Special to the Crier
The Wayland Historical Society & Museum at the Grout-Heard House on Cochituate Road has a collection of interesting 18th- and 19th-century craft, farm and domestic tools that were used in the days before electric power.
One tool that looks like a mallet or a very large hammer was essential in wood joinery when raising a barn, house or other structure. That tool, known as a “beetle, “commander” or “persuader, was used to help attach one piece of wood framing to another, shift posts or beams, and drive in pegs. These heavy wooden mallets have the mass to move large beams and tighten or loosen mortise and tenon joints. That is, they “command” or “persuade” one piece of wood to fit into the opening on another piece of wood framing.