Jim’s Project

For the past few months my husband James has been driving me and his family crazy with his latest project: researching and assembling a vast array of hand woodworking tools.

He’s got some rarer pieces in there, that he’s taken apart, cleaned and oiled, like the bit brace and “eggbeater.” I believe those are from the 1950’s.

This should show the entire set, which he photographed last night (right), the augur bit box (that I’ve absconded with and it sits on the mantel right across from my desk). I could care less about the bits, I just like the box. And finally, the eggbeater (left) that started out old and creaky and now that he spent about three hours on it, it works like a charm.

Before purchasing, he did exhaustive research at home and when visiting his folks. His dad has been around farm equipment his entire life so could plausibly plead intermittent deafness, but his mother and I listened to it all. He got published on one expert’s blog.

There are two charming consequences of Jim’s actions in this regard. First, these individual sellers do business the old fashioned way. They send the tool and say if you like it, pay for it. If you don’t, send it back. I sent a payment to one guy who runs a legal center at a university, turns out we worked in the same (unique) small town the same summer and knew some of the same people. Second is their purpose. I could tell you but then he’d have to kill me and he really likes my cooking and the fact that his clothing magically cleans itself and reappears in the drawer.

It has been interesting. I remember a lot of the types of tools he bought were owned by my grandfather many years ago. He was a carpenter. Dad now has a lot of his father’s tools, which have been in a box for years, but the piece de resistance is the workbench he built probably in the late 1940’s in the first and last house he ever bought. It is being lovingly preserved in my aunt’s garage. She recently sent me photos of it, real photos. The kind you need to develop. Imagine that. Jim says scanning on our printer is a bear so I’ll omit those this post!

Now I can look at this photo and figure out what else I need for the kitchen! After all, needle-nose pliers are great for pulling bones out of fish. My favorite wedding present is a $10 strap wrench from Sears. My arthritis was acting up and Jim twists tops on soda bottles, ketchup bottles, like sealing a crypt. Now if I can’t easily open a brand new jar of peanut butter, I go for the strap wrench, piece of cake. Mind you, these items are NOT to be used in the garage. They are purchased for kitchen use only! I mean it, Dee

p.s. a three-ring horse’s curry comb (about $5) can be found at any feed store. [Living in downtown Houston I was able to find a feed store less than three miles away where I bought Zoe dry food.] It’s great for scaling fish, like a side of salmon! Just keep it washed and in the kitchen. When our dog was losing her winter coat there was fine fur everywhere and I used my 20 year-old curry comb to take out her undercoat. Then it went into the dog box and I bought another, it’s gone up $1 over the past 20 years, for the kitchen. Check out past Cooking Utensils posts for photos and descriptions.