Category: Personal Favorites

Based on some comments from readers, my blog entry on apron hooks was a waste of time.

And so, in my never-ending efforts to annoy, here is some more on apron hooks.

Data digger Jeff Burks started searching for the things. In all his travels, Jeff says he’s never seen any in New England, and I’ve never seen any for sale at Midwest auctions. However, Jeff turned up tons of them in France.

Called “crochets de tablier,” they are many times trade-specific. Check out the one above for woodworkers.

“I’ve found a lot of images of French metal detectorists who have unearthed these things in a field,” Jeff writes. “The designs seem to be mostly trade specific, with the pile of joiners tools and the workbench being unusually common. There are many variations on the same theme, which suggest that they were made over a long period of time by many foundries. I’m having a difficult time understanding why the heart shaped ones are associated with tanners. Have not seen any three- or four-leaf clovers.”

Want to see a bunch? Jeff recommends this page.

Despite R.A. Salaman’s drawings, which shows two hooks on the apron, these things show up mostly as one piece. The implication is that the hook goes into a reinforced button-hole-like opening in the apron.

If I get to France this summer, I’ll have to look for some.

— Christopher Schwarz

I wear a shop apron almost every day, and so I’ve always wondered about “apron hooks,” which are shown in R.A. Salaman’s “Dictionary of Woodworking Tools.”

Here’s his entry on aprons that mentions these devices:

Carpenters and other woodworkers traditionally wear a white twill or canvas apron with a large pocket in front. It is fastened around the waist with long tapes tied in front, or with hooks that have decorative ends.

Yup. You read that right: Fancy stuff that is hooked above your buttocks. And yes, one of the hooks shown is a four-leaf clover, indicating you have a lucky butt.

I don’t think I want to know what the heart-shaped hook means.

But I am intrigued by the hooks because some days I can’t tie a bow behind my back.

— Christopher Schwarz

After writing about the parallel-tip screwdrivers from Grace USA and Lee Valley, I received lots of suggestions about other makers I should check out.

However, in my wanderings through the netherworlds of screwing and unscrewing, I stumbled upon this English-made driver on my own. After getting my hands on it, I can say it’s like the makers were reading my mind. It’s called the Elemen’tary No. 1 Screwdriver, and here is why it makes most screwdrivers look as intoxicating as a Shirley Temple.

1. It has a wooden handle that is turned in the shape of a vintage turnscrew. So it won’t roll off your bench thanks to the flats. And it fits my hand like a baseball glove.

2. The finish on the beech handle is oil. It’s tactile, like the finish on the Grace drivers. Not slippery like a plastic screwdriver.

3. The screwdriver chuck has an O-ring that grips your standard bits, even snapping them in place. Many of these bits have a small groove that receive the O-ring. That’s nice. However….

4. The Elemen’tary driver also has a screw chuck that locks the bits in better than any other magnet or O-ring. This small knurled knob allows you to secure your bit so it won’t pull out of the tool. If you own any four-way screwdriver, you know how this is one of their major downsides.

The Elemen’tary driver includes six bits, though it will use almost any standard bit. This driver is going on the road with me this year and will replace five screwdrivers I carry to adjust tools and drive slot-head and Phillips screws.

While the bits that come with this driver are good, I upgraded mine by substituting ground gunsmith bits from Brownell’s. More on that in a future post.

I have only one quibble with this tool. (Don’t I always have quibbles?) Like all drivers, I think this one doesn’t need to be so long. This driver could easily lose 1” or 1-1/2” and be ideal. With woodworking, we almost never say: This screwdriver is too short. Usually the lament is: This driver is too long to get inside the cabinet.

Yes, I know that there is a stubby version of this tool.

You can purchase this tool from several sources. I bought mine from Hand-Eye Supply for $35.

— Christopher Schwarz

If you are in Atlanta, stop by Highland Woodworking for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event and say hello on Saturday. (And if you don’t dig big dumb Germans like myself, Michel Auriou is here! He’s going to demonstrate his French rasps and how they are made.)

For those of you who don’t follow my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine, here’s a link to a short video about Highland Woodworking and why I love it so much.

— Christopher Schwarz