| The Davistown Museum |
| Center for the Study of Early Tools |
| Scattered throughout The Davistown Museum are tools by important manufacturers who are also the subject of |
| information files compiled by the museum. This is a listing of our holdings for: |
| Abiel F. Walker |
| | Status | Location |
| Historic Maritime I (1607-1676): The First Colonial Dominion |
| Woodworking: Axes and Hatchets |
| 111001T29 | Broad ax | photo | photo | DTM | MH-D |
| Forged iron, 9 1/2" long, 8" blade, unsigned. |
| Distinctly and primitively forged, possibly from bog iron, this seventeenth century ax came in the Abiel Walker (Alna, ME) tool kit and was |
| probably made and used by the earliest settlers in coastal Maine. See the Registry of Maine Toolmakers for more information on Abiel |
| Walker. |
| Historic Maritime II (1720-1800): The Second Colonial Dominion & the Early Republic |
| Blacksmith, Farrier, and Metalworking Tools |
| 92901T2 | Hot set | DTM | MHC-J |
| Forged iron, 13" long, 1 1/2" wide and 3/8" long cutting wedge, unsigned. |
| Used for splitting forged iron prior to lapping and welding iron handles, strapping or other iron hardware. This tool was once part of the tool |
| kit of the boat builder and plane maker Abiel Walker of Alna, Maine (b. 1808) and was probably an antique when he came into possession of it. |
| Woodworking: Planes |
| 33002T2L | Beading plane | DTM | TT |
| Wood, 8 9/16" long, unsigned, c. 1790 - 1800. |
| The bead is damaged. This plane is from the Abiel Walker hoard, Alna, Maine. It has the same wedge profile as the three other late 18th |
| century planes in Walker's tool kit. Its length is unusually short. |
| 101801T7 | Molding plane | bio | BDTM | MH |
| Mahogany, 9 1/2" long, signed "AFW" for Abiel F. Walker, owner. |
| Historic Maritime III (1800-1840): Boomtown Years & the Dawn of the Industrial |
| Revolution |
| Woodworking: Planes |
| 101801T8 | Beading plane | bio | BDTM | MH |
| Mahogany with steel blade, 10 3/8" long, signed by owner "AFW" for Abiel F. Walker. |
| 101801T6 | Beading plane | bio | BDTM | MH |
| Mahogany with steel blade, 8 5/8" long, signed by owner "AFW" for Abiel F. Walker. |
| Woodworking: Planes Made in Maine |
| 92001T1 | Double sash plane | bio | DTM | MH |
| Oak and steel, 10 3/4" long, signed "AFW". |
| Abiel F. Walker was a very small producer of hand planes, making them only for himself and area craftsmen. These are typical of those |
| produced by a skilled boat carpenter and house wright who would make his own tools. The Davistown Museum obtained a collection of Abiel |
| Walker's planes directly from the attic of the house in which he spent most of his life. For additional information about Abiel Walker's plane |
| collection and its significance see his listing in the Registry of Maine Toolmakers (Brack 2008) and the essay on Walker in the Registry |
| introduction. |
| 101801T1 | Molding plane | bio | DTM | MH |
| Beech, 9 3/4" long, signed "AFW". |
| 92001T2 | Panel raising plane | bio | DTM | MH |
| Beech and cast steel, 13 1/2" long, 2" wide blade, signed "AFW". |
| This plane was made by Abiel F. Walker. |
| 42602T1 | Plow plane | bio | photo | DTM | MH |
| Birch with beach wedge and fence, steel blade, forged iron fence guide and screws, 8 3/4" long, 1 5/8" wide body, 9" wide fence arms, signed |
| "T & W Sorby" on blade, c. 1835 - 1840. |
| The plane was made by Abiel Walker, Alna, ME, following English prototypes. Robert and Thomas Sorby are well known English plane blade |
| makers, who was T & W Sorby? |
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