Medieval armorers used multi-tool-like devices similar to the one shown here to adjust and repair plate armor worn by knights. That's a screwdriver blade at lower right.
Many familiar carpentry tools and materials have ancient roots. As author Witold Rybczynski points out in his engaging One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw (Touchstone Books, 2000), squares, plumb lines, chalk lines, levels, and toothed saws were all well-known to the builders of the Egyptian pyramids. Chisels, axes, hammers, and nails date back at least to the Bronze Age. The Romans invented the plane and forged-iron nails, and relied on nuts and bolts to assemble the portable wooden A-frames used for lifting heavy objects.Somehow, though, the Romans never developed the screw. The first known...