Australian Wood Review – September 2019

Elegance: the state or quality of being elegant: refined grace or

propriety; tasteful correctness; ingenious simplicity; neatness;

said of form, movement, style (OED).

M

any tools appeal to me as elegant. A number of tools

used by woodworkers achieved a pinnacle of form and

function in the 18th and 19th centuries and have remained

little changed since. The best ones look fine, are comfortable

to hold and and are ideal for their intended use. Tasteful,

ingenious simplicity. Some tools I don’t evaluate as elegant

because they are too ornate, others have their elegance

compromised by their manufacture or materials.

Well-made tools remain elegant after decades of use,

their tasteful correctness enhanced by signs of wear and

attractive patina. Most working sheds and wood shops

have good examples that spark delight, if not joy, in their

users and owners. They have style; in the words of English

novelist, Howard Spring, who appreciated Georgian

architecture, ‘There’s sense in style. People think it’s an

extra, but it isn’t. It’s the thing.’

There is an elegance in using hand tools to gauge plumb, to

mark and measure, to shave and smooth timber, to cut and

fix it. They don’t need to be expensive and are better to

exhibit a certain frugality. The tools I have chosen appeal

to me greatly for these reasons and are all within reach

from my workbench.

Photos: Duncan Nisbet

62 Australian Wood Review

Elegant Tools

Duncan Nisbet shows how beauty of form can derive from

time proven effectiveness in function.

Main image: The author’s Stanley plane collection includes tools from the

1870s. It is 150 years since Leonard Bailey granted exclusive manufacturing

rights to Henry Stanley, founder of Stanley Rule & Level (1857).