Collecting Antique Woodworking Tools: A Conversation With Antique Tool Collector Mike Jenkins
Note: this is a transcript from our recent AHA interview. If you would like to watch the video, check out our content studio page. This interview is also available as a podcast episode – find it here.
Steve Stack:
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A History With Hand Tools
Steve Stack:
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Steve Stack coming from Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods in Canfield, Ohio. We’re sitting down today with a gentleman whose field of expertise aligns with Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods. Mike Jenkins, welcome to Studio 3B.
Mike Jenkins:
Thank you very much. I’m pleased to be here.
Steve Stack:
We came to know Mike Jenkins through an antique store. He has a successful past and is a retired professor from Kent State University.
Mike Jenkins:
That’s correct.
Steve Stack:
Then there’s the hobby of all hobbies, as I would look at it. Mike has devoted 40 plus years researching and learning about antique woodworking.
Mike Jenkins:
It’s been close to 50 years, but I was a beginner for the first ten. I was learning and making mistakes.
Steve Stack:
Well, that’s good. To give folks a little background, we got the workbench we record from here in our studio from Wayne at the I-76 Antique Mall in northeast Ohio. You and I are both very familiar with that location.
Mike Jenkins:
Yep.
Steve Stack:
When we were building out Studio 3B, I told Wayne we were looking for some old woodworking tools. A few weeks later we had the opportunity to pick up a gentleman’s private collection.
Mike Jenkins:
Accumulation order.
Steve Stack:
Accumulation. That’s exactly what it was. There was a little bit of everything and anything. I went back up and talked to Wayne at the counter. I said, “Wayne, look at the stuff that I picked up.” He said, “I have somebody you need to talk to.” From the counter there at the antique mall, he dialed your number up and said, “Steve, meet Mike.” We had a brief conversation and I explained what we were up to. Then we had a couple of other phone conversations. Eventually, you came down and looked at our stuff. I kind of knew it, but you reaffirmed that there was some junk, there were some wall hangers, but there were a couple of decent pieces, too.
Mike Jenkins:
More than a couple.
Steve Stack:
That day was supposed to be a one-hour visit and it turned into about two and a half hours. We had good conversations. At that moment, we knew that we wanted to have you back to sit down and speak with us on the American Hardwood Advisor. This is a great opportunity to educate, pass along information and tell us the backstories of some of these tools.
Mike Jenkins:
I look forward to it.
Steve Stack:
I thank Wayne every time I’m up there for introducing us — and this desk.
Mike Jenkins:
This is a workbench.
Steve Stack:
I stand corrected. The workbench we use as our interview desk. This came from our friend Wayne up there-
Mike Jenkins:
At the I-76 Antique Mall.
Steve Stack:
The I-76 Antique Mall. Did you say that you have 120 of these at home?
Mike Jenkins:
That’s a push. I’ve probably owned that many throughout my life, but I have eight at home now.
Steve Stack:
This particular bench came out of Michigan. Tell us a little about it. You know more than I do about the different functions of this bench and how it would’ve been used by woodworkers and carpenters.
Mike Jenkins:
It has multiple uses. It has both a front and tail vise so you can clamp the wood and work on it. The square holes are called dog holes. You would put dogs in (sticks of metal or wood) so you can hold things between them. For example, you would put a dog in the tail vise and one in the front. In between those two dogs, you would clamp a board. Now the board is secure and you can plane on it, use wood carving tools or something like that.
Steve Stack:
It also has a little helper board out front.
Mike Jenkins:
That is called the board jack. That was used to act as axillary support for something in your shoulder vise if it was too long. If you wanted to put a six-foot board in, the little vise isn’t going to hold it if you’re planing at both ends. It’s going to move on you. Now you can anchor it by putting two dowels in the holes in the board jack.
Steve Stack:
It was a built-in helper.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. The little recessed area is called the tool tray. If you’ve got a board up here and you’re moving it around, you don’t want to knock all your tools on the floor. So the tools are in this recessed area.
Steve Stack:
They’re protected and out of the way.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
A very common-sense approach.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. This is a manufactured one. It has about six pieces of wood glued together. The earlier ones were one solid piece of wood. One of the benches I have at home is probably a 22-inch piece of maple.
Steve Stack:
In one solid piece?
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. Four inches thick and seven and a half feet long.
Steve Stack:
I’ve noticed something about these benches. Some of the homemade ones versus the manufactured pieces can be knocked down by loosening about four bolts and it can ship in a flat box.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
I know one particular company shipped these things all over when they were being manufactured, whether it was to woodworking shops, schools, industry companies, and so on.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah. At the time this was made, which is probably around 1920 or so, there were a lot of furniture manufacturers that had 20 of these in a workshop with one person working at each bench. They were all participating in some aspect of the furniture industry.
Steve Stack:
Yeah. That was their assembly line.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. A friend of mine’s father worked for a furniture company and he had his own bench. Now his son has it.
Steve Stack:
I’ll use a chair as an example. The back spindle staves had to be manufactured. The seat had to be manufactured, possibly the arms, too. They might have different stations performing different parts and pieces.
Mike Jenkins:
No question.
Steve Stack:
Before it went to assembly.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Right. That’s interesting. There’s a population out there that still believes this is an invaluable tool.
Mike Jenkins:
They are used for a variety of purposes, frequently kitchen islands. I’ve seen them used as credenzas in offices. A lot of the uses today are not necessarily involved with woodworking.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
But they should be.
Steve Stack:
There is a group of people that you described as “users.”
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
They are users whether it is this workbench or some of the hand tools that we’re going to talk about today. Even in our little workshop here, we still have workbenches.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
We have flat top workbenches. So you can get projects up in front of you and perform the task at hand. If you were a woodworker back in the day, you wanted one of these.
Mike Jenkins:
You needed one of these.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Just like the little assist bar out front, you didn’t have somebody to hold the board for you. You’re working by yourself. So there it was in this nice, compact, very well thought out piece of equipment.
Mike Jenkins:
To a carpenter, this was as important to him as a hydraulic lift is to a mechanic today.
Steve Stack:
Fair. Yep.
Mike Jenkins:
You can’t get the work done without the tools.
Steve Stack:
Very, very much so.
Growing Up With Carpentry and Old Tools
Steve Stack:
Let’s talk about your background a little bit. You were a professor at Kent State University.
Mike Jenkins:
I didn’t learn much about tools in the nutrition program. My father and his father before him had a lumber yard. It was a mill and hardware store combined. They had construction crews. During my teenage years, I was there working and observing what these cabinet makers and carpenters did and how they did it.
Steve Stack:
You were no stranger to sawdust.
Mike Jenkins:
I shoveled a lot of it.
Steve Stack:
Yeah. So at some point through your time with Kent State, you picked up a hobby.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. I started going to local auctions and buying what I could afford. Every once in a while, I’d buy something better than average and I would keep it. That started a tool collection that I maintained for about 40 years. Then when I retired, I noticed I wasn’t looking at my tool collection very much. I was spending more time going out and looking for tools rather than admiring my own. So I had an auction and sold my collection. Even though I no longer have a collection, I still have that interest. I still buy and sell tools.
Steve Stack:
Oh, I know you still have some special pieces that you hold onto.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. I call it an investment cabinet. It’s a joke, but I do put some things aside.
Steve Stack:
You’ve invested in it. Do you still get into the buy, sell, trade aspect of it?
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. That’s what I do in my retired free time. I go to auctions. I go to sales. I buy and sell.
Steve Stack:
Yeah.
Mike Jenkins:
I clean them up.
Steve Stack:
We’re definitely going to talk to you a little bit about restoration in another episode. Things to do and things not to do.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
If someone wants to reach out, if they pick an old tool up at an auction, an antique store or eBay and want to find out well, “Did I pay too much for it or did I get a deal?” Is there a group that they can reach out to or is there an appraiser-type scenario?
Mike Jenkins:
I wouldn’t recommend an appraiser because there are a lot of regional differences in the value of tools. However, there are tool clubs that one can participate in. There is the Ohio Tool Collectors Association. There is the Midwest Tool Collectors Association, and there is the Early American Industries Association. All three of those groups are people who buy and sell tools. They like to look at them, display them, and things like that.
Regional Differences From New York to California
Steve Stack:
You have said that prices vary regionally.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Did I understand you, right?
Mike Jenkins:
Well, perhaps it’s not as regional now. With the internet, everything is kind of on an even keel. But I don’t participate in the internet, so I don’t have access to that market. Some people sell on the internet and get stronger prices.
Steve Stack:
New England is very well known for early furniture pieces.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
The availability of furniture tools up in that market maybe didn’t make it to the midwest until later on.
Mike Jenkins:
New England was settled in the 17th and 18th century. There are a lot more examples of early tools and early furniture there than you’ll find in the midwest, which wasn’t settled until perhaps the early 19th century. In Colorado, you’re looking at the early 20th century.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
So there are regional differences in both availability and interest. For example, coal mining tools are much more desirable in coal country than they are in New England.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
Because of the agricultural industry, wrenches are much more popular in the midwest than they are in New England or California.
Steve Stack:
It makes sense. That’s where they were born.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
A Family of Craftsmen
Steve Stack:
That’s interesting. You mentioned that your family was involved in carpentry and that steered you into the interest.
Mike Jenkins:
I wouldn’t say steering. It gave me an awareness. When I started to buy some of these tools, I would remember some of them from Elmer, Bernard or someone like that who I saw working.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
I’d say, “Oh, that’s what he had!”
Steve Stack:
That could be something as simple as a little foldable-
Mike Jenkins:
Boxwood rule.
Steve Stack:
A boxwood rule. I’ll tie it back to my dad. Today, we’re used to the Stanley 20- or 30-footer tape measure that you keep on your waist. Dad always carried a six-foot folding wooden tape measure.
Mike Jenkins:
Well, a wooden rule.
Steve Stack:
A rule. Yes, exactly. When we were constructing my home, we were putting the plates on the block foundation and my dad’s rule dropped out of his back pocket and fell into the hollow cinder block. We got a flashlight and he said, “Yeah, it’s down there.” What’s the next thing he does? He goes down onto the basement floor area, takes his hammer and knocks out the side of the cinder block so he could retrieve his six-foot rule. So you know what? I still have it at the house.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah.
Steve Stack:
As you said, you remember somebody using it or someone who had one. There are great stories passed along with that.
Chisels, Scrapers and Other Vintage Tools
Steve Stack:
Is there any sector of tools that keeps your attention more than others?
Mike Jenkins:
I guess the short answer is yes, Stanley. Stanley was the major manufacturer of all kinds of woodworking tools. There were a lot of competitors, but Stanley was big enough that they bought most of them. So if this little company made a bevel, Stanley said, “That’s a good idea.” They just bought the company and incorporated the bevel into their line. Stanley was in business from the 1850s until maybe the 1970s, when people started farming out their manufacturing to other countries. But Stanley is the name that people look for. You’ll see more interest in Stanley tools than in other manufacturers.
Steve Stack:
And they manufactured a broad range of tools.
Mike Jenkins:
They do. Well, they did. I don’t know that they do now.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
They made planes, rules, toolboxes, chisels, plumb bobs, spokeshaves, hand saws, wood carving gouges. Anything you could think of that a craftsman would need, Stanley had an answer for you.
Steve Stack:
You mentioned planes; they had a whole family group of different planes.
Mike Jenkins:
Exactly.
Steve Stack:
Specialty planes. Block planes.
Mike Jenkins:
They had bench planes, which were the tool that most carpenters would use to prepare wood for the project. As you said, they also had specialty planes. Planes for cutting the inside or the outside of circles, shaping them, rockers.
Steve Stack:
Yes.
Mike Jenkins:
They had planes that would be used to help inset hinges, locks and doors.
Steve Stack:
How about the barrel staves?
Mike Jenkins:
Stanley didn’t make a lot of cooperage tools, but other companies did.
Steve Stack:
Again, that was a specialty tool.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Interesting. Years ago I picked up what I want to call a Stanley No. 45.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
They’re relatively common, but I have the two boxes of all the cutter inserts with the Stanley label on them.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Being in the woodworking industry, it’s amazing to compare the things we do today to the way they were done back in the day. In the era of these old woodworking tools, you had to have a vision. You had to have patience. Then it was developed. You took pride in the quality of the piece you were working on. You exerted a lot of energy and effort into that piece.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah, it was an extension of your hand. I mean, that’s what you were making.
Steve Stack:
Truly an extension of your hand, whether it be drawing a moulding plane across it or, and we take it for granted, sandpaper and sanding sponges. What did they do back in the day?
Mike Jenkins:
They scraped it.
Steve Stack:
With drum scrapers.
Mike Jenkins:
A hand scraper.
Steve Stack:
Yes, all to get that final finish on it.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Interesting.
Mike Jenkins:
Stanley made scrapers. Early scrapers were just a piece of saw blade that you would sharpen and scrape with, but Stanley said, “Well, let’s make scrapers.”
Steve Stack:
I think we ran across a couple of them on your first visit. It’s a straight handle with a swivel head that you can adjust to different angles if I’m remembering right.
Mike Jenkins:
You are.
Steve Stack:
The two that we have are four-sided scraper heads. They are almost a square. One might be a triangular-shaped scraper head.
Mike Jenkins:
Those probably weren’t made by Stanley, but it was the same idea.
Steve Stack:
Yeah. Now I know what they were for.
Mike Jenkins:
Scrapers can be used for a lot of other purposes, too.
Steve Stack:
We still use them today even in our more modern manufacturing facility. We use scrapers when we’re doing joinery with glue. In the clamping procedure, you get some glue squeeze-out at the joint. It saves on the planer knives and things in manufacturing if you give it a quick scrape.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Get that hardened glue residue off of there.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
We’re talking about tools from the 1800s and 1900s. We still use those today.
Mike Jenkins:
And scrapers were a lot older than that. I mean, they were making furniture in the 1600s that still had to have smooth services.
Steve Stack:
Yes!
A Collection of Working Tools
Steve Stack:
Going back to your personal collection, some of which you’ve dispersed, others that you still hold onto, what kind of things did you collect for yourself?
Mike Jenkins:
Well, I collected Stanley in the box, so that was Stanley tools in their original as-sold boxes.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
That was a component. I collected measuring tools which were rules like your little boxwood rule, squares. I collected moulding planes that would be used to cut different profiles. Moulding planes are interesting, both based on their profile as well as the name. Sometimes you’ll see a name on it and it’ll get your attention because he was working in 1760. He would be an 18th-century plane maker in America.
Steve Stack:
Right.
Mike Jenkins:
Those are interesting finds when you can come across them.
Steve Stack:
Going back to Stanley, where did they start? Out of Connecticut?
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
I knew it was up east.
Mike Jenkins:
New Britain.
Steve Stack:
There you go. I was taking a stab at Connecticut, but now that you said New Britain, I can see it on some of their tools now.
Mike Jenkins:
Right.
Steve Stack:
So you like the Stanley brand.
Mike Jenkins:
It’s popular and that’s what people like to buy, so that’s what I like to provide for them.
Steve Stack:
Even today, it’s still very identifiable.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
The name is still out there and has a history behind it. You know the history of Stanley like you know the back of your hand. But you have a favorite item in your collection and it took you a number of years to acquire it. You missed it on the first go-round.
Mike Jenkins:
I know, it was never available. In 1979 when I was a graduate student at Penn State University, a friend of mine and I did an outdoor antique show. Another friend of mine showed up and he had a very fuzzy picture of this plow plane. It was the most beautiful plow plane I had ever seen or could ever imagine. I was a graduate student and didn’t have any money at all, but I coveted it. About 40 years later, I met the gentleman who still owned the plane and saw it. It was just as beautiful as the fuzzy picture had indicated. He passed away about maybe three or four years ago. I was able to purchase it at his auction.
Steve Stack:
You’re referring to it as a plow plane. Describe to the folks what it is. Is it metal? Is it wood?
Mike Jenkins:
Well, a typical plow plane has a wooden body with an adjustable fence that will cut a groove parallel to the edge of a board at various widths. Frequently they are made out of beech. Occasionally you’ll see one made out of boxwood, more rarely one made out of rosewood. Very scarcely you’ll see one made out of ebony. This one is made out of ebony, but it was a presentation piece to start with so there’s sterling silver inlay and ivory on it. It’s signed, it’s dated and it’s just wonderful.
Steve Stack:
Now, who would manufacture a piece like that?
Mike Jenkins:
Well, this was made as a presentation piece for a fellow by the name of Montgomery who was the shop foreman at Ohio Tool in Columbus, Ohio. It was made by his employees as a departing gift for him.
Steve Stack:
Okay. You just mentioned a company in Ohio, Ohio Tool. Throughout the last year or so, I’ve seen that name. I could be calling it the wrong name, but I’d say specialty moulding planes.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Ohio Tool was a very well-known manufacturer of those moulding planes, right? Is moulding plane the right name?
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. Moulding planes or rabbets. Various wooden planes and hand planes were made by Ohio Tool in Columbus. I think for a while they were actually using prison labor, so they were able to make a more affordable product.
Steve Stack:
Right. So your plowing plane is a special piece.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah.
Steve Stack:
You called it a presentation piece.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah, it was never meant to be used.
Steve Stack:
It was somebody’s keepsake.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
And now it’s yours.
Mike Jenkins:
Mm-hmm.
Steve Stack:
That’s interesting. How many years did it take you to catch up to it?
Mike Jenkins:
About 45.
Steve Stack:
So it made an impression on you.
Mike Jenkins:
Oh, my goodness.
Steve Stack:
One of these days, I want you to share some photographs with us. I’m anxious to see that piece of equipment. They didn’t use that one.
Mike Jenkins:
No.
Steve Stack:
There is a group out there that some refer to as makers, others refer to them as users of antique woodworking tools.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
Is there an east coast to west coast kind of population? Is it spread out across the United States? I’m guessing there are probably clubs or groups for them also.
Mike Jenkins:
There are both national and local groups. Because of the internet, it’s universal. It’s all over the country.
Steve Stack:
There are still users out there possibly making cabinetry, cabinet doors, furniture pieces, chairs, side tables, whatever.
Mike Jenkins:
Case furniture.
Steve Stack:
Yeah. They’re doing it the old school way with old school tools.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes.
Steve Stack:
That gives it an authentic feel.
Working Tools and Family
Mike Jenkins:
You’re also making an heirloom for your family. I mean, if your grandfather made it, you still treasure it. If you make it today, your grandchildren will eventually treasure it.
Steve Stack:
Right, that’s true. In my family, some pieces were my grandmother’s or great-grandmother’s that I still have. You do; you treasure them. I remember scenarios where I was just a little shaver and that piece of furniture sat in that location of Gram’s dining room.
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah.
Steve Stack:
Her pineapple pies were served on top of them.
Mike Jenkins:
I used to think that people collected what they remembered in their grandparents’ house. When I first started in antiques, that was oak furniture. Then it evolved into what they call the depression era furniture. Now mid-century modern seems to be hot. So, there’s less interest in oak or depression era furniture because this is what people remember being in their grandparents’ house.
Steve Stack:
That parallels the products that we manufacture here at Baird Brothers. Right now, the craftsman shaker style is very hot with interior decorators and design schemes. We manufacture a series of mouldings for that craftsman style. I find it funny, in a sense, that I have mission-style furniture that was built long, long ago. Now you’re seeing new mission-style furniture from the midwest and beyond. In manufacturing processes, furniture design and tools, things were different yesterday, but we find history repeating itself in a sense.
Mike Jenkins:
Well, tastes evolve. Just like with housing design. You look at a development that was built in the 1950s or 1960s and you can say, “Well, that’s clearly a 1950s-designed house.” Compare it to a 1980s house. Then compare it to the wood structures today. They’re using these beams to decorate the front of a house. That’s very trendy now, but in 40 years it’ll be called a 2020 model.
Steve Stack:
Exactly. It cycles. Well, Mike, we’re going to take a little bit of a break. We’ve got some other stuff to talk about, folks. This is just your introduction to Mr. Mike Jenkins. We’re going to have some fun. I’m enjoying this. Mike is our walking, talking encyclopedia when it comes to antique woodworking tools and woodworking history. Stay tuned for future episodes with Mike.
For all you folks listening, thanks for talking shop with Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods. If you’ve enjoyed this episode and wanted to stay up-to-date with the American Hardwood Advisor podcast series, give us a like and subscribe. For more tips, DIY projects, and inspiration, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, read our tweets, or visit bairdbrothers.com. Until next time.
