Grandad's tools

[Steve Jenkins]

Thought I'd post a pick of the slick and chisel that belonged to my grandad that Dad gave me before he died. I don't know the age but Dad and grandad used them to build a boat in the early thirtys. They were both made by L & I.J.White, Buffalo N.Y. Steve

[Roger Bell]

These are wonderful tools, Steve, particularly the slick. L and IJ White were premium toolmakers. You might refer back a few posts to "Simple but Satisfying" submitted by Mr. Anderson where he shows and discusses something similar. These tools indeed deserve an honored and prominent place in your shop.

My own grandfather lived poor, died desitute, and left nearly nothing, but somehow thru my father I did end up with a single really beat up ball pein hammer with his carved initials HWB on the handle. It reminds me of a time, some fifty years ago, when I was very, very little....playing with geared Yankee drills in his one room, out back, one light bulb, dirt floor Model T garage where you smelled the sewer perpetually. Of everything in my own rather luxurious shop, this "crappy" hammer is the most treasured.

[Tyler Howell]

Roger you should write a book. Very touching!

Was able to catch some of my dad and grandmother's tools. Pretty special;)

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

I never met my Grandpa on my Dad's side of the family. He passed when my dad was just 13. He was a woodworker to some degree, and between my Dad and Uncle, they have quite a few of his tools. I am one of 4 sons, but the only woodworker. Dad told me I will be getting Grandpa's tools.........and if that is all I get someday, I will be happy. My Uncle, a retired Cabinetmaker and now hobbiest woodworker and carver, also has 4 sons, but none are into woodworking. He has hinted that he has a box of old stuff for me, and I am pretty sure what it is. To carry these tools into the 3rd generation of woodworking is special, beyond what money can buy. I will be honored to get to know the Grandpa I never met thru his tools................I don't think it gets any better than that! I will do ya proud Grandpa..........I know you will be watching. :)

[Greg Heppeard]

I too have a few of my Grandfather's old tools...They are put away in my shop and I run across them occassionally. I have to stop what I'm doing and pick them up and feel his presence and gain inspiration from them.

[James Carmichael]

I'm always amazed at folks who hand down treasures across multiple generations like that. I do have my grandfather's Ward Master jack plane and framing square and a Buck Bros gouge of my Dad's. Next time I see Dad, I'll have to ask him what the heck he was doing with a gouge.

[Greg Heppeard]

I think we should start a thread for people to post pics of their favorite tool that has been passed from generation to generation, what do you guys think?

[Richard Gillespie]

This thread has struck a cord with me. I've inherited my fathers tools and through him his grandfathers. My brother, thank God, has no interest in tools; so they came to me. My great grandfather was a cabinet maker, making furniture in Ohio until the great depression closed the factory. After that, he was a school janitor.

I've used his tools (draw knife, miter saw and box) in building the house I live in plus working on other peoples houses as a handyman. The antique tools he used have a solid feel to them and even though I never met the man I feel connected to him. My father's WWII Stanley #5 jack plane is one of my favorites, giving me the best results over the others I own. Yesterday, I was using his rip saw on some 6/4 poplar and getting very good results.

The only downside of this is my two sons have no interest in woodworking. I can only hope my grandson or granddaughters do.

[Greg Heppeard]

Richard,
Where was he from in Ohio? I'm originally from there and both grandfathers were actually in the woodworking trade. One was a journeyman carpenter and the other worked in a handle factory.

[Richard Gillespie]

Greg

My father's name was Richard A. Gillespie and he was born and raised in the 20' and 30's in Barberton Ohio. My great grandfather's name was Wilson Gillespie who worked at the Doylestown (spelling?) funiture factory until it closed. He passed away in 1941 before I was born.

[Greg Heppeard]

Greg

My father's name was Richard A. Gillespie and he was born and raised in the 20' and 30's in Barberton Ohio. My great grandfather's name was Wilson Gillespie who worked at the Doylestown (spelling?) funiture factory until it closed. He passed away in 1941 before I was born.

I'm sorry that I don't know where those are. My grandfathers' names were Lowell Heppeard (journeyman) from Celina, Ohio, died in '79 - age 73 and Jacob Sholler from Wapakoneta, Ohio, died '68 - age 88. I learned most from my grandpa Heppeard and have a few of his tools.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Well, I believe I gotta throw a twist into this thread! My Dad passed away less than a month ago, after a terrible bout of cancer. He was a carpenter and woodworker all of his life of 81 years (until this past December when sickness took over). I started in life as a carpenter, in 1977. I left the trade in 1989, and started a manufacturing business and have been there ever since.

Anyhow, I continued my carpentry pursuits and then woodworking pursuits. Over the past several decades I accumulated many, many tools--both user and collector grades. In an almost hilarious fashion, my Father would appropriate those items (some fairly new, some very old) he would never have purchased for himself (very frugal), taking them and telling he was "breaking them in". All were used and very well taken care of, and all will have a very much more special meaning for me when I finally am able to sort through his shop and bring them home.

[Steve Beadle]

As others have already said, this thread has also struck a chord with me. Although I have many used tools in my shop, very few of them are hand-me-downs from relatives. But those that are, are very special to me. My father was a carpenter all his life and had always intended that his sons take possession of his tools when he died. It would have been especially meaningful, since both my younger brother and I are avid woodworkers. But all Dad's tools slipped away when my stepmother's executor decided her brother should have them, and shipped them off to Canada. I would love to be able to go out in my shop and pick up one of Dad's hammers, or a simple little block plane, and commune with his memory. I do anyway, of course, but having a few of his tools would have been a special blessing. If any of my fellow woodworkers on the Creek have tools they have inherited, I hope they appreciate them. And we all should take thought about how we want our tools disposed of when we are gone, and get it down in writing!

[Michael Stafford]

I have some tools from both of my grandfathers. I have a cross- pein hammer that one Granddad used as a machinist in WWI and a set of riffler files that he used later. Both are displayed on my shop wall and kept free of dust in a place of honor. My father's dad, Pop left me with a couple of his hammers, a square, two handplanes, a drawknife, several handsaws, a froe and miscellaneous chisels. These tools are in the original handmade tool tote that Pop kept them in. I have them and the tote in a trunk in my shop and they remind me of when Pop taught me how to make a sled with some old 1x6's and the drawknife. Absolutely priceless to me...

[Keith Starosta]

When my Dad died two years ago, I inherited just about his entire shop. My Mom and sister kept a couple of things, mostly for sentimental purposes, but I brought home the rest. He had just retired from 30 years with the phone company, and was very, VERY excited about starting his "2nd career" as a more-than-hobbyist woodworker. The vast majority of his stuff had to be plugged in, but there were three old very well-used planes in the lot. I still need to clean them up a bit and get them sharpened. They belonged to his grandfather, and his father before that. I love and cherish everything about my (his) shop, but those sit on a special shelf just inside the door, where I see them everytime I go in and out.

Thanks, Steve, for starting this thread. Gotta love them memories.....

Keith

[Tony Zaffuto]

You know, how we interact with our families today will be what will make our kids and their kids memories 20, 30, 40 or 50 years from now. I think I learned more from those days of working with my Father, you know, those non-speaking times together including woodworking, hunting and fishing, then I ever did from any of his or my Mom's lectures!

Something said about the respect for tools and animate and inanimate objects. Something about always trying to do better than the last time and something about recognizing your mistakes and learning not to make them again.

Funny after how someone passes away all you have are memories and a few things that elicit memories. Fortunately, mine are all good. Hope my kid's memories are too!

[Michael Stafford]

Well said Tony, well said indeed. Don't take for granted what can be taken away in an instant. This lesson we learn as we get older.