The Mid-Victorian Elwell Catalogue of Forged Tools

A facsimile of a Victorian (1870) catalogue of this most important manufacturer of every imaginable forged tool, implement, and object: bill hooks, axes, adzes, hoes, hammers, chisels, anchors, eel spears, locomotive firing shovels, horseshoes and many more. The names of some of the tools indicate the world-wide customers the firm had: Russian miners hammers, Spanish bowl adzes, Australian half-bright chipping hoe, New Zealand sinking pick, Bechuana grubbing hoes, Peruvian hedge bills, to name a few. The detailed plates provide patterns for hundreds of bill hooks for which the company was well known, some 79 axes, 46 adzes, 120 hammers, 80 hoes, 135 shovel patterns, and thousands of other objects. An introduction by Richard Filmer gives a historical survey of the firm and goes into considerable descriptive detail about various items shown in the catalogue. The history of this forge and company is fascinating. When Edward Elwell took lease of Wednesbury Forge in 1817 (pictured in color on the front cover), the business prospered and expanded from edge tools into spade and shovel production. Although a new factory was built in the 1950s, the tradition of hand-forged tools still continues and Wednesbury Forge is busier then ever today! Hundreds of B&W images and tools