Fantastic Antique Tool Catalogue!

 

I bought this 1925 Melhuish hard backed tool catalogue recently and it's really interesting. It sits in an era that was still resisting the inevitable advancement of mechanisation.
168 pages of every kind of woodworking tool, a wonderful reference of times gone by.

Although not named there's a full page of Norris planes. Some of the currently very desirable planes were no more expensive than the others they were just less popular and presumably less useful. Perverse how they are now much more valuable.

Here's an intriguing but very comfortable looking shooting board plane, although that should clearly be a shuteing plane (my English master would not have approved!)

Another shuteing plane with board and at £3.65 a bargain! You'd get 200 times that for a good one now!

A good selection of vice hardware including large wooden bench screws, where have all the screw boxes gone?

Whilst there was some electric machinery on offer, most was hand cranked, amazing!

Whilst I wouldn't fancy hand cranking my table saw or band saw, this scroll saw is a different matter. I can just imagine the feel and control you would have making delicate cuts.

There were plenty of tool boxes and wall cabinets which was a little surprising, I would have expected most craftsmen to have made their own.

Likewise there were a wide choice of benches (I don't know why the picture turned out this way!)

And finally a pair of gentlemen's workbenches, which when closed up would have looked like a sideboard. They are not very practical but then they wouldn't have seen much use. I have tried to buy one of these on a couple of occasions over the years but been outbid. I would like to own one and I would also like to make one, one day!