350 years old tool collection

2840 Views 19 Replies 17 Participants Last post by gus1962, Jul 23, 2013

Longknife

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2013

I have been visiting some relatives in southern part of my country. I'm interested in history so when I was there I took the opportunity to visit some historical places. Of course I took a special interest in woodworking related things. There was a lot to learn, from viking age house building technique to 18th century wagon making.

One of the most interesting places I visited was Skokloster, a manor house built in the mid 1600's by the count and field marshal Carl Gustaf Wrangel.

Estate Property Building Château Palace

Estate Château Property Building Palace

The manor is situated in a rather remote place on the shore of lake Mälaren and the building was quite challanging. All materials had to be shipped in on the lake, but the biggest difficulty was to find labour. In this period Sweden was more or less constantly at war so many able bodied men were enlisted. The commissioner himself spent most of his time as field marshal of the Swedish army during the 30-Year War in Germany.

Wrangel settled only with the best for this building and he knew that the best available tools of this time were made in Holland so he turned to the master tool maker Jan Arendz of Amsterdam and ordered the toools that would be needed. In 1664 200 planes, chisels, axes, saws and other tools arrived.

The unique thing with this is that they are preserved to present day. Normally craftsmen used their own tools and when the job was finished they took the tools with them. In this case the tools belonged to the commissioner and was left in the house and has been used only for repairwork on the house since then.

Ammunition Wood Antique tool Ammunition belt

As you can see al the planes are very nice decorated. Note also that the longer planes are made for a right handed user, with the handle offset to the right and the tote to the left so you can apply an even pressure on the plane. The longest plane is 40".

The chisels and mallets seems to be well used. Note the decorations on the front end of the saws.

Floor Flooring Wood Table Metal

More to come..........

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Longknife

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jul 21, 2013

A very nicely decorated drill with a special mechanism to hold the drill bits

In one of the towers the count had his own woodshop. In the 1600's and 1700's a widely spread hobby among aristocrats was woodturning.
This was for pleasure only and they made some quite remarkable pieces.

The turning shop of the count left nothing to wish for.

Room Furniture Building

It had three lathes, one for normal turning (to the right in the pic). The drive wheel was moved to the lathe in use and cranked by a servant.

Wood Hardwood Furniture woodworking

Folk instrument

The other two lathes have complicated mechanisms to enable oval and spiral turning.

There are several hundreds of turning tools hanging on tool racks.

Arsenal Folk instrument

More to come.........

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Dave Paine

· #3 · Jul 21, 2013

Thanks for posting. Very interesting. This would be an incredible collection for a museum, but even more impressive that this was put together by one person and so long ago.

I feel sorry for the poor servant. Feels like some extended turning sessions over the decades. :laughing:

knotscott

· #4 · Jul 21, 2013

Awesome stuff! :thumbsup: Thanks for posting.

Longknife

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 21, 2013

Decorations on tool handles

Burin Antique tool Chisel Screw extractor Tool

In 1676 Carl Gustaf Wrangel died. The manor house was then not yet fully completed. The banquet room, wich would be the largest in the country - 3500 sqft and 50 feet tall - was not completed. The craftsmen and workers were afraid not to get paid so they left the building site. This work was never proceeded and has remained as it was left through the centuries. It has been a unique opportunity to study building techniques of the time.

Building Ceiling Room Architecture Floor

Room Building Interior design House Furniture

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Longknife

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 21, 2013

The house hold some incredible decorations and furniture.

Furniture Wood stain Antique Cupboard Napoleon iii style

Furniture Adventure game Chest Antique Room

The decorations on the cabinet doors are carved.

Collection Textile Antique Art Ceiling

This mantle piece is made of wood and painted

Holy places Architecture Stock photography Stone carving Facade

It's absolutely amazing what could be made with only hand tools.

The house also has a lot of other interesting things including an armory with over 2000 rare objects. A place were yo can easily spend a day :yes:.

Thanks for watching

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GeorgeC

· #7 · Jul 21, 2013

Longknife said:
A very nicely decorated drill with a special mechanism to hold the drill bits

View attachment 75868

In one of the towers the count had his own woodshop. In the 1600's and 1700's a widely spread hobby among aristocrats was woodturning.
This was for pleasure only and they made some quite remarkable pieces.

The turning shop of the count left nothing to wish for.

View attachment 75869
It had three lathes, one for normal turning (to the right in the pic). The drive wheel was moved to the lathe in use and cranked by a servant.

View attachment 75870
View attachment 75871
The other two lathes have complicated mechanisms to enable oval and spiral turning.

There are several hundreds of turning tools hanging on tool racks.
View attachment 75872

More to come.........

That is one finely decorated brace. A centerpiece of any tool collection.

George

Old Air Force

· #8 · Jul 21, 2013

This is fantastic stuff. I really enjoyed your pictures and comments. I could easily spend several days in that place. Thank you for sharing.

KTP

· #9 · Jul 21, 2013

Amazing. The brace and planes look like exactly the sort of thing I'd have commissioned if I was an insanely wealthy person with a woodworking hobby.

Bill White 2

· #10 · Jul 21, 2013

And I just thought that Asheville, NC held a true castle. (The Biltmore).
Magnificent posting and pics.:thumbsup:
Bill

Sleeper

· #11 · Jul 21, 2013

Wow, I love seeing this, thanks for sharing.

johnnie52

· #12 · Jul 22, 2013

KTP said:
Amazing. The brace and planes look like exactly the sort of thing I'd have commissioned if I was an insanely wealthy person with a woodworking hobby.

Given the prices of things in those days the whole set probably cost less than a week's pay today for one carpenter.

Doesn't make any of it less beautiful though. Thanks for sharing.

cabinetman

· #13 · Jul 22, 2013

Thanks for showing all that. Very interesting. What's so unique is the personalization the craftsmen of the time created on the tools.

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firemedic

· #14 · Jul 22, 2013

Very nice! Thanks for sharing! I almost missed it with it being in the general section. I'm envious to have seen it.

calwilliams63

· #15 · Jul 22, 2013

Very cool...... Thanks for sharing!!!

Itchytoe

· #16 · Jul 22, 2013

Clearly, I should have checked out this thread sooner instead of quickly skimming over the forum this morning. Those are some awesome collections. I couldn't imagine what something like that would cost today.

DaveTTC

· #17 · Jul 22, 2013

Some very cool stuff and great pictures. Would love that banquet hall for a shop and those tools - to die for

rayking49

· #18 · Jul 22, 2013

Wow I love those tools.

MidKnight

· #19 · Jul 23, 2013

Wow. Thank you very much for sharing this with us all.

gus1962

· #20 · Jul 23, 2013

I want to have a tool collection like that! That is very astounding!

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