Cabinet Cards: 1866-1906. A large photographic print mounted on card stock. Cabinet cards are actually broken down into a variety of types, depending upon the print size. For my interests in the image content, I've lumped them all together under one heading.
WHAT THE WELL DRESSED CARPENTER WEARS TO WORK. c1880. Cabinet Card. . Fine posed image of two carpenters making porch and other detail work. While posed, the work benches, tools and material are all as found. It looks to me as if this is an on-site workshop for a pair of skilled house carpenters.
5 CARPENTERS OF ILL REPUTE. Cabinet Card. . A scurvy lot if ever I saw one. Watch out for the guy in the beard. he's watching you. Of interest is the back of this cabinet card, displaying the photographer and the fact that this image is a duplicate, available for order.
A WELL APPOINTED HARDWARE STORE. c1910. Cabinet Card. . Push drills, handsaws, braces, hammers, chisels, folding rulers and every type of hardware the enterprising workman needed, carefully stored in bins. The foot prints on the floor attest to the rough n ready work atmosphere.
MAN PLANING A BED HEADBOARD WITH A STANLEY # 113 CIRCULAR PLANE. C1900? You have to look closely to see that this carefully dressed and coffered furniture-maker is using a Stanley #113 Circular Plane to shape the top of the headboard. Living proof that people actually used these planes.
ATKINS SAW COMPANY WINDOW DISPLAY. Cabinet Card. Every now and then something comes your way that makes the collector lights go haywire. Somewhere, somewhen, someone took this picture of an Atkins window display. It appears that all the major product lines are included here, from handsaws, to circular saws to saw sharpening & setting equipment, even the tools of the saw doctor. And an absolutely great cardboard cutout of an Atkins Sawyer at work. It's true what they say... They don't make them like they used to!.
B. B. CHAPMAN LUMBER COMPANY AND THE WEBBER CARPENTRY SHOP. Cabinet Card. Date the automobiles and you date the card. The winner gets the horse. Ok, so this is another one of those eye-popping finds. The whole crew complete with Nelly the Horse and those new fangled horseless carriages too. Take a close look at the different ways the workman carry their tools... formal carpenters carry boxes and slung over the shoulder open top tool trays. I even like the streetlight edging into the picture.
THE WISE CARPENTER AT HIS BENCH. Cabinet Card. Details make the image. The proper Bowler Hat in place, right hand placed properly on the toe of the bench plane, shaving curls on the bench, which has a nice two screw vise and an empire style bureau in the rear. Too bad the stuff he is working is not clamped to the bench.
CARPENTRY CREW AT THE RAILROAD STATION. Cabinet Card. Impossible to say if they built the station or are waiting on the next train to go to work. I wonder where they store their tools on the train? This cabinet card is an example of the bad things people do to old photographs. Scratches, pencil lines, dirt all over the place, mouse teeth marks in a corner.
CARRIAGE SHOP. c1900. Cabinet Cards. Four views of the interior and exterior of a carriage shop. Finished products, men at rest, happy men at the anvil and two proud men with their felloe boring machine. That machine must have cost a pretty penny.
Tinsmith's Shop. c 1900. Cabinet card. Nice turn of the century cabinet card of two men in what appears to be a tinsmith's shop. Two tinsmiths stake anvils are mounted on the bench, one of which is holding a work in progress.
Patternmaker Shop. c1890. Cabinet card. There is an incredible wealth of detail in this one card. At some point in time the photograph was remounted on plain card stock, making it a little difficult to pinpoint the date. Judging by the electrical wiring and the bicycle, my guess is c1890. There is what might be a water wheel in the rear of the shop that drives a massive belt from which all the machines are powered. I can't quite figure out what it is at this point.
Two forms are labeled 36" Cyl Head. That would indicate that this shop was turning out parts for steam engines. Along with the knob wiring, you can see racks of clamps, workbenches, numerous metal and wooden planes, including an early Stanley #113 side wheel circular plane. The various metal bench planes appear to lack a lateral lever.
I've provided a high resolution version in PDF format for your viewing pleasure.
