A gloat over an ancient tool

[Frank Pellow]

In coming up with my tool inventory that I talked about last week, there were a few tools for which I could not identify the country of origin. One of these was William Thornton’s Screwdriver (picture attached).

William Thornton was my wife’s grandfather and we know that he gave this screwdriver to his son Bert Thornton in in the early 1930s and that it was old at that time. It came in a BIG wooden toolbox and I still have that toolbox as well (at Pellow’s Camp).

I inherited the toolbox and screwdriver (the only tool left in the box) in the early 1970s and I have put both those items to good use since then.

William Thornton’s screwdriver is just about my most versatile tool. Here is list of the ways that I can remember having used it:

1. screwdriver
2. pry bar
3. hammer
4. paint can opener
5. paint stir stick
6. chisel
7. clamp
8. awl (to poke holes in canvas when rigging a sail for our canoe)
9. plumb bob
10. hook (hammered into tree to hold up various things)
11. marker stick
12. fish exterminator
13. jammed into the crack between two rocks in order to tie up a boat
14. tent peg
15. tent peg extractor
16. ice pick
17. fire poker

I am sure that there are others that I have forgotten, and I bet that both William and Bert Thornton could add to the list.

By the way, many of the unusual uses came about because the screwdriver was in my fishing tackle box for about 10 years. Now it has a place of honour in my new workshop.

[Tim Morton]

Nice one!!! Looks a little worn out though...maybe you should get a nice new shiny one with a plastic handle at the borg

[John Hart]

I especially like Use #10. It earned it's place of honor.

[scott spencer]

Frank, the Smithsonian has been looking for one of those....now that they know where to find it, I'm sure they'll be calling soon!

Nice story....thanks for sharing!

[Jason Tuinstra]

7. clamp

Frank, I think I can visualize all of them except for #7. Can you help me out on this one a bit. BTW, very funny!

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, I think I can visualize all of them except for #7. Can you help me out on this one a bit. BTW, very funny!

When I was installing pine tongue and groove florring on the main room in my cabin, I placed the screwdriver at about a 60 degree angle behind a scrap board with a groove that, in turn, was inserted into the the tongue of the board I was nailing into place. I then hammered the screwdriver into into the plywood below, then raised it to 90 degrees in order to clamp things in place while I nailed in the pine board.

I hope that my rather long-winded explanation of a simple operation makes sense.