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.