Blog RSS

Mike and I just posted a video about our upcoming online course on restoring antique tools. We’re on the home stretch with this thing – more information coming soon… -Joshua

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

  Mike and I have been busy in the shop lately restoring a pile of old tools. We’re tuning up derelict planes, sharpening and straightening saws, and rehandling various tools. Whenever we get to set aside some time like this to bring old tools back to life, we find it such an invigorating process. Saws were designed to sing, not to hang as relics on a wall. Around these parts of Maine, we find old tools in need of TLC all over the place. I’d be willing to bet there are more antiques stores on Route 1 than there are stop signs. Mainers expect to find decent user planes for $15-25 a piece. Most require no more than an hour...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

I stopped by the legendary Liberty Tool Co. the other day when my family was passing through town. It’s always a delight to dig through the bins and shelves on a kind of treasure hunt for pre-industrial tools. It is difficult to leave empty-handed. The shelves were packed full for our visit, and I was glad to have the assistance of my kids in carrying out the afternoon’s haul. There’s always a spectrum of tools to dig through, and two that I found illustrate that spectrum well. First is this sad bevel-edged chisel. Socket chisels often show damage from hammering without a handle in place, but I have never before seen one so abused. After this one lost its handle,...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

Recently, dozens of coopered vessels from three museums in Austria were analyzed for their growth-ring secrets. Wooden vessels, ubiquitous items a century ago, were often fashioned from staves rived from a single tree. Even though each individual stave might be small, featuring just a few growth rings, researchers found that they could visualize a model of the original chunk of wood by virtually plotting out the growth rings – kind of like putting together a complex puzzle. About half of the vessels studied were successfully dated (ranging from 1612-1940), but even more information was gathered on the methods of early coopers. Especially notable was the lack of wasted material when the craftsman split out staves – even after shaping with...

From the M&T Daily Dispatch 

Issue Fourteen is in the House!