Using and Maintaining Your Vintage Tools

Like many house-owners I possess some of the tools essential for sorting out problems and making minor improvements around the house. Although this ‘work’ may not extend much beyond hanging pictures, changing plugs or tightening hinges and catches, the quantity of the equipment is considerable.

There is the ubiquitous power drill plus assorted screwdrivers, hammers, pliers, saws, spanners and Allen keys. And then there are gimlets, spirit levels, a power sander, set squares, gauges, wrenches, a power screwdriver, adjustable spanners, mallets, chisels, files, pincers and planes. Note the use of the plural – it seems one is never enough.

After rummaging through one toolbox yesterday to find an appropriately sized electrical screwdriver I started wondering how and why I had amassed this collection. I’m a typical, average, would-be handyman and like to think I can handle those basic repair jobs, but rarely have I embarked on anything more ambitious. So why all the tools? I concluded that, like many others, I cannot pass an opportunity to acquire another piece of kit even it is a just-in-case purchase. I realised I can justify this too. I remember very clearly as a youngster watching my father at work with a plane – he was quite good at making and fixing things around the house and garden – and how he impressed upon me the importance of having the right tool for the job. So that explains the multiple screwdrivers, hammers, etc. A specific job required a specific instrument. However, perhaps what I failed to pick up from him was that you have also to know how to apply the right tool in the right way if you want to get the right result! But I can work on that.

My collection consists mainly of modern tools of variable quality but I also have acquired hand tools from street markets – there is a particularly good stall in Bridport run by the Dawsons, who also sell vintage tools online at www.secondhandtools.co.uk/about.htmfew. A few tools were handed down through the family. My grandfather was a joiner and a great-grandfather was a skilled machinist. Like many professional artisans they had their own sets of tools, many made by themselves and a few of these, following disbursement, have found their way to me.

Despite my lack of experience and ability there is something special about holding a well-used, hand-crafted and beautiful hand tool. You hold it knowing it is truly unique. Add the family connection and there is a little magic at play. For a moment I am suddenly Grinling Gibbons!

Older hand tools are very collectable and there are numerous dealers and specialists, particularly in the UK and USA, who will buy and sell. I presume the buyers fall into one of two camps. There are those who just like vintage tools for their beauty and distinctiveness and those who see them as a useful, working tool for their workshop. I think it is particularly rewarding to see these tools remain in use and, with appropriate care, their longevity is assured. It is not unlike the perennial debate concerning classic cars – use them or cocoon them? There are those cars maintained in concourse condition but which remain unmoving, parked in an environment where the temperature and humidity is managed carefully and the public, if admitted, stand behind a rope. Of course they are a wonder to the eye and seemingly factory-fresh but there is something missing and it seems almost unfair to leave them there. [Rather like an animal caged in the zoo I believe they long to be given their freedom.] In my opinion the best cars are those that are driven as intended. Of course they are well looked after and maintained but they go out in the rain and the revs are pushed up towards the red when the opportunity arises. This approach recognises that they were built for a purpose and that was certainly not to remain static in a museum or collection.

The same applies to good tools. They deserve to be handled; to carve, gouge, saw, plane and hammer. Whatever your skill level or ambition cherish them, but use them.

If you need more advice then take a look at our Vintage Words of Wisdom title WoodworkTools and How to Use Them written by William Fairham and first published in 1925. Despite its ninety years it is packed with information on how to use your hand tools and maintain them in peak condition.

As this is the last blog post before the holidays, we would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Visit us in 2015 for more words of wisdom.

How to be a Motorist? Some Words to the Wise from the 1930s

In 1935 the driving test became compulsory for anyone wishing to hold a British driving licence and a rite of passage for adults, young and old alike, was established.

In the early days of motoring drivers were obliged to hold a licence but this was purchased at the local post office for 5 shillings (25p) and no test was involved. Anyone wishing to drive could simply buy a licence and drive off. The only risk was incurring a £5 fine if you failed to sign your licence in the appropriate place. When the test became compulsory the lucky existing licence-holders were considered experienced enough and were not obliged to go through the stress and anxiety of the exam.

It was just a few years later, in 1939, that William Heath Robinson collaborated with K.R.G. Browne to publish a book entitled How to be a Motorist. No doubt inspired by the scenes of the motoring masses – there were over 2 million vehicles on the road by then – and their resultant antics and madness, Heath Robinson addresses all aspects of motoring, from selecting a car through to etiquette on the highway. He explains, aided by numerous amusing illustrations, how the car works, undertaking simple repairs and how to go about touring the continent in your car, perhaps with your caravan attached.

In true Heath Robinson style there are Expandacars for the growing family, portable petrol pumps, and safety streets designed to minimise damage by and to the learner driver.  His imagination is extraordinary but the scenes are readily identifiable and familiar.

Browne’s narrative tackles those perennial topics of concern for the motorist: the law, and the inconsiderate behaviour of all other road-users from pedestrians and cyclists to farm animals!

On the law he says:

It is impossible to be both law-abiding and a car-owner!’, and continues with ‘the many pitfalls that await the free-born Englishman who has the confounded impudence (from the point of view of the policeman, the pedestrian and the cyclist) to be a motorist.

And on other road-users he warns of the unpredictable:

An Indian mahout, abruptly emerging from a side road, should be viewed with grave suspicion, as where there is a mahout there is very apt to be an elephant, than which there is no more damaging animal to be run into.

The book also alerts us to the perils of not paying attention whilst driving. In particular the distraction caused by an attractive member of the opposite sex. One can imagine that the authors would have enjoyed highlighting the distractions we encounter today – mobiles, texting, messaging and complex sat-navs – as well as the continuing lure of the opposite sex!

Much has changed since 1935. The number of vehicles on Britain’s roads has increased ten-fold. Cars are faster, safer, more efficient and more reliable. The driving test is more comprehensive. There are motorways and congestion zones.

Yet many of Heath Robinson and Browne’s observations remain true today. The problems of parking, envious glances at the neighbour’s new car, breakdowns and all those inconsiderate other road users that provoke annoyance and sometimes rage. They certainly recognise the latter for in conclusion they say,

And if, as a result of our labours in the cause of bigger and better motoring, a nationwide improvement in road-manners generally is not very shortly apparent, we shall both be profoundly grieved, but not – let’s face it – intensely surprised.

Here are some links to marvellous Huntley and British Pathé films about the driving test, driving safety and car gadgets from the 1930s. They make it clear why the driving test was necessary and provide a fascinating glimpse into the world of motoring in the early twentieth century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3ysancYiow

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/safety-first-no-1/query/Motorists

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/safety-first-no-2/query/Driving

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/safety-first-and-last/query/Driving

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/from-crocks-to-comfort/query/Driving+test

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/essex-mobile-police-in-action/query/Motorists

How to be a Motorist is one of four titles published in the 1930s by Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne. The other three books (also available from Words to the Wise – see our Products page) are How to Live in a Flat, How to be a Perfect Husband and How to Make your Garden Grow. In addition, for the driver who also golfs, we offer you Humours of Golf by Heath Robinson.

How to be a Perfect Husband? The Answer from a Man's Perspective!

I think this drawing from How to be a Perfect Husband by William Heath Robinson and K.R. G. Browne conveys the image that most people have of women in the inter-war years. The dramatic change that swept through society at the end of the First World War was nowhere more evident than in the emergence of the 'new woman'. She was sporty, she smoked, she had short hair, wore trousers (and shorts) and, after 1928 if she was over 21, she could vote. We also know from our title Sky Roads of theWorld that, like Amy Johnson, she may have gone to university, she may be learning to fly and she would also have the right to get divorced.

So, like the puzzled husband in the background of the drawing above, where did the confident new woman leave men? Surprisingly, marriage was actually on the increase in the 1920s and 30s. However, during a period of dramatic social change for women the role of the married man was clearly a confusing one. Also, the depression at the beginning of the 1930s caused a fair amount of marital strife, what with men out of work and no money coming in, and led to the development of marriage counselling for the first time. Although How to be a Perfect Husband is obviously meant to be a humorous book it is interesting to see this confusion cropping up in both text and cartoons. As Heath Robinson and Browne point out, although a great deal had been written on advice for the newly married woman, little (apart from sex manuals disguised as marriage guidance books) had been written about relationships for men. So, it is also probable that our authors are gently mocking the contemporary attempts to navigate the tricky changes in the relationship between husband and wife.

One other change after the First World War also made married life a challenge. Interestingly, as highlighted in How to Live in a Flat, for the first time in the 1920s and 30s newly-weds were also much more likely to have to navigate married life without the support of servants. Therefore, many domestic tasks like cooking and childcare would have had to be done for the first time by the middle-class wife without help or training, and Heath Robinson shows her being taught to fritter a banana by her husband (though why he would know how to cook is not explained!). But,

as some lady in black bombazine and a bonnet with bugles will almost certainly demand – what about the husband, hey? Does he contribute nothing to the success or failure of the deal? Is his life to be roses, roses all the way, while his wife turns somersaults at his command and wears her pretty fingers to the bone to keep him neatly underclothed and socked?

Not by a long shot, lady. As I have already implied, give-and-take is the thing that matters, and the wise husband knows that he, too, must play his part if his home-life is not to degenerate into a species of running dog-fight. There are many little ways in which, without unduly exerting himself or missing his nightly mug of buttermilk at the “Archdeacon’s Arms”, he can make himself useful about the house and earn a reputation for thoughtfulness that will stand him in good stead whenever he wishes to touch his mother-in-law for a fiver.

In Heath Robinson’s drawings we do indeed see husbands who make valiant efforts to pull their weight with household chores and childcare:

However, working conditions in the home remained very hard. Cleaning, washing and cooking took up a great deal of time so, without servants, life became very difficult for many women. This is probably why some men felt the need to help with domestic chores and why Heath Robinson includes cartoons showing men assessing the health and strength of their prospective brides! Thankfully, the invention of new electrical appliances such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners slightly improved the working conditions of housewives in the 1930s. This too is reflected in the illustrations as Heath Robinson demonstrates his considerable talent for devising solutions to every-day challenges in the home. As he points out, anyone can build a vacuum cleaner:

On the other hand, there are some distressing echoes of an earlier Edwardian attitude to marriage and, in particular, courtship.

Refraining, then, from proposing to the first wench who throws him a beckoning glance, the beginner should decide what type of wife he needs. Of girls, as of gin, gooseberries, and gas-meters, there are several varieties – among others, the Sporting, the Studious, the Athletic, the Beautiful, the Thick-Ankled, and the Completely Dumb. (From one point of view, the last-named make the most satisfactory wives, being solid ivory from the neck up and consequently ready to believe anything; but as companions for a lifetime they are not so hot.)

But I am inclined to forgive Heath Robinson and Browne their occasional lapse into a Jeeves and Wooster style of female appraisal because, for the most part, they preach tolerance, patience and consideration as the cornerstones of a happy marriage. For them the perfect husband navigates the ups and downs of marriage with a calm demeanour and an amused detachment – as long as he is allowed off the leash occasionally. They sensibly acknowledge, of course,

…that when strife breaks out in the home and the air becomes thick with harsh words, recriminations, and (in extreme cases) crockery, the little woman is hardly ever to blame. It would appear, in short, that What is Wrong with Marriage is almost invariably the husband.

How to be a Perfect Husband is written from the man’s perspective but it will bring much amusement to both husbands and wives (or those planning to become one or the other). This title, along with the other three ‘How to…’ titles by Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne includes a foreword by Geoffrey Beare, Trustee of the William Heath Robinson Trust. A percentage of the revenue from sales of these ebooks is being donated to the Trust as a contribution to their fund for building a Heath Robinson museum in North London. See our Facebook page for a link to the Trust’s website.