In the first volume of the Hand Tools in History series, Davistown Museum curator H. G. Skip Brack takes readers on a journey through the pyrotechnics of ancient and modern ferrous metallurgy. Citing major archaeometallurgists, he explores steel- and toolmaking from the early Iron Age through the Renaissance and then covers the technological innovations that led to the Industrial Revolution, the factory system of mass production, and development of 19th century bulk steelmaking processes. Brack discusses the historical diversity of steelmaking strategies and the important role they played in the florescence of American ironmongers and toolmakers in the 18th & 19th centuries. The volume includes an extensive bibliography of resources. History and tool buffs, blacksmiths, and anyone interested in steel- and toolmaking and the evolution of America's maritime and industrial economy will find Brack's work invaluable.
About the Author: H. G. "Skip" Brack is the founder and curator of the Davistown Museum and proprietor of and buyer for the Jonesport Wood Company, which deals in antique and used tools and includes the famed Liberty Tool Company in Liberty, Maine. Artifacts and information that Brack encountered on his tool buying expeditions in the attics, cellars, and workshops of coastal New England piqued his curiosity, raising questions about its early inhabitants and the tools they used. When he discovered that the information he sought to answer his questions was sketchy, inaccurate, or undocumented, Brack sought and scoured primary and secondary sources on the history of early coastal New England, focusing on the origins and composition of tools used by early New Englanders and New England First Nation communities. His publications include the Davistown Museum six volume Hand Tools in History series, Norumbega Reconsidered: Mawooshen and the Wawenoc Diaspora, and much of the text on the information-rich museum website www.davistownmuseum.org. Brack holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts and M.A. from the University of Colorado. His knowledge of early tools and Maine/New England maritime history makes him a sought after lecturer and consultant. Brack, the museum, and his tool stores have been featured in Yankee, Downeast, and Bangor Metro magazines, the Boston Globe, an Associated Press article that appeared world-wide, Maine Public Broadcasting Network's Maine Experience, and the Martha Stewart television show. He lives and works in Bar Harbor and Liberty, Maine, with his wife, Judith Bradshaw Brown.