Tool and related hand downs

[semenza]

Hi,

        A post in another topic that I started got me thinking about this.   What tools and related items, knowledge etc. do you have that were handed down from an older generation?

        For me a big influence was my grandfather.   I had one tool from him, his cross cut hand saw. It really did cut well. I lost it either at the lumber yard (were I was precutting some stuff to go in the truck) or off the truck on the way home.  I retraced the drive and checked at the yard but to no avail. 15 years later it still bothers me that I don't have it    
       I do have some other things too-  He had several businesses in the Spring Valley NY area, and owned a large chunk of land there. One of the businesses was a  lumber  yard.  And he developed about half of his land himself. Selling the materials for houses that he designed. Many with an eye toward first time buyers and designs to get them started off with out huge mortgages.  This took place over several decades about 1930 - 70.  I have the original blueprints and development plot layouts.  It was mind blowing when I recently visited relatives in Spring Valley, still living in the first house in the development that he started.  At that time the area was true countryside.  My mother remembers riding her horse through the wooded hills and the like. The last time I had been there I was five or six (now  41)  The mind blowing part was driving around on the public roads that he had built and that he named and are on my blueprints.   It is of course completely developed now.  But many locations ,buildings ( including my grandfathers house) , etc  that I have heard about in all the old stories are still there.
      He was also an continual thinker and idea guy. Finding new ways to do things efficiently. Jigs and fixtures were definetly right on his list. I remember assembling slats for bee hives with him using a jig when I was a kid.  I have some of his notes that came from a stack of books , magazines, and the like that were ever present by his living room chair.  Many of the notes have to do with building, including on ways to get the best use (design wise) out of materials, and streamline the process,   for building a small shed.  A shed that I helped him build on my parents property when I was twelve.  I few years ago I added another one on my parents property using the same principles but with newer materials and tools.
       The most important thing he handed down to me was how (not what) to think and figure things out. Along with basic mechanical physics. You know like how can I move that 500# whatever by myself.  I am certain he would fully appreciate the design and use of Festool products I wish I could share them with him.

     How about the rest of you?  There must be a ton of good hand me down tool stories floating around out there.

Seth

srs

 

[Paul Franklin]

Seth

That is a great story. My father was a cabinet maker. But it was hard to get info from him, he did not want me to follow him. I wish we had more time together so I could have learnt a lot more.

I am excited for my young son, who is into wood turning, (I tried but not as talented as him he is 12) but since an article ran about him in the local paper, we have had a couple of calls from some great people, one in particular, an older gentleman called to say he would like to take him under his wing and teach him bowl turning. We will be visiting him in a couple of weeks. I told him this type of thing only happens once in a very long time.

As for tools, I have both my fathers and grand fathers Stainley #45 planes, and several old wooden body planes.

Paul

 

[Wim]

Nice story.
There is not much that was handed down to me. Most of the family was in metal or accounting. But one uncle had a furniture workshop. I have learned just a few things from him. Because I was not really interested in woodworking at that time (I was also in metal, shipbuilding), I just remembered a few things from him.
He was very precise and extremely patient. When he finished some furniture with French polish, you could comb your hair in the reflection. When he died, the large equipment was sold and just a few handtools went to a nephew, who helped him from time to time.
But he started my interest in woodworking and one thing, he learned me, is still routine with me.
When I cut wood, I "break" the edges, with a small handplane or a piece of sandpaper. He used to say that it was nicer to the touch, less chance for splinters and paint or stain wil not "creep" from the sharp edges. It is a fraction of a millimeter, but you can certainly feel it.
I still regret it that I have not spend more time with him, he was very friendly and willing to explain everything to me.

 

[dirtydeeds]

wim

your explanation of "breaking" we term it "easing" is good

the bit that slightly confuses me is that easing the arris STOPS the paint creeping (away) from the sharp edge

im a carpenter not a painter and have slight hesitation in understanding the comment on the paint

i work in buildings from 60 to in excess of 200 years old, the most usual problem is doors and windows

thy have been decorated so often that the arrisses have massive build ups of paint to the extent that they bind or wont close / open.    the exact opposite of what you mean, the paint builds up on the arrises (its called "nibs")

my question is........... is this a case of poor prepping by each painting crew, ie are they just not removing the nibs and it simply builds up

to be fair on professional painters (im a tradesman as well) customers here will not pay for "burning off" old paint so it compounds the nib problem at each repaint

this problem is compounded on exteral doors and windows when customers only get an external OR and internal repaint job

cowboy painters are different, they ALWAYS "bump" doors............. (ie gloss a glossed door with NO preparation)

some cowboys are so shameless i even saw a utube video one time showing how to do it  ??? ( i cant find it now)

england being england, "bumping a door" also means opening a door without using a key.......... illegal entry

 

[dirtydeeds]

a bit more back on track

the last carpenter in our family was my great grandfather, he was a master carpenter and will have finished his apprentiship around 1880's or 1890's none of his tools exist, the collective family memory has forgotten his name

my grandfather was a diy bodger before the terms existed

dad didnt do diy altough he taught me how to wire a plug, one or two of his tools are scattered about the family but nothing of note although helen still uses his gardening hoe

 

[neoshed]

my grandfather was a diy bodger before the terms existed

Ditto mate.

My dad is/was a production engineer, I'm a architect. I never had any real influence in woodworking but I was rather good at it in school. We still joke about the differences in tolerances. I'm happy to be within a couple of mm for rough carpentry.

 

[Wim]

@DD, I'm not an experienced painter or stainer, in fact I even don't like painting. But in my experience, if you paint or stain wood with a sharp edge, it looks like the paint or stain is not "following the corner". It looks like the coating at the edge is thinner. You have to put on multiple coats to overcome this.