In Plato’s Theages, carpenters (tektons) are those who are “sawyers and borers and planers and turners”. The tools and techniques used by the ancient Romans and Greeks are known to us by such historical references, by archeological evidence and by depictions in mosaics, on painted walls, grave reliefs, pottery, and stone monuments. In the Archaic period, cutting tools were still made of copper and bronze. Saws, knives, chisels, axes, and adzes were fitted with wooden handles, and work was aided using hardwood or stone hammers, mallets, and wedges. As metallurgy developed, iron cross-cut saws became stronger, less likely to buckle or break, and stayed sharp longer. These ranged between small keyhole saws to large two-handled buck saws. Bow-saws and frame-saws allowed for thinner blades that were held in tension. By Roman times, most saws had crossed teeth to allow for greater removal of saw dust and so prevent clogging.
Boring implements evolved from simple awls to spoon-shaped drills and later twists and augers, that expel the wood as they bore. A popular model was the ‘wimble scoop’ that had two sharpened edges and so could be spun in both directions using a bow or turned by hand, with a brace against the chest.
Good chisels and knives were required for finer joinery. Deep cuts were needed for mortising, rabbeting, and dovetailing. Rough planing could be achieved with the adze or a large “slick” chisel. Drawknives, spoke-shaves, and block planes provided the finishing touches. The greater use of chisels and planes influenced the evolution of the carpenter’s bench or table, with screw-vises and bench dogs to hold the piece fast. The House of the Vettii, in Pompeii, shows just such a bench in the mythical workshop of Daedalus, the Greek craftsman-hero. Gouges developed along with the lathe for turning bowls, cups, legs, and posts. Pliny the Elder relates that it was the carpenter Theodorus of Samos who invented the pole-lathe that, by using the feet to turn the work, could be operated by a single person. The lathe was indispensable to the shipwright for his oars, and to the cartwright upon the introduction of the spoked wheel, an Indian invention introduced to Greece in the classical period.
Mysteries of the Carpenter 
