Nicholson tools

About Nicholson

Nicholson is a name tied to two very different American toolmaking traditions: the 18th-century Wrentham, Massachusetts planemaking family, whose members marked work "I. Nicholson in Wrentham," and the later Rhode Island file and saw business of the same name. The earliest work here is the group of yellow birch moulding planes, among the first planes made in New England, alongside twentieth-century hand saws in lines such as "The Three Hundred" and "The Five Hundred." On the old planes, a crisp readable maker's stamp, full length with little loss to the toe or heel, clean birch free of worm and checks, and an intact original iron matter most. For the saws, stainless steel blades, etched brands still legible, unfiled or lightly sharpened teeth, and tight handle fit separate near-mint examples from working ones.