Australian Wood Review – September 2019

http://www.woodreview.com.au 63

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

Folding rule

Based on that other elegant tool, the stick, the rule has marks

regularly on it. The oldest measuring rod found may date from

2650 BC (in copper alloy) and many ancient examples are

accurate to 0.1mm. From around 1800, folding rules gradually

became ubiquitous in aprons, nailbags and toolboxes. By

the 1930s, the two-handed operation of the folding rule was

largely superseded by the tape measure convenient for single

handed measuring.

This example is a Stanley No.66-3/4 late SW fully brass-bound

model in boxwood with brass fittings. It was offered between

1902 and 1942. It is a three-feet, arched joint, four-fold rule

one inch wide and graduated in 8ths and 16ths of inches.

I shudder to think how much boxwood has been harvested

unsustainably around the world for their manufacture since

the 1850s. Many rules were made from ivory, yet are hard to

consider elegant because of their brutal history

Spokeshave

This 10-1/4” long boxwood round bottom
patternmakers spokeshave with a friction fit steel
blade has a refined grace in appearance and a
comfortable correctness of form in its use. Perhaps
100 years ago, this tool was made in a workshop,
probably in Britain, in a batch of up to a dozen.
Each wooden handle was individually fitted with
its own cutter and both marked with the same
roman numeral, in this case VIII. The boxwood is
very resilient, and the cutter usually needs little
more than a hone; this shave is unlikely to be made
redundant by a better tool and will serve elegantly
for another century.

Patternmakers created, in wood, an accurate

shape of an object to be cast in metal. The

delicacy of this tool promotes the kind of

precise work required; just to pick it up

makes the user think in terms of thin

shavings and small increments.

Hammers

Can a hammer be considered elegant? They can be brutes,

can be ugly and may be used inelegantly. However; I say

yes and offer these two tack, patternmakers, saddlers,

trimmers or card hammers (as they may be) as proof.

The larger is 9-1/2”, strapped and sweet. The smaller

is 4-1/2” long and as cute as an insect’s ear. It could be

a jeweller’s hammer. The hammer is another tool that

developed from the stick; dating from the day someone

tied a rock to one. Almost every trade has its own hammer

and they take on their own elegance in use when swung

by someone experienced in that trade. The sight of one

well cocked, arcing perfectly and striking its target with

explosive force is a delight to behold.

Here’s to hammers, one of the few tools to have its own

emoji on your phone.