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where his father was a carpenter in the
Denniston mine, and then in Westport,
where Dennis was a paperboy. The ships
in Westport Harbour were on his fDennis’s favourite tool
Dennis was much taken by Emil Nye’s
list of his favourite tools in The Shed
Issue No. 85. Dennis’s favourites
are the King Dick–brand adjustable
spanners in a variety of sizes from
about 100mm to 250mm in length.
They were made in England and
patented in the 1880s. One has
“British Made” stamped on it.
He considers that they are superior
to the US variety such as the Crescentbrand because they have larger
jaws which open wider and are
more stable. I had a look through
my tool drawers and found three of
the smaller type. Two are marked
“British Made”, the third is stamped
“Shelly”. I buy these when I see them
because they are part of the tool-kit
which Austin Seven cars were sold
with before World War II. I don’t
know why they aren’t still made.
Too expensive?I have since visited
Dennis half a dozen
times and on only
one of these visits did
one of his large range
of friends not arrive
while I was there