Author: fitz

There has been a good deal for some time past spoken and written about the education of the workman, but technical knowledge is not all that our artisans require. The use and abuse of tools is a subject of great importance, yet we hear no one essaying to say a few plain words upon the topic.

There are many workmen who probably pride themselves upon the knowledge of their trade, and who, with a compass, rule, and square, may be able to draw a number of lines and curves occurring in the setting out of their work. Even a little geometrical knowledge is useful; yet a little more attention on the part of these same workmen to the use and condition of their tools would be highly desirable.

If we take the case of a cabinet-maker or joiner, who generally requires to have a good “kit” of bench or workshop tools at least, it will be usually found that, for the one workman who keeps his tools in a proper and serviceable condition, there will be three who will be perfectly careless about the appearance of the tools that they are using. A workman who has a good basket of tools, pertinently observes a writer in the Irish Builder, will find more favour with those employing him than those who have not a presentable set of tools.

Planes, the wooden part as well as the cutting irons, should be kept in clean condition. In grinding and sharpening tools there is much to learn by many workmen, notwithstanding their constant use. Chisels and gouges should have firm and well-formed handles, and the heads of the handles should not show a battered and ragged appearance. Handsaws and other saws should not be allowed to be buckled in the blades, and good setting and careful filing are indispensable.

Without going through the list, it may be at once boldly said, that the character and ability of a workman may be known by the state of his tools. A workman who does not take a pleasure in keeping his tools in good order will not take a pleasure in executing his work. In fact, no workman can perform good workmanship with a bad set of tools.

There is an old proverb which says that “good tools are half the work,” which means, that a workman with good tools and knowing how to use them will get through his work in half the time that he would with indifferent tools—and so he would. But good tools, at the same time, in the hands of a bad workman or botch will not effect much for him. There is an art in using tools deftly, and this art is part of the skilled labour that constitutes the competent workman.

The Furniture Gazette – March 15, 1884

—Jeff Burks

Glueing.
The right sort of glue to use for ordinary work is “best Scotch” (inferior kinds are often adulterated with lime). This glue is sold at all good tool shops; but if it cannot be obtained, choose the most transparent cakes. For fine work in light-coloured woods, Salisbury glue may be used; this is made in thin cakes, and is of a clear amber colour.

Preparation of the glue. Break it into small pieces with the hammer, and soak for at least twelve hours in sufficient water to keep it covered even when swollen by the water it absorbs: this water must be cold. It is no use attempting to melt glue by putting it into hot water; it will always be stringy, and give endless trouble. Put the pieces of soaked glue without any superfluous water into the glue pot, taking care that the outer vessel is kept full of water, which will prevent the glue in the inner vessel from burning ; this is very important.
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(An Open Letter)

Yes, we have all been reading Sir Walter Scott’s journal, and are noway surprised but every way pleased to hear that you have taken to heart his pathetic lament when in old age winter restricted his outdoor exercise, and he regretted that he was no mechanic to solace himself with a turning-lathe or joiner’s bench. And so you have invested in an American lathe with velocipede action, which you drive sitting, hoping to get as much exercise in an hour of an evening at home as by a six-mile run on a tricycle.

Meantime, by way of beginning, you have broken the points of your whole kit of tools and crumpled up two leaves of the quick-feed pinion, and with them three teeth of the rack, to say nothing of smashing a finger-nail with the jaw of the indispensable scrollchuck (by the by, a rubber fetlock-ring effectually guards against this last disaster), and the net result of your labours is some bushels of shavings with a couple of pounds of brass and iron dust. Naturally at this point you desire an opinion on your prospects as a craftsman.
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Many persons upon whom fortune does not smile, or who wish to be rich very quickly, think that nowadays it is not possible for a simple man to get to the top of the tree, because all occupations are so overstocked, and there are already too many people in the world. That this opinion is a false one, and that the right man can always do something for himself, if he has the real stuff in him, and perseveres, the following true story proves:

In the year 1826 a poor journeyman turner named Muhle, in worn-out shoes through which his bare toes projected, with a knapsack on his weary back, arrived at a little village not far from Colmar, in Alsace. In this village was an engine-factory, in which our workman had come to look for employment. But the poor fellow’s ragged, miserable appearance did not tell in his favor, and the master of the factory at once sent him about his business.
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It is an old saying that a child must creep before it can walk. We grow by degrees in almost every thing, and in nearly every direction. The child gradually increases in size—though not so very gradually sometimes—until it comes to the stature of a man or woman.

We grow in knowledge—at first knowing but little, the child slowly acquires the information that, if rightly used, will make him wise in mature years. So it is everywhere, “little by little” the great gains are made. It is step after step that the highest mountain is climbed; one brick upon another and the greatest wall is laid. “Little drops of water; little grains, etc.”
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