?Figure 1  Carved panel depicting the interior of a woodworking shop, probably England, 1590– 1620. Oak. 14 1/2" x 28 1/2". (By permission of John Stent of Shere.)
Figure 2  Cabinet attributed to the Symonds shops, Salem, Massachusetts, 1679. Red oak, black walnut, and maple with white pine. H. 16 3/8", W. 17", D. 9 1/2". (Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 3  Detail of the back of a drawer from the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2. Tears from riving are present along the lower edge of the back.
Figure 4  Chest, Boston, Massachusetts, 1660–1690. Oak, cedrella, and walnut with oak
and white pine. H. 30 1/2", W. 45", D. 20 1/2". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 5  Detail of the upper rear rail of the chest illustrated in fig. 4.
Figure 6  Randle Holme, drawing of a “lath axe” (froe), England, ca. 1688. (Courtesy, British Library.)
Figure 7  Workbench and tools illustrated on page 69 in the third edition of Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Excercises; or the Doctrine of Handy-works (1703). (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum Library: Printed Book and Periodical Collection.)
Figure 8  Holdfasts and bench hook being used to position a board for planing. (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 9  Bench hook being used to hold stock for planing. (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 10  Detail of the bench hook marks on a seventeenth-century English box.
Figure 11  Cupboard, Boston, Massachusetts, 1675–1690. Oak, walnut, maple, chestnut and cedar with oak and white pine. H. 55 5/8", W. 49 1/2", D. 21 3/4". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 12  Back of the cupboard illustrated in fig. 11. The smoothing plane marks appear as concave undulations on the back panels.
Figure 13  Randle Holme, drawing of a smoothing plane, England, ca. 1688. (Courtesy, British Library.)
Figure 14  Smoothing plane,
possibly New England, 1630–1700. Fruitwood and iron. L. 6 7/8". (Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum.)
Figure 15  “Round” plane being used to mold a strip of wood to be cut into pieces for corbels like those on the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2.
Figure 16  Detail of the right corbel and side of the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2. (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 17  Plow plane being used to cut a groove in a framing member.
Figure 18  Planes and mortise chisel illustrated on plate 21 of Andres Felibien’s Des Principes de l’Architecture (Paris, 1676). (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum Library: Printed Book and Periodical
Collection.) The plow plane is
designated “M”.
Figure 19  Detail of the door of the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2 showing the plowed groove.
Figure 20  Detail of Annunciation Tryptich by Robert Campin and an assistant (possibly Roger van der Weyden), Netherlands, 1406– 1444. Oil on panel. Braces like
the one shown here are still used today.(Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of Art.)
Figure 21  Randle Holme, drawing of a brace and bit, England, ca. 1688. (Courtesy, British Library.)
Figure 22  Detail showing the cross-section of a pair of the half-columns on the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2.
Figure 23  Turning blank for half-columns and completed workpiece.
Figure 24  Chest attributed to John Thurston, Dedham or Medfield, Massachusetts, 1640–1650. Oak with pine. H. 313/8", W. 47 3/4", D. 21". (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Otis Norcross Fund.)
Figure 25  Detail of a carved panel on the chest illustrated in fig. 24.
Figure 26  Side of a cabinet being carved. The workpiece is nailed to a board secured to the bench with holdfasts. The carving design duplicates that on the side of the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2.
Figure 27  Detail of the left pillar of the cupboard illustrated in fig. 11.
Figure 28  Fragment of a cupboard attributed to the Savell shop, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1640–1670. (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 29  Detail of the door frame of the cupboard illustrated in fig. 28, showing the oVset of the draw-bored holes.
Figure 30  Detail of the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2, showing a nail driven through the side into an interior partition.
Figure 31  Detail showing the nails used to
construct the drawers in the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2.
Figure 32  Detail showing the nail used to reinforce a split in the right side of the cabinet illustrated in fig. 2.
Figure 33  Chest attributed to the Savell shop, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1660–1680. Oak with white pine. H. 24 9/16", W. 51 1/2", D. 20 1/2".
(Private collection; photo, Dan Gair.)
Figure 34  Chair table, southeastern Massachusetts, 1650–1700. Oak with pine and maple. Dimensions not recorded. (Private collection.)
Figure 35  Detail showing a mortising mistake on the chair table illustrated in fig. 34.
Figure 36  Chest attributed to John Norman, Sr., or Jr., Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1630–1680. Oak and pine. H. 27 3/4", W. 44 3/4", D. 20 3/8". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)
Figure 37  Detail showing a mortising mistake on the chest illustrated in fig. 36.