| | 09/28/2016 | 
Sometime in the early 1980's Thomas Lie-Nielsen, who worked for a short time at Garret Wade, the famous toolshop started in the 1970's in New York City, took over Wisner Tool company from the founder Ken Wisner and moved back to Maine to start the great and wonderful Lie-Nielsen Toolworks that we all know and love today. I have always been told that the first product of LN was a bronze copy of the Stanley 95, an edge plane. Here is a link to a PDF of a 1978 Wisner Signature Tools brochure where we learn that in addition to the 95 Wisner offered a modern copy of a Stanley 66 Scraper plane as well as a corner chisel.
The interesting thing about the Stanley 66 is that LN does make a fairly close cast copy of the 66. The Wisner version wasn't a casting, it featured a bent metal body which I have never seen in the flesh. I have no idea how well it worked but it is a really interesting design approach. My guess is that very few made it out the door but that could have been for bunches of reasons.
Another interesting factoid about this brochure is that it was distributed by "The Tool Works" another NYC tool company that I have never heard of. Apparently Garret Wade didn't have an exclusive.
Download the brochure here.
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Read some where a while back that Chris Schwarz also worked for Garret Wade for a short time.
;Box construction and hardwood drawer's simple to finish without power tools. Fine woodworking and the first Wooden Boat publications carried adds for these and other awesome Makers and Tools.