Tools of the Trade - Tools Used in Construction of Log Buildings

"Many aspects of American life during the second half of the nineteenth
century saw many changes, and that is true of tools. Woodworking tools
that had changed little for centuries were still being used in the early
nineteenth century, but shortly after the Civil War, factory-made tools
began to supplant the oluer forms. The fairly common practice for the
early nineteenth-century craftsman was to procure the metal parts of his
tools from a blacksmith and to make the wooden parts himself. If he
needed an axe, for example, the craftsman got the handmade head from
the blacksmith anu made the hanule to suit himself. After the Civil War,
however, factories produceu more and more of the tools and tool parts,
and many parts that had previously been made of wood were made of
metal, even though the basic tool shapes remained largely unchanged...
Older types of tools continued in use because they were still in
good condition, because many craftsmen preferred the older forms of
tools, and because it was still often cheaper for a craftsman to make a tool
for himself."

Warren Roberts, "Tools Used in Building Log Houses in Indiana," Pioneer America, v. 9, no. 1, July 1,1977. 35.