Links
Misc Websites:
German billhooks - the excellent page from Wikipedia for hippe (in German) but can be translated on-line with Google etc: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippe_(Gartenbau)
Portugese foicinhas, foices (sickles), podoa & podão (pruning hooks)
http://clientes.netvisao.pt/tipico/museu/alfaias/alfaias_foices.htm
Vitorex - Portugese edge tools - catalogue of current stock items
http://www.vitorex.eu/catalogo.php?familia_id=8
The forum 'Outils Anciens' in France is a must for any one with an interest in old tools. If you do not speak French, use of Google translate will allow you to understand the gist of the text - the images speak for themselves: http://outils-anciens.xooit.fr/index.php
One of the members of the Outils Anciens website (pseudo: MICHEL66) has an excellent blog displaying his collection of old tools and 'art populaire': http://&mvieux-outils-art-populaire.blogspot.co.uk/ His collection, based in Languedoc Roussillon. in the south of France, is superb.
Another member of the Outils Anciens forum (pseudo:gepeto) real name Bernard Gout, has an excellent website called SPAR (La Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Artisanal et Rural). More a centre for information than a personal collection, the site is dedicated to the preservation of old tools and folk art; to eliminate its loss through neglect or lack of knowledge and to conserve what remains. France, unlike the UK, is rich in its 'patrimoine' - its heritage of everyday objects.
This site is maintained by Perzig, another member of the Outils Ancien forum, who lives in Lorraine, in northern France: http://art-populaire.fr/
Another excellent French website devoted to tools and art populaire: Objets d'Hier, which appears to have two alternative addresses: http://www.citedesarts.com/index.php or http://www.objetsdhier.com/index.php
List of blacksmiths including edge tool makers,from many counties of the UK and (former) British colonies: http://blacksmiths.mygenwebs.com/index.php
Taillandiers de la Fure - French article in Terrain, No 6 March 1986, on the edge tool makers on the river Fure in Isère (near Grenoble).
http://terrain.revues.org/2895
Metal Connexion - French forum for blacksmniths and edge tool makers.
http://metal-connexion.fr/forum/forgeron-taillandier-la-forge-d-ageio-hautes-pyrenees-t314.html
Forges et Martinets - French water mills website (images of tilt hammers etc)
http://moulinafer.free.fr/Martinet.htm
German carpenter and tool collector, Christan Peglow, shows some of his collection of tools
http://hobelaxt.wordpress.com/
Bücherei des Deutschen Gartenbaues (German Horticultural Library) in Berlin - one of the custodians, Clemens Wimmer, has a special interest in the history of European billhooks.
http://www.historischegaerten.de/Gartenbaubuecherei/
Clemens has produced two excellent articles in German on billhooks - these are available from him for 6 euros each including postage.
The first, Die Häpe, was published in Zandera No 23 in 2008. The second, Zur Geschichte der Hippe, was published in Topiaria Helvetica in 2009.
The Museum of Old Techniques (Museum voor de Oudere Technieken) at Grimbergen, in the Flemish area of Belgium, just north of Brussels, has useful website in Dutch, French and English - although some pages revert to Dutch only..
There are many American website devoted to old tools. Here are a few of my favourites:
What is it?? a weekly quiz-site run by Rob Hartman of unusual tools and objects
Mid West Tool Collectors Association
Martin J Donnelly - an auction site, but usually some excellent items on show
Early American Industries Association (EAIA)
Not strictly American, but from North America:
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