My Tools |
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I recently gave some thought to the hand tools I have acquired over my working life as a Boatbuilder. Tools are the extension of a craftmans limbs and brain. That which makes that piece of wood, that baulk of timber, that plank, into an object that fits the use of man. These tools have served me well for the better part of 35 years. It is not a collection, it is the accumulation of my working life as a Boatbuilder/Shipwright. Each tool has a story, a history of its own. How I learned that I needed a particular tool. How I learned what was a good tool and what was a poor tool for the job at hand. How I was fortunate to to acquire a particular tool. Judgement based upon the years of apprenticeship and journeymans life all contributed to the appreciation and understanding of the value and use of each tool in the kit of a craftsman. Yes, there is the appreciation for the tool makers that created the tool. But, that would be a waste if not for the individuals that spent those long hours learning to use the works created by the toolmaker. In the yards a tool was regarded as, well a tool, until it came into the hands of the workman. Then it took on a life, a personality and in a short time the tool had been tuned so that it fit only one person. The plane handle shaved just a bit so that the hand with the long broken and healed fingers would fit comfortably and allow the control needed by that person. Each tool fit the owner and in the hands of another would feel clubby and out of balance. Tools such as hammers,top mauls and adzes would have the handles shaped to fit the man using them and again would not work well for someone else. A tall man would need an adze handle several inches longer than a shorter person and the hang of the head would have to be adjusted for the longer handle. That adze would work poorly, if at all in the hands of someone else. A plane with the frog adjusted just so for those woods most likely to be used. The tote made bigger for that extra bit of leverage and the handsaw handle pared so that ripping a plank would not raise blisters on the back of the thumb. The names of long gone tool makers are still visable on most of my tools. Who remembers the names of Cambell Bros. for adzes or Drew for caulking irons and Black Mesquite caulking mallets or Atha for hammers, top mauls or Heller for blacksmith tools or L&IJ White for chisels, plane irons or James Swan for slicks and chisels or D.R.Barton for broad axes, slicks and adzes. The above made tools were elegant yet purposeful and of high quality. The same cannot be said for most of the hand tools being made today. Too bad, or so says I. |