Being in the mood to discuss anything about our colonial and revolutionary period I thought I'd just muse about my favorite period of woodworking.

Though I may not show it much in my woodworking, I do love the colonial period furnishings created by our settlers and revolutionary period Americans.

I love the warmth of the wood, the design, the iron work incorporated in much of the furnishings, the brass, the clawed feet, the corbels, the raised paneling, and I also love the simpler lines and features that you may find on practical furnishings made for the average home. Not every home could afford a Penn Highboy or a drop leaf table, but most men of the house could easily afford to and fabricate a trestle table that was found in many average homes of the colonies and revolutionary period.

I love images of the simple box style farm homes and town homes of that period. A long tall stacked chimney attached to the side of the home.

Wood floors, wood burning stoves, dry cellars full of spices and fruit, pie safes, Windsor chairs, old window panes of melted glass, shake roofing, and more.

In my mind it all conjures up images of warmth, family, hard work, sacrifice, and a people that are destined to be free.

As my own woodworking skills progress, my goal is to be able to start creating the old furnishings of our land with hand tools, and eventually I'd love to get into black-smiting to create my rat tail hinges for the colonial style chests we make, and more.

Here are some cool images of my favorite period of our countries history in woodworking and crafts.

Thank you for sharing in some of my musings folks,

All the above images can be found at the Colonial Williamsburg website. 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

About that time:

Was considered  "Treason" if a Blacksmith in the "Colonies"  made a shovel out of metal.     We were required to BUY such items from makers back in England.   One Colonist Blacksmith in upstate New York started to made them.     He also made a bend in the way the handle was attached to a shovel.     Before, it was flat.   

Name the bend?     Yes it does have a name.   Named for that "brave" Blacksmith who invented it.

Wood:   ANY wood over a certain width was considered "King's Property"   and was sent to England's Shipyards.   Colonists found with said boards, was charged with theft.  

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Planer? I'm the 'planer', and these are what I use...