The Davistown Museum

Maine Toolmakers and Manufacturers

Branin, M. Lelyn. (1978). The early potters and potteries of Maine. Maine Heritage Series No. 3. Maine State Museum, Augusta, ME. IS(2).

See annotations in the Trades Bibliography under Potters.

Brundage, Larry. (date unknown). Down East (Maine) planemakers. Plane Talk. VII. pg. 1-20.

Brundage, Larry. (September 1981). Oakland, Maine axes and other edge tools. The Chronicle. 34(3).

Brundage, Larry. (June 1984). The planes of Maine. The Chronicle. 37(2). pg. 21-24. IS.

Brundage, Larry. (December 1989). An early and elegant broad axe. The Chronicle. 42(4). pg. 97 - 98. IS.

A short note about a broad ax made by John Whorff of Madison, Maine.

Butterworth, Dale and Blanchard, Clarence. (Fall 2005). Central Maine log rule makers and their rules. The Fine Tool Journal. pg 11-14. IS.

Butterworth, Dale and Blumenberg, Bennett. (September 1991). David Fuller, rural planemaker of West Gardiner, Maine part I. The Chronicle. 44(3). pg. 67.

Butterworth, Dale and Blumenberg, Bennett. (December 1991). David Fuller, rural planemaker of West Gardiner, Maine part II. The Chronicle. 44(4). pg. 112 - 113. IS.

Butterworth, Dale and Blumenberg, Bennett. (January 22, 1992). Abel Sampson: Maine's privateer turned planemaker. Maine Planemakers No. 3. Self-published. IS.

This was later published in The Chronicle, June 1992. 45(2). pg. 35-37. IS.

Butterworth, Dale and Blumenberg, Bennett. (March 1993). E. S. Lane: A Maine rule maker and scaler. The Chronicle. 46(1). pg. 15-16. IS.

Cohen, Marcie. (1988). The journals of Joshua Whitman, Turner, Maine, 1809-1846. In: Barnes, Peter, Ed. The Farm. Boston University Press, Boston, MA.

Demeritt, Dwight B., Jr. (1973). Maine made guns and their makers. Published for the Maine State Museum by Paul S. Plummer, Jr., Hallowell, ME. Revised and reprinted by Tilbury House, Gardiner, ME.

Fales, Cliff. (June 1992). The spiral screwdrivers of Isaac Allard, F.A. Howard and J.W. Jones. The Gristmill. 67. pg. 10.

See the Registry of Maine Toolmakers for more information on Allard, Howard and Jones.
This article is on the web at: http://www.idcomm.com/personal/cfales/Articles/Allard-Howard/Allard-Howard_Article.htm
Many thanks to Cliff for his donations to The Davistown Museum information files.

Getchell, Nancy L. (1956). The manufacture of axes and scythes in Oakland, Maine. Oakland. unpublished.

Grindle, Roger L. (1971). Quarry and kiln: The story of Maine's lime industry. Courier-Gazette, Rockland, ME.

Grindle, Roger L. (1977). Tombstones and paving blocks: The history of the Maine granite industry. Courier-Gazette, Rockland, ME. IS.

Kallop, Edward L. Jr. (2000). Johnson's kingdom: The story of a nineteenth-century industrial kingdom in the town of Wayne, Maine. Wayne Historical Society, Wayne, ME.

Kallop, Edward L. Jr. (2003). A history of the North Wayne Tool Co. manufacturers of axes, corn hooks, scythes and hay knives. Wayne Historical Society, Wayne, ME. IS.

This text gives a comprehensive history of this company and the many names it used and people who were involved with it.
"In the Maine Register the tool company's presence in North Wayne is first noted in 1881, when it is identified at Bodwell & Harvey, edge-tools. Not until the year following and thereafter is the published listing identified by company name. Whatever was the reason for the initial listing with personal rather than company name, it nevertheless leads to speculation on the complex role of William Harvey in these various transactions, and his emergence as an apparently equal partner with Joseph R. Bodwell." (pg. 77).
"At the opening of the new century the numerous firms manufacturing edge tools during much of the 19th century were reduced to three; the Dunn Edge Tool Company, Emerson & Stevens, and the American Axe and Tool Company. The last was to be out of business soon after the century began, leaving only two, but in 1907 they were joined by the King Axe Company. With an earlier existence as King & Messer, the company continued under its new name until 1922 when it was sold to others, then some twenty years later was resurrected and survived for a brief time as King Axe and Tool Company. With a far shorter lifetime is identified in 1906 still another newcomer to the list -- William Harvey & Sons." (pg. 109).
"In 1904, sharing a page with four others whose business addresses are in either Hallowell or Gardiner, is the North Wayne Tool Company. Identified as Manufacturers of Agricultural Edge Tools, the company's products are named under the heading Specialties: C. C. Brooks' Bread Knives, Corn Hooks, Hay Knives and Hoes. C. C. Brooks' little Giant Scythes. C. C. Brooks' Be Ve Be Scythes. H. S. Earle's Little Giant Grass Hooks. H. S. Earle's Corn Knives. Hand Made Axes of all Patterns. Lefavour's Favorite Weeders." (pg. 110).

Kebabian, John S. (December 1968). A visit to the Peavey factory site Oakland, Maine. The Chronicle. 21(4). pg. 62-63. IS.

Klenman, Allan. (March 1997). The Witherell Axe Company of Oakland, Maine. The Chronicle. 50(1). pg. 37. IS.

See the Registry of Maine Toolmakers for more information on Witherell Axe Co.

Kley, Ron. (Spring 1985). Researching early Maine craftsmen: John H. Hall and the gunsmith's trade. Maine Historical Society Quarterly. 24. pg. 410-415. X.

Merriam, Paul G., Molloy, Thomas J. and Sylvester, Theodore W., Jr. (1991). Home front on Penobscot Bay: Rockland during the war years 1940 - 1945. The Rockland Cooperative History Project, Rockland, ME.

For some citations about Bicknell Manufacturing Company see our information file in the Hand Tools in History section.

Moore, Sam. (Winter 2000). Let's Talk Rusty Iron: Cant Hook or Peavey? Rural Heritage. Gainesboro, TN.

This article about Joseph Peavey of Old Town, Maine, inventor of the peavey is also on the web at: http://www.ruralheritage.com/logging_camp/peavey.htm.

Pierce, Cecil E. (ca. 1994). Fifty years a planemaker and user. The Astragal Press, Mendham, NJ. IS.

Rivard, Paul E. (1985). Made in Maine: An historical overview. Maine State Museum, Augusta, ME. W.

Rivard, Paul E. (2007). Made in Maine: From home and workshop to mill and factory. The History Press, Charleston, SC. IS.

Robertson, Edwin B. (1977). Maine Central steam locomotives: A roster of motive power from 1923 to the end of the steam era. Published by the author, Westbrook, ME. IS.

Robinson, Trevor. (June 1996). The ratchet screwdriver. The Chronicle. 49(2). pg. 54-57. IS.

This article includes information on Maine toolmakers G. E. Gay, John Parsons, Zachary T. Furbish, F. L. Hamlen, and C. H. Mallett.

Rockland Bicentennial Commission. (1976). Shore village story: An informal history of Rockland, Maine. Courier-Gazette, Inc., Rockland, ME.

For some citations and an illustration of Livingston Manufacturing Company see our information file in the Hand Tools in History section.

Rogers, Lore A. and Scribner, Caleb W. (June 1967). The Peavey cant-dog. The Chronicle. 20(2). pg. 17-21. IS.

Sawtell, William R. (1982). Katahdin Iron Works: Boom to bust. Self-published, Milo, ME.

Sawtell, William R. (1983). Katahdin Iron Works revisited / compiled by William R. Sawtell. Self-published, Milo, ME.

Sawtell, William R. (1988). K. I. III. Furbush-Roberts Printing Co., Bangor, ME.

Sawtell, William R. (1993). Katahdin Iron Works and Gulf Hagas: Before and beyond. Self-published, Milo, ME. IS.

Sawtell, William R. (date unknown). Video: History of Katahdin Iron Works and Gulf Hagas.

Schwarz, Chris. (Summer 2004). Lie-Nielsen chisels: Better than vintage. Fine Tool Journal. 54(1). pg. 14-16. IS.

"Thomas Lie-Nielsen took the balance and feel of the [Stanley] 750, but he made the blade using tough cryogenically treated A2 steel instead of carbon steel. He also replaced the ugly red-painted oak (I think it's oak) handle with a finely turned and finished American hornbeam version." (pg. 14).

Springer, Moses. (January 18, 1849). Largest scythe manufactory in the world. Maine Farmer.

Yeaton, Donald G. (2000). Axe makers of Maine. Unpublished, Donald Yeaton, 51 Strafford Rd., Rochester, NH 03867-4107. IS.

Donald Yeaton's list of the axe makers of Maine has been collated with our Registry of Maine Toolmakers on this website. Many of the ax makers in his directory are not listed in the latest edition of DATM (1999). Further contributions to this list are welcomed and will be forwarded to Mr. Yeaton.
Mr. Yeaton has devoted a lifetime of work to collecting axes and compiling this listing. His sources include Maine business directories and town histories, and the importance of his work is reflected in the large number of ax makers not listed in the latest edition of the Directory of American Tool Makers.