Hand Tools in History

Joiners

This plate provides an excellent illustration of the typical use of the frame saw, on a trestle rather than in a pit, as utilized since the days of the Roman Republic or earlier.  The frame saw in the Museum collection is similar to the one illustrated here except it shows no evidence of any extended handle.  Its design and construction remained basically unchanged for two thousand years.  The illustration is from A Diderot pictorial encyclopedia of trades and industry: Manufacturing and the technical arts in plates selected from "L'Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers" of Denis Diderot: In two volumes, plate 292.