Why do you collect what you collect?

[Scouse]

I was going to raise this in a hand tool WIP thread for which I’m just editing photos down at the moment, but with reference to the ongoing chisel thread here I began thinking more about what makes an individual collect one tool over another?

I realise that this is a more philosophical discussion than practical, but I often wonder what it is about old tools that make them interesting as items suitable for a modest collection. And why one type of tool over another? And why one make over another? And what is it that makes you think ‘you can’t have too many’?

I’ll be honest, I don’t get the chisel thing and in spite of all evidence to the contrary, the same goes for planes too. I can appreciate a good example, and I have got a fair few, a couple of unusual or rare examples might make it to a shelf for display rather than use, but really I don’t see them as anything more than utilitarian objects, and the number I have reflects their use and set up for different jobs. Any others, I just have because I like restoring them, but these generally get moved on.

Drills are a different matter though; but again I don’t know why I can’t resist an interesting example. I suppose the number of different designs and engineering solutions developed to put a hole in something fascinates me, not to mention their aesthetic appeal, age, identity and history, type studying etc... I don’t need more than three or four loaded with regularly used bits, and yet over the years I have had countless examples from hand cranked bench drills to hand drills and breast drills, the list goes on and on, all kinds of makes.

But not braces. They’re just boring. #-o

So what is it that makes your chosen tool the one you like to collect?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Why tools?

Mainly because I can't afford to collect Aston Martins or glamorous blondes. Tools are also cheaper to run, and MUCH less hassle...

(Edit to add - I'm not really a collector. I just have a reasonable selection of user tools to choose from, and a few older examples as reference for making good new ones. [coughs, shuffles feet, tries to look convincing....])

 

[AndyT]

First it was practical necessity as I needed tools to make stuff for myself. Old tools sort of happened by accident and I started to learn how what might look like a crude blade in a block of wood is actually a sophisticated tool capable, in the right hands, of being used to make the best antique furniture.
I now know that there is an apparently infinite variety of blades in blocks of wood and each fresh variation is further proof.
While some old tools are, quite rightly, highly prized and therefore priced like antique porcelain or paintings, many old tools are cheap, so it's possible to buy all sorts of interesting stuff at pocket money prices.

I'm now in the privileged position of being able to buy tools that I really don't need - in one sense, I have enough - but I do still like my tools to be usable. So I have tools for woodworking and metalworking, which I like to play about at, but no old veterinary instruments or billhooks.
I do think that you can't really understand a tool without using it and have bought a few tools just for the opportunity of trying them out.

 

[lanemaux]

Basically it all started with a blundering dilletente of a do-it-yourselfer (me) and his highly challenged and thoroughly bored daughter. I was always attracted to clever little devices , most any clever devices. K-tel products at yard sales would find the way to my home over my wifes long suffering sighs of "what the **** are you ever going to use that for". Things like the inside the egg scrambler or the Veg-O-Matic slicer (a poor mans mandolin). Now stir in the internet and all manner of stuff on E-bay and you have a potential for junk approaching critical mass. But all this stuff was only amusing to me and for the short term at that. Then I picked up a #4 sized Shelton at a yard sale in truly dreadful condition . Looking at it now , I wonder at my own lack of sense. But I was a different guy back then so I started to clean it so that it could be played with. That was when a mini-miracle occurred. Marcy took an interest! Before that ,all she ever really had was obsessive behaviors , not interests. She sat quietly on the basement floor with me and cleaned and observed, pointed out things that I had missed. It was all quite exciting. Well , we managed to get that old Shelton shiny, and even got it to work after a fashion . That was when she carried it up the stairs to show to mommy. You would have thought she was carrying the crown of some lost kingdom, she was so proud.
That was all about 2 decades ago now. I've spent a lot of time and surprisingly little money buying rusty old planes since then. That is how I came to meet you lot in cyber-space, and a great help you have been in so many ways . That is how I began making wooden playthings both for her and for me. And that is how I got my modest Collection of planes and various other clever old tools.
Why do I collect them? For the pure joy they have brought of course. That and the smile a poor sad little Shelton put on my daughters face.

 

[pedder]

I collect saws made by Moses Eadon, because they are the most beautiful saws. Not very well made, thouh.

Cheers Pedder

 

[richarnold]

As a joiner and cabinet maker who's work often revolves around the restoration or replacement of 18th and 19th century examples, I have always had a keen interest in the pre industrial tools used by previous generations. A lot of the vintage tools I have in safe keeping are still used on a regular basis (IE my infill planes), but I also have what would be deemed as a "collection". This is limited to 18th century woodworking tools. This is for two reasons. Firstly I find that 18th century tools have more individuality to their nature, secondly it limits me to how much I collect :lol: .
I think the main reason I started to collect 18th century planes stems from a lucky ebay purchase a number of years ago. This was a moulding plane by a very early maker called John Davenport. After doing a bit of research I discovered that there had only been 7 examples of his work that had been found. I was keen to compare my example to these other planes, but I soon found out that all seven now resided overseas, and I had no access to them. It was at this point that I resolved to build my own collection up so as it could be used in the future for anyone to use as a working reference library who wants to study 18th century tools. I do not conceder this collection as "belonging" to me, but I am merely a custodian who will hopefully leave them to an institution where other enthusiasts will have open access to them.
Cheers, Richard.

 

[dickm]

I am really not a collector, really, really............
But for me, old tools have two major, and linked, positive features. One, they can often be obtained cheaply, and two, if you know what you are looking for, they will often perform better than their modern counterparts.
But there is still something a bit deeper; holding and using my old Spiers coffin smoother with all its dings and rust pits somehow puts me in touch with whoever owned it originally. Same with a not-very-special Disston tenon saw. Just feeling the way its handle fits my hand speaks volumes.

 

[heimlaga]

I am not a collector.
I keep some spare tools in the garage attic just because I have found them cheap and want a spare in case something happens to the ones I use. The handsaw stack is a bit bigger than necsessary but this is just because old handsaws tend to get thrown away or turned into garden ornaments and I just cannot let this happe. They cost next to nothing. It is more of an orphanage than a collection.

 

[tobytools]

for me. i can be very impulsive,
I've collected ( brought more that anyone would need) about every tool there is out there.
but after all the trends, im still lusting after quality spokeshaves and japanese tools..
why.. because the shave is a pleasure to use and i love curves and form in wood.. not a fan of boxy furniture...
japans tools and just a a mystery to me so im still exploring that... all good fun

TT

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I don't know that I collect anything, more it just accumulates somehow Perhaps I'm in denial.

I just love old tools. I like the feel of them. I like the idea of all those name stamps, as a little record of the previous owners who's skilled hands have used them. Something to try to live up to.

 

[bugbear]

It is more of an orphanage than a collection.

That's lovely!

BugBear

 

[Plumberpete]

I was given some old moulding planes when I started a project to repair an old chair I had in 2012. I wanted to repair the chair using tools from the era in which the chair was made. I noticed that a couple of the planes had makers names stamped on them relating to the city in which I live - Bristol. Being a curious type, I then tried to find out information on these makers, all the while collecting examples by them. This led me to the discovery of even more Bristol plane manufacturers (18 in total), 8 master planemakers and almost 120 journeyman planemakers that lived and worked in Bristol during the 18th and 19th centuries! And all the while I've been collecting examples of their work....

I now have over 300 moulding, bench and stop (ploughs, fillisters, dados etc.) planes by Bristol makers which some people (including my missus!) might think a bit obsessive. I use some of them when the need arises, but I'd be telling fibs if I said I've used even a quarter of them.

Like Richard, I see myself more as a collator and custodian of an important part of our history that needs to be preserved for future generations.

And in case you're wondering - those planes weren't any use for the repair of that chair!

 

[sunnybob]

"I am not a collector"
and
"The handsaw stack is a bit bigger than necsessary but this is just because old handsaws tend to get thrown away or turned into garden ornaments and I just cannot let this happen".



OH DEAR OH DEAR OH DEAR. Now THATS two telling statements.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Scouse]

It is more of an orphanage than a collection.

And we have a winner!!!

I'm still curious though. I know it's an enjoyable pastime, there's nothing I like more than finding something weird at the bootsale and coming home research a maker, find out what it is and how old etc.

I understand collecting tools as a whole because they tend to be affordable, useable, historic and nostalgic. But...

I spoke to a gent a while back who just collected 4 1/2 planes; not 4's or 5's, just 4 1/2s. When I asked him why, aside from the 'dunno, 'spose you got to collect something' type of answer, he could not explain what it was about a wide smoother that made him travel and spend money when he wouldn't look at a narrow smoother, for example.

It's the specialism which interests me and leaves me clueless at the same time; the narrow expertise which imparts such a passion in people.

But is there a modern psychological need, or an ancient evolutionary advantage?

 

[jimi43]

I think if anyone has more than one of each tool they should be sectioned! :mrgreen:

Not sure whether you would need a cross cut or rip for that job...but it would make an interesting thread!

Does "ALFIE made me do it" count?

Jimi! :mrgreen: