe, courtesy of the weather that prevents him from working in his shop building a second boat, the “Eva Too”.  In the introduction to his latest blog entry he shares some of the results of his research, including photos of various foot-powered lathes. These triggered memories of two lathes of old Sandy and I saw last October in New England.

First things first, however.

Fond memories at the lathe, making pens early in my woodworking efforts many years ago, made me appreciate the fine workmanship of superb craftsmen. Although I never really mastered the skew chisel, for example, I am always amazed and intrigued by the results that woodturners get using even rudimentary tools. My wife Sandy took to the lathe with gusto over 25 years ago. One of her early projects at the lathe was a pair of extremely long knitting needles. Made without the benefit of a steady rest for the thin form, it was a wonderful project that my Mom enjoyed for years. She used the needles until her eyesight started to fail.

During our visit to the Sloane-Stanley Museum in Kent, CT, in October 2009, we saw the following knitting needles — I am familiar with the pair in the foreground, but I have no idea what the pair of headless needles in the background might be used for (Note to self: I should check with our daughter, as she spins her own yarn, and knits a lot!):

I would imagine most readers would think these are not so special. However, the needles were next to one of the following two lathes, suggesting that the needles had been turned on a very, very old lathe. The Sloane-Stanley Museum has two old (treadle?) lathes – notice that the pedal mechanism is not visible. The first, from 1815:


The form of this lathe reminded me of the first pair of saw horses I ever made. However, the details are amazing — a massive drive wheel, huge chunks of wood and large through mortise and tenon joinery:


The construction suggests sturdy, vibration-free turning at this lathe — but no treadle mechanism can be seen anywhere; the flywheel is wide enough for a single belt, and so is the drive pulley:

Details of the tool adjustable tool rest and the centers (click on the image to enlarge):

Only two years after the American Declaration of Independence, an even earlier lathe:


This lathe is also likely to have been powered by a treadle mechanism, although I was unable to see evidence of the foot pedal anywhere:


A little closer, details of the drive mechanism — the multiple pulleys suggest a treadle mechanism; the tool rest is adjustable left-and-right, but the height does not appear to be so, unless a longer rest was used; note also the bolts to hold the centers:

My thanks to Bob Easton for triggering these still-fresh memories of our visit to the Sloane-Stanley Museum, and to the New England region at the height of foliage colors last Fall.

— Al Navas

More about the Sloane-Stanley Museum: Click on this link

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Filed Under: Blog, Lathe, museum, Tools Tagged With: , , , , ,

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