A bit of grandfather in my shop

[Devon Prescott]

Saturday I got up very early and starting sorting and organizing. I tackled the various forstner bit boxes - I have a few bits I have bought (project specific or on sale too cheap to pass on) and a large set of my grandfather's bits. Grandpa passed in 2009 at 99 years old.

I was cleaning his bits with a stiff bristled brush when it occurred to me - I have never used those bits. That sawdust was leftover from grandpa.

I started looking closely at his old bits -they are mostly Chinese but decent. Over half of them show what look like some file marks on them from hand sharpening -something that I would not have noticed 10 years ago.

In a way I think keeping his bits separate from mine was a kind of denial that he is gone. Grandpa taught me a lot of what I know about working wood and metal including a love for creating.

I sorted them together with mine all in one drawer finally.

I used one of them later that day to make some bolt clearance holes in a hockey puck (mounting my flex shaft post to my side bench with a rubber puck in between). I ordered some inexpensive Chinese metric bits ($23 for a full set of carbide bits) and I will sort them all together when they arrive.

They are all my bits now and if they are going to get dusty again I will have to do it.

[Frederick Skelly]

I understand. Hang in there Devon.

I have one too (a hand plane) from my granddad that made it to my shop. I think there's no better way to remember him than by putting it to use.

Fred

[Bob Glenn]

Sadly, I only have one wooden clamp and a bowsaw from my grandfather, who was an immigrant from Sweden and made a living as a wood worker. My sister has his old work bench which I have tried to get, however, she says her husband uses it. Ya right, the last time I saw it in their garage it was being used to store cardboard boxes piled almost to the ceiling.

[Bill Carey]

Interesting - the opposite end of this discussion is in another thread about what preparation us old dogs make for leaving our tools and shops to someone when the plug gets pulled. And what it's really about for us, I suppose, is this thread - having my son or grandson or great grand son using one of my planes or chisels and reminiscing about our time together while he works will warm my heart whenever I wind up. I keep my Dad's slide rule in the shop and use it now and again, and on occasion when going for a walk I'll take my grandfathers shillelagh with just have him around. Grand memories that at times come unbidden into my thoughts, and I wind up doing some math or going for a walk.

[Devon Prescott]

I appreciate the kind words - frankly, I 'talk to' my grandpa sometimes when I start a project. Not often out loud, but I seek his approach - I plumb my memories for any applicable inherited wisdom about my steps, etc. (I have a project on the in-feed table right now that I could use his wisdom on - he was a retried machinist and a hobby woodworker and I need both sides of his brain for what I have in mind)

I'm just old enough to be in touch with both sides of this one now. I didn't get a lot of grandpa's tools, but I got what I really need - memories of his approach and work ethic. I tend to be a tool snob and seeing "China" stamped on those bits, and they way he sharpened them up made me realize that it is far more about the Crafts-person than it is about the tools. He could have gotten a lot more done with those humble tools than I could get done with top-end Teutonic cyro-treated steel-of-the-month tools.

I'm not sure about the next generation being interested in my tools, but I am going to try and have them clean, sharp and well labeled when that time comes so that they can find their way to someone who wants them.