bookbinding tools – Page 33 – Peachey Conservation

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013

Even More Beating Hammers

A private collector has stepped out of the shadows and agreed to let me post some images of his beating hammers. I hope a few more have the temerity to do so. While this may raise the prices of hammers that come on to the market (and in your collection), isn’t it better to at least to circulate information about your collection? And isn’t part of the fun of collecting showing off your collection, even if anonmously?

Private Collection Hammer #1. Handle length: 7 1/2”, Length of Head: 4 1/4″, Diameter of Face: 3 3/8”, Overall Length: 10 1/4”, Weight: 7 3/4 Pounds

This hammer looks very much like the early 18th century German beating Hammer as pictured in ZIedler and has almost exactly the same weight, 7 1/2 pounds. [1] The illustration in Ziedler is a very crude woodcut, almost like a line drawing, but it clearly shows this essential hourglass shape. But all the other hammers I have seen with this shape are goldbeaters hammers. Possibly used for both trades? If it is a bookbinder’s beating hammer, it is one of the earliest ones I have seen. The curved sides also seem to have been used for other purposes, judging from the dings. The handle is a replacement. In any event very intriguing hammer.

Private Collection Hammer #2. Handle length: 6 1/2” Length of Head: 4 1/2” Diameter of Face: 4 1/4” Overall Length: 9 3/4” Weight: 9 Pounds

This one looks like a 19th c. English beating hammer, but there are many stylistic differences, so I think it is a very crude custom made version for a binder. Of course, custom made tools for a binder are not without interest. The handle is a replacement and apparently carved down to fit. There are some large casting depressions opposite the face. It also has a very sharp rim and uneven belly.It just doesn’t look right, or have any of the stylistic consistency that other English hammers I have seen have, though it does fit nicely with early nineteenth century textual descriptions which generally refer to a “bell” shape.

Basel Paper Mill: The Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing.

The hammer in back is unlike any one I have ever seen. The lip is so thin and there is no evidence in historic images of an offest handle shape like this. Almost all beating hammers I’ve seen are chipped around the lip. Is this an altered filemakers hammer? Who knows.

The one in the front is the most beautiful bookbinding beating hammer I have ever seen. It is great the museum hasn’t overly cleaned the handles or the head: much of the information about how these hammers were held and used must be derived from the dirt, wear and stains. It has a nicely shaped, older handle. The head appears to have been smashed in a decisive moment, as if it were molten and suddenly frozen upon impact, but with an impact which took place over decades, if not centuries.

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1. J.G. Zeidler, Buchbinder-Philosophie Hall im Magdeburgschen: Rengerscher, 1708

September 12, 2013September 12, 2013

Old Style Olfa

Adam’s Practical Bookbinding has an intriguing passage regarding knives to cut binders board:

Instead of sharpening the knife, the tip is broken off, exactly the same as modern Olfa type snap-off blades, except that there were no score lines to make the snap. The description of the knife makes it sound similar to a mill knife. I’m not sure why a broken edge would be sharper or hold the edge better when cutting something as abrasive as boards. Recently on the Book Arts Listserv there was a discussion about resharpening Olfa knives to save a few pennies. Could the original broken edge be superior?

Adam, Paul. Practical Bookbinding. London and New York: Scott, Greenwood and Co. and D. Van Nostrand Co., 1903. (p. 86)

July 24, 2013July 24, 2013

Temple Thorold on Quality in Tools

“Good tools are necessarily expensive, nevertheless our apprentices must use none but the best; for in the end they are the cheapest. Always remember the old and true saying, “A workman is known by his tools.” A good workman may do a tolerable job with indifferent tools, but a beginner should never attempt to use any but first-class implements, or he will never become a first-class craftsman. If you use bad tools, and try to cast the blame of bad work on them, recollect that “A bad workman always complains of his tools.” A really clever mechanic cherishes his reputation far too highly to allow his tools to lapse into an inefficient condition; therefore, next to his character, the honest workman prides himself, and justly so, on the superior quality of his tools.” -Temple Thorold, Out Workshop, 3.

Temple Thorold may not be a household name, but his book, Our Workshop: Being a Practical Guide to the Amateur in The Art of Carpentry and Joinery is the earliest (I think) woodworking manual written for or marketed to amateurs. Gary Roberts, publisher of Toolemera Press, who reprinted and sells this book, writes: “Our Workshop is taken from Routledge’s Every Boy’s Annual where it was serialized, along with Thorold’s serial on wood turning. Only Our Workshop became a book. Both were serialized in 1866 and 1867.” Keep in mind the earliest bookbinding manual I have found written for amateurs is Crane’s Bookbinding for Amateurs from 1885, over 20 years later.

Of course I have a vested interest in selling high quality tools, but Thorold makes several valid points. Many getting into a craft fear they might not stick with it, so purchase cheap tools, thinking they might buy better ones later, once they are “good enough” for them. Not only does this make learning the craft almost impossible, but cheap tools are almost worthless on the second-hand market. High quality ones maintain their value. Additionally, high quality tools are much more pleasureable to use: isn’t having fun a big reason why we choose a hobby in the first place?