I prefer to use the term “Taking care” instead “Restoring” when dealing with old tools. I don’t know, but I don’t agree with the last concept, at least at the way I understand it. Seems to me Restoration pretends to bring back old things to the same condition when they just were leaving the factory or when the building was just being completed by its builders. If there is something I deeply appreciate on old things (Old tools in my case), it’s the imprint of time, that natural aging when things befall in a long period of time.
The other day I was watching a PBS program, there was a man with an interesting old car, one of those cars that have receive the proper maintenance and care, without unnecessary excesses, for its 50, 60 years of service; there was some superficial rust on the body surfaces, faded colors for years of light exposure, a few things broken here and there, but in the whole picture a nice car still servicing its owner; The reporter asked the man: Are you going to restore the car?, to what the man said: “I can’t! I can’t erase all the stories, all the memories, they are the life of the car”. It could sounds extreme, but it’s necessary to be extreme when you are defining a concept. When I started “cleaning” some of the first old tools I had, at the end, I had that same sad feeling, to have removed from the tool something so beautiful, so true…
I’m not interested in religions about old tools, I am not interested of making of them idols to serve and praise, much less to gain an elite status because I collect or want to know more about old tools. I am a woodworker; I use all my tools, in my hands they are still alive, the aging process continues. No glass doors here. I’m a Galoot, not because there are five grants planes on my shelve, but because my appreciation, respect and gratefulness for the craftsmans and trades from the past. I prefer to appreciate what I can’t have, instead of having what I don’t know how to appreciate” somembody said.
Similar Stanley Totes. From left to right: Type 7 broken tote, Type 8 original, Type 8 repared (originally found in the same condition as the first one), Lie Nielsen Large Scraper Tote.
-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.
7 comments so far
PurpLev
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2746 posts in 543 days
posted 229 days ago
AMEN to THAT!
;o)
I sometimes feel sad when I see a sale for a nice plane on eBay that will go and be placed on some shelf of a collector where it will never be used, nor gain any new experiences and stories… which is what it was meant to be for.
-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.
Moai
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721 posts in 287 days
posted 228 days ago
R I P.
-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.
Chris
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1469 posts in 885 days
posted 228 days ago
Why did you and post that picture? now I’m both jealous and sad….. :(
-- Chris
Chris
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1469 posts in 885 days
posted 228 days ago
BTW The Large plumb bob in the upper right corner of the picture looks more like an artillery shell; that thing’s huge!
-- Chris
blackcherry
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730 posts in 717 days
posted 228 days ago
Mr.’er ging-a-ling the keeper of the key’s!!!!
Moai
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721 posts in 287 days
posted 228 days ago
Chris, the picture is from The Handplane Book, by Garret Hack. To me is a bit sad to see so many nice tools behind glass doors, when they should be in the hands of Lumberjocks and still making shavings.
-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.
knotscott
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528 posts in 270 days
posted 223 days ago
That’s an amazing rack of old planes and tools. No doubt there are a ton of largely unknown stories about each one’s past, but I’ll bet there’s even a story of how each was acquired!